BEIRUT: As Lebanon commemorated 68 years of independence Tuesday, Lebanese in Beirut said they felt disheartened by the country’s lack of decision-making power.

“Independence in Lebanon is the biggest joke,” Saadi Hakim, 46, said, adding that he had returned to Lebanon in the 1990s and is now ready to leave again.

Sitting in one of Hamra’s many coffee shops, Hakim said Lebanon has never truly enjoyed independence.

Many share Hakim’s cynicism, blaming the lack of independence on rival politicians whose affiliations, they say, do not serve the interest of the country.

“I don’t feel that I live in an independent country and the blame lies with the political class,” Elie, 26, who hails from the north eastern village of Hadsheet, said.

Nahla, an employee at a travel office in Beirut’s southern suburbs, said the political factions’ strong foreign ties make it difficult to call Lebanon a “truly independent country.”

Political rivalry in Lebanon has long been seen as a source of instability, with the March 8 and March 14 coalitions accusing each other of obstructing the work of the government. Political rifts forced the collapse of the Cabinet in January, and political debate has intensified since, as rising tension in neighboring Syria threatens to spill over into the country.

“On a day like today, we liberated the country from the French, we got our freedom. But today, we can’t even form a Cabinet by ourselves,” Ahmad Ramadan, the owner of a pet shop in Beirut’s suburbs of Ouzai, said.

When asked what Independence Day meant to them, many Lebanese chuckled, and scoffed at the suggestion that it was a day that held any resonance.

On the busy intersection of Dikwaneh in the Qada of Metn, Roger Fadel, 30, said there are still occupied Lebanese territories, and shrugged off the idea of independence.

“We have stages of independence. First in 1943, then in 2000 when Israeli soldiers withdrew from south Lebanon, and another when Syrian soldiers withdrew from the country, and we still have occupied territories in Shebaa Farms and Kfasrhouba Hills,” he said.

Lebanon has long been calling for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the southern territories of Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba along with the northern village of Ghajar.

Marcel, a sandwich shop owner in Antelias, Metn, agreed with Fadel. “Independence means having complete freedom and sovereignty. We do not have any of that.”

Marcel switched to a local radio station playing the national anthem, sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

“Foreign hands in our country prevent us from having independence.”

Others think that Independence Day should have had a different flavor, and blame the government for the lack of awareness for such a national day.

Ahmad Khattab, from al-Tariq al-Jadideh in greater Beirut, said local television stations should be airing documentaries about the 1943 independence.

“There is no awareness. They should have viewed documentaries about the day or held various events in celebrations. So we could actually feel it,” Khattab said, concurring with others that Lebanon does not enjoy independence because the decision-making power is not in the hands of Lebanese.

In Verdun, a man in his 70s voiced discontent over the situation in the country, and said Lebanon lacks economic and political independence.

“It should include economic, social and political independence and we have none of that,” the man, who preferred to stay anonymous, said.

“Independence is about living in a dignified way, it’s about freedom,” he added, before being interrupted by a newspaper salesperson asking everyone to leave his post and not ask silly questions.