LEBANON: Deadly blast fuels demands for change
The road towards genuine democracy has proved long and hard in Lebanon. Lebanese people’s demands for fundamental change did not start with the devastating explosion that ripped through the port area of the capital, Beirut, in August. A protest movement had arisen in October 2019, when anger over a proposed WhatsApp tax quickly grew into a wide-reaching mass movement asking profound questions about widespread unemployment, economic failure and everyday dysfunction.
Protests continued into 2020, including against the government’s budget, power cuts and bank restrictions imposed in response to a currency crisis and spiralling inflation, and they continued to be met with state violence and arrests.
In response to the Beirut explosion, there was an extraordinary reaction by ordinary people to help: people with brooms and shovels started clearing rubble and distributing food and water. Anger turned into solidarity. This was an amazingly empowering moment that still continues.
Lina Abou Habib
