Mistrust, frustration keep Lebanon on the boil

Tens of thousands of Lebanese have taken to the streets across Lebanon to vent their anger against the country’s economic and political crisis.  They have adopted the slogan of the 2011 Egyptian uprising, “As-shab yurid isqat an-nizam,” the people want the fall of the regime.”

This does not, however, mean they demand the fall of the present government, as was the case in Egypt, but the removal of the political class which for decades has benefited from the divisive sectarian system of governance imposed on Lebanon by the French. Many also want to see the sectarian system changed.

In response to the country-wide protests, Samir Geagea, head of the right-wing Maronite Christian Lebanese Forces party, the third largest in parliament, called on its four ministers to resign. The portfolios they hold are labour, administrative development, deputy prime minister, and social affairs. “This is the first domino to fall,” one protester told Lebanese television.

The spontaneous demonstrations which erupted on Thursday night were triggered by cabinet approval of a tax on calls made on the messaging service WhatsApp. As a result they have dubbed the popular rebellion the “WhatsApp Revolution.” WhatsApp became the casus belli because Lebanese of all ages and backgrounds rely on WhatsApp to speak to each other and to relatives and friends living abroad. For the poor and middle class, in particular, WhatsApp is indispensable because many families depend on funds from relatives in the diaspora.

Losing or reducing contact with them is an existential issue as remittances are said to be drying up.

Although the government has announced the withdrawal of the WhatsApp tax, this action has not satisfied the populace as the exaction was just one of many designed to soak the middle class and the poor.  They face high rents, rising prices for food and fuel, steep school and university fees. They pay twice for electricity and water as the government does not provide power or potable water and Lebanese have to buy both from the private sector. The rich remain rich because they have the resources to meet tax demands or to leave the country.  Furthermore, the populace does not trust the political elite to use funds gathered through taxation to improve the situation. Trust has gone.  Bitter frustration remains.

The ongoing countrywide protests, which began on Thursday night, are the most serious since 2015 when a refuse collection crisis launched mass anti-government demonstrations.

In Beirut security forces dispersed crowds at dawn in Friday with tear gas and rubber bullets after they tried to storm the seat of government.

On Friday boys and girls on mopeds toured the capital, waving flags, pausing to turn over garbage bins to tip out the refuse and set it alight.  Stationary groups blocked roads with barricades of burning tyres, sending thick clouds of smoke into the sky. Roads and highways were blocked, including the route to the airport from time to time. Boys on mopeds ferried travellers to the airport.

Protesters rallied on Saturday in Riad al-Solh Square to chant the slogan of Egypt’s uprising, call for Lebanese unity, wave the national flag, and sing the anthem. At noon a few hundred had gathered in the square, by night central Beirut was packed with protesters closely monitored by the army. Ironically, the crowd of mainly young men and women had gathered at the back of the statue of Solh, the country’s first prime minister who assumed office at independence in 1943 and implemented the National Pact, the system of confessional power-sharing which has precipitated two civil wars and state looting by traditional communal leaders. Solh was assassinated in 1951, but the pact he inaugurated, a “gentlemen’s agreement” rather than a law, lives on.

This provides for Maronite Christian, Sunni and Shia political figures to assume in perpetuity the posts of president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament, respectively. The system is gridlocked with the political elite divorced from the people.

Ex-minister Muhammad Mashnouk told The Gulf Today, “Our situation now is very bad. We have known in advance that this is the case.  Now the situation has deteriorated to the point of buying time.” A protester in Riad as-Solh Square observed, however, that time is up. She said, “I am a graduate, employed in a bank.  My bosses told me not to come out. I could lose my job, but I am here.  We (young people) have no future in this country. Many are leaving because they cannot find jobs. They won’t return. Because I work in a bank I know what is in politicians’ accounts.”

She criticised violent elements burning tyres and torching piles of rubbish, “We are peaceful,” she stated. This is why the cheerful atmosphere early on Saturday was reminiscent of the popular mood in Cairo’s Tahrir Square more than eight years ago.

Night-time protests were filled with curses against the power elite. Lebanese hope their Revolution will not have the same fate as Egypt’s uprising.

The country-wide protests are unprecedented. Graft and mismanagement has reached a stage at which Lebanon could collapse and become a failed state, stated the former minister. However, there is concern that if the government falls, there could be a vacuum and, perhaps, chaos, as it took Prime Minister Saad Hariri a year to form the current cabinet.

This is why, Hizbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has rejected the ouster of the government.  He also said that if his supporters took part in the protests, they would not withdraw until Hizbollah’s goals were achieved. He argued that if the movement joins, it would be misinterpreted as Iranian backing for the demonstrations.

Tempers flared in July when the government imposed an austerity budget to reduce Lebanon’s public debt which has risen to 150 per cent of GDP. For years, the people of this country have had to tolerate heaps of trash on street corners, beaches covered with rubbish, pollution of the sea by raw sewage, and landfills overflowing with garbage. A recent shortage of dollars which had freely circulated alongside the Lebanese Lira created panic. Last week the government appealed to neighbours for help fighting dozens of forest fires after helicopters purchased for this purpose failed to take off. Many compare Lebanon’s deteriorating situation with conditions in neighbouring Syria where, despite eight years of war, the government collects garbage and delivers electricity and water and education is free through university.