Fadlallah calls for socioeconomic remedies

Source: Daily Star, 05-05-2008
BEIRUT: Senior Shiite Muslim cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said on Sunday that while political solutions to Lebanon's 16-month-old political deadlock seemed unreal, politicians should find ways to get the country out of the economic and social crises. Speaking to a delegation from Consumers Lebanon, Fadlallah said one major problem was that "a few powerful people in the government are running the country like a big company and only seeking to increase their benefits."
He added that the economic and social situations were "disastrous" and expressed pessimism that a solution to the crisis was in the offing.
Fadlallah warned that leaving rising prices "unattended" and not complying with the demands of the agriculture sector "would contribute to the increasing of the growing of hazardous crops," apparently a reference to cannabis.
The cleric also denounced official corruption, saying that "being a minister is finding a way to make money and neglecting the rules of integrity and transparency."
"MPs are considered puppets for internal as well as the foreign forces," he added.
Speaking to a delegation from the Women's Gathering also on Sunday, the sayyed stressed the necessity of having more women acquire higher levels of education.
"There is also a need to establish some kind of equality between men and women in this patriarchal society that considers a woman as the man's follower or as merchandise," Fadlallah said.