Lebanon - Free Patriotic Movement Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, said: “We remain March 14th while everyone forgets it, because freedom, sovereignty and independence are implanted in our national genes, and because liberation is not complete without the liberation of the Lebanese and their state from the duality of corruption and domination, and this requires a long struggle for which we are ready."

"We are sovereignty and reform, and we will return to the opposition, and we want the state first and the resistance included within it," he said.

In a speech delivered at the eighth national conference of FPM held at the Habtour Hotel in Sin El-Fil on Friday evening, Bassil underlined that Lebanon, the homeland, the state, the model and the message, are in danger, as well as the existence of all Lebanese, if everyone sticks to their positions and rejects the path to salvation represented by dialogue.

He deemed that the falling of the old and rebuilding anew with the same people is an illusion..."So let's build through dialogue a new economic and financial model and agree together on developing the system and protecting Lebanon's sovereignty in light of the major transformations in the region and the world." 

"On this day every year, we meet for a moment of reflection, in which we examine our options, evaluate what we have achieved and what we failed to do, and plan our directions for the coming year in our annual political paper. The memory of March 14th for us is the new political New Year, and it is a date with the issues of the homeland, without which our movement would not exist and its struggle would have no meaning," Bassil said.

He emphasized that "sovereignty is not only over borders, land, and law. Sovereignty is primarily in the decision. It is not enough for the land to be liberated, the borders fenced, and the law prevailing, while the decision is dependent, because of those who make it depend on money, interest, or outsiders...The nation has sovereignty, and citizens have dignity, and the two complement each other." 

"Is it reasonable to talk about the sovereignty of the homeland and the human dignity of the citizen is non-existent? What is the use of sovereignty if the citizen is humiliated?" Bassil went on to questioned.

He affirmed that "the sovereign person is the one who recovers the money of depositors from abroad so that they and the country are not at the mercy of foreign aid and impossible, humiliating conditions...The sovereign is the one who does not accept to strike the partnership, nor that constitutional authorities take control of the presidency and its powers..."

"The Free Patriotic Movement rejects humiliation through depriving people of the most basic necessities of life," Bassil underscored.