Lebanon’s consociational political system has been the object of many critiques at least since the beginning of the past century specifically denouncing what some scholars and activists have called “multi-party authoritarism”. In the vein of the Arab revolutions, in 2011 the streets of Beirut witnessed the largest mobilizations against sectarianism since the end of the civil war in 1990. The paper explores the various dimensions of this movement putting in perspective the transnational “bricolage” or importation of slogans (isqât an-nithâm) while highlighting the local historicity of the movements’ protagonists. It also delves into an ethnographic study of the internal dynamics of the movement demonstrating the limits it carried from within. Based on a field research among these activists’ circles during and in the aftermath of the mobilization, this contribution proposes an analysis on the transformations of the Lebanese “civil society” and specifically on the forms of non-confessional commitment in a context that is increasingly polarized by confessional and partisan identities. Moreover it will allow us to question the interdepencies and interactions between social movements and political parties. Finally, the paper pose the question of the role Lebanese public institutions in shaping dissident activism and containing it.