On this day, three years ago, over one million Lebanese demonstrated that people power works. Many of us even surprised ourselves with the collective energy we took to the streets, demanding and effecting change. We certainly surprised those who believed that the outrageous murder of Rafik Hariri and 22 others on February 14 would go unchallenged and listed as yet another sad footnote in an already blood-soaked chronology.

March 14, 2008, however, demonstrates that the revolution has lost its popular momentum. We have once again reverted to accepting a passive role in the affairs of their country. Bomb blasts are a part of everyday life, prices of basic necessities – both food and fuel – are soaring, sectarian divisions are sharpening, and our politicians seem entrenched in a mindset of self-interest as the country drifts aimlessly, its highest office vacant, a casualty of a regionally inspired stand-off.

It is as if the post-civil war evolutionary process reached its zenith on March 14, 2005. The killings, the strikes, the war, the insurrections, the militias rearming are all indications of a clock spinning in reverse back to a time when Lebanese slaughtered Lebanese with chilling abandon.

And so, on the third anniversary of the greatest show of people power the Arab world has seen in modern times, the talk in Lebanon is of renewed civil or regional war. At best, there is a prediction of political stalemate until 2009 with an empty presidential palace, further political tension, economic decline and the inevitable brain drain.

And all because Iran and Syria – yes, only Iran and Syria – and their allies deem it so. Once again, we are letting external forces decide our future. What has happened to the spirit of March 14? Today, that flame must be reignited to sustain Lebanon in the fundamental – and existential – challenges it currently faces.

The country cannot remain without a president. The constitution and the parliament can no longer be violated. The very essence of the national pact – and thus, the very essence of the Republic itself – is at stake the longer this debacle continues. In resolving the current crisis, the Lebanese must demonstrate their commitment to ending unlawful Syrian influence. On the most basic level, embassies must be exchanged and common borders demarcated. This is how neighboring countries coexist. The same applies to respecting borders and natural resources inside Lebanese territory. Israel and Syria, take note.

All weapons must fall under the control of the state, with only the government having the right to take the country into war. We have seen what happens when this elementary rule is flouted. Sadly, not all of us appear to have learned the lesson. But the army must be perceived by all parties as the sole defenders of the nation and not a second-rate police force, whose presence is seen as an unwelcome irritation on local interests.

All UN resolutions pertaining to Lebanon must be implemented and that includes those related to disarming militias and the establishment of an international tribunal to try those charged with the terrorist activities since February 14, 2005 including the murders of Samir Kassir, Georges Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Gemayel, Walid Eido, Antoine Ghanem, François al-Hajj and Wissam Eid, among others. Furthermore, all armed foreign groups must be expelled from Lebanese soil.

Many of those Lebanese who stood shoulder-to-shoulder on this day three years ago are now divided. But surely they, and even those who chose not show their support, must in their hearts share the same national aspirations. The alternative is unthinkable.