Citizens in a State

Citizens in a State (Arabic: مواطنون ومواطنات في دولة, Mouwatinoun wa mouwatinat fi dawla or MMFD for short, French: Citoyens et Citoyennes dans un État) is a Lebanese political party. The party's motto is "to decisively contribute in the building of a civil, democratic, fair, and capable state".  It was launched in 2016 in the medina theater prior to the 2016 municipal elections.  The party is one of the organizations participating in the 2019 Lebanese protests. Charbel Nahas is the current party's General Secretary.

History 
In a book published in 1999, Charbel Nahas discussed Lebanon's conflicts and financial problems. Nahas suggested an action plan to avoid the crisis and the required conditions to overcome it. The book is the first political and economic analysis of Lebanon's crisis  and suggests a progressive system that focuses on improving the living conditions of the country's citizens. These activities have taken the roles of public institutions operating without control, accountability, or monitoring . According to Nahas, the laws issued after 1994 were  flawed and tailored to the benefit of the ruling class and its supporters, leading to the current state of the country. In 2014, Nahas argued that the political system in its entirety must be changed and that the Taif Agreement did not constitute genuine real reform.

Political Stance 
Citizens in a State believes it is responsible for the entirety of Lebanese society and for constructing a societal order that will extend beyond Lebanon to contribute to saving other societies within  the region.  The party believes that sects cannot form a state and that the current political regime is incapable of overcoming economic and social hardships such as the 2019 financial crisis. After the start of the protests on October 17 and after the economic crisis surfaced, the movement positioned itself as the only alternative that can manage the transitional phase. Citizens in a State aims to form a government with exceptional legislative rights, leading a political transitional phase titled “Fair and Purposeful Distribution of Losses”.

Methodology 
The movement works within a systematic methodology of realistic assessment as the main grounds of choosing its confrontations. The movement aims to play a decisive role in changing the current political and social regime. That can only be reached, according to the movement, through identifying the regime’s contradictions, anticipating these contradictions, and building the necessary knowledge and power to handle them. Hence, offering a substitute that goes beyond what the existing regime can offer.

For that to succeed, the movement applies the following methodological means:

 Basing arguments on a critical and intellectual effort.
 Assessing all behaviors and initiatives, whether individual or collective, according to their values and contributions to the “societal order”.
 Realism in dealing in all forms of "societal order", through exerting the necessary effort to understand its constructs, the historical circumstances affecting its formation, along with the work of its institutions, and the limitations facing its control and the management of its internal conflicts.

References

Category:Political parties in Lebanon