FOR YOU, OUR LEBANON

I wrote the first words of this article on the terrace of a beautiful traditional unfinished guesthouse in the street of Gemmayze in Beirut. At the time, I could not have imagined the fate of Beirut, how that street in particular would be reduced to rubble a few days later. Who could have predicted a tragedy of that magnitude anyway?

On August 4^th, 2020, as much as 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate inadequately stored at the Beirut port, facing one of the most populated areas of Beirut, exploded. The nuclear-like blast killed at least 200 people, injured more than 6000 people, ravaged and destroyed a large part of Beirut leaving more than 300,000 people homeless, and caused damages as far as tens of kilometres away from the epicentre.

Every Lebanese person was affected and touched by this horrific explosion. We went in infinite loops of shock, disbelief, grief and anger, mixed with tears, lots of tears. We were all shocked and traumatized (and still are); we craved revenge and retribution (and still do). I hesitated to write, my article did not seem relevant anymore, nothing mattered anymore compared to the horror we had endured individually and as a nation.

We all thought that the conscience of our political “leaders” had hit rock bottom, that they have killed us, and pretending it was not their fault, that the colossal blast was the worst thing they had ever perpetrated. Outrageously, their reactions and their continuing lack of sympathy, aggressions and brutality facing the devastated people’s pain and anger proved that they were far worse than any human mind could ever fathom. After taking away our rights, our savings, our future and our dreams, then our loved ones, our homes, our serenity and security, their thirst was still unquenched: they also wanted to take away our voice. That is when I realized more than ever that I should speak up to spread the voice of my people to the world. I want it to be known that the Lebanese government killed its people and since then is forcing the people to keep silent about it.

For some context, the current Lebanese political system is a sectarian system that has survived and proliferated for decades due to the politics and manipulative practices of corrupt leaders and warlords who have deprived the Lebanese people of their most basic rights in order to secure and perpetuate their positions of power.

To put it in concrete terms, let me tell you how I, a thirty-year old Lebanese woman, lived – or rather survived – in Lebanon. I was born near the end of a fifteen-year-long civil war and was immediately categorized as a Christian orthodox. My parents struggled to send me to private schools. I did not have the “chance” to be scared of the dark, I had to live with it, to study, eat and shower on candlelight when the private generator was down, and I only discovered through western movies that people elsewhere could drink tap water. I grew up hearing the words “fassad” (corruption) and “wassta” (nepotism) and the same names of politicians on TV, and I still do to this day! I survived a number of  military attacks by Israel, every now and then.  I survived through a series of explosions that targeted and assassinated several political figures and journalists, that started in 2005 and ended I do not even know when. I participated, when I was just a teenager, in one of the biggest demonstrations in 2005 that resulted in the Syrian forces withdrawing from Lebanon. I survived a war in July 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah and I still do not know why this war even happened. Most of my friends left to live and work abroad. I knew that my religion and my personal connections dictated where I could work and which ranks I could reach, because that is just “how it works here”. I knew the air I was breathing and that our rivers and our sea were polluted, I was threatened to drown in a pile of garbage laying on the street or to catch some related disease. If I fell ill, I was lucky to be admitted to hospital because I could afford private insurance, while other people would die at the doors of hospitals. All of this, just because some politicians decided to steal our taxpayer money instead of developing the public education system and the energy and water sectors, finding solutions for our environmental problems and implementing a healthcare plan. All of this, just because some politicians’ priorities were to get rich and remain in power instead of actually doing their job. Despite everything, I was “lucky” because many Lebanese people lived in far worse conditions, I am “lucky” to be alive.

Our social and economic conditions tragically deteriorated even more since October 2019, starting with ravaging fires that could not be contained due to the lack of maintenance of firefighting planes, followed by the government’s attempt to impose a series of unfair tax increases. This ignited the Lebanese revolution on the night of 19 October 2019 and a long series of protests and road blocking lasting for weeks. The situation kept getting worse as we suffered from the imposition of illegal capital controls and limits on access to our bank accounts and on foreign transfers, the loss of the local currency of more than eighty percent of its value in a few months, a severe economic crisis, in addition to shortages of food and fuel resulting in more power cuts.

The events that arose since October 2019 have proven that the Lebanese authorities would not hesitate to repress free speech and use force to oppress the people – who are the very reason they are in power – to protect their shaking thrones and silence any dissident voice.

Since the start of the revolution, and despite the numerous calls of international organizations and diplomats, the Lebanese authorities not only failed to protect peaceful protestors and to respect their right to freedom of assembly, but also faced them with all sorts of violence, many times flagrantly exercised by official security forces; other times, the perpetrators were suspicious groups whose actions were disregarded, covered by or even ordered by authorities or political parties who denied their relation to those groups in an effort to dissimulate their responsibility. Security guards, riot police and even the army confronted the protestors with excessive force to diligently protect their corrupt commanders; they did not spare the use of teargas bombs and rubber bullets, sometimes fortunately missing the protestors, but other times costing young men their lives or their eyesight or causing them other permanent injuries. All outrageous crimes, disregarded by a corrupt judicial system that is controlled by the leaders or protectors of the perpetrators, remain unpunished to this day despite the authorities’ promises that, in fact, barely materialized in temporary detentions or a few disciplinary sanctions.

At the appearance of the first few COVID-19 cases in beginning of March 2020, the government gladly imposed a full lock-down on the country seemingly to curb the spread of the virus, but subtly taking advantage of the pandemic to contain and halt the revolution’s momentum. The protestors deserted the streets but turned to social media platforms and the press to keep their revolution alive, voice their demands and criticize the ruling class and its corrupt practices that have plunged Lebanon in its worst economic crisis since the civil war (1975-1990).

The authorities’ violations of our right to freedom of expression translated into multiple arbitrary arrests and interrogations of protestors, whether as a result of street protests or for posting “insulting” material on social media. In addition to enforcing the existing baffling law that punishes insults towards the president with a sentence that can reach up to two years of imprisonment and other broad defamation laws, the authorities supported measures that aim to pressure and force people into complete silence and obedience by prohibiting the use of curse words against the president. The protestors were only released under pressure by their fellow demonstrators, including road blockage and sit-ins, supported by the efforts of the newly elected President of the Beirut Bar Association. In addition, many detainees reported being subject to police violence and torture during their arrest.

The press also had its share of attacks, interrogations and intimidation attempts. Military intelligence even stopped the crew of foreign TV channels from conducting their interviews under the pretext that they should obtain permits prior to doing their job. The incident was followed by hazy statements of the army which were legally unfounded or, at best, built upon a never-before applied internal decision dating back to the 1980s, of which journalists had not been previously made aware. The Minister of Information feebly responded to the army’s attempt to control and selectively censor the press.

For the past months, our daily life had become a juggle between finding a way to survive through the collapsing sanitary and economic situation, and voicing our rights while resisting oppression. That was until the corruption, incompetence and impotence of the authorities literally blew in our faces on August 4^th, 2020. The ruling politicians failed to make any useful statement or even to empathize with the people, but did the only thing they think they are good at: dodging responsibility. Different theories kept emerging in an attempt to explain the cause of the storage of this massive quantity of explosives at the Beirut port as well as the trigger of the fire and ensuing explosion. However, the truth remains uncovered and as the Arab saying goes ‘the reasons are many, but death is one’.  The only undeniable truth was that all concerned politicians in power and authorities must be held accountable for the massacre, whether they knew about the storage of explosives and the imminent catastrophe and did not act upon it or were supposed to know about it but did not. We were only sure of one thing: the entire system must henceforth crumble from head to toe.

After three days of shock and mourning, of lifting rubble, searching for survivors, cleaning and help, almost entirely at the initiative of civil defence officers and civilians, it was time for justice and accountability. Thousands of people marched from the devastated streets of Beirut towards Martyrs’ Square in the city centre, where a protest fuelled by anger and despair took place. The army and security forces, who barely exerted any efforts to lift the rubble and rescue survivors of the humongous blast, were very much prepared to throw teargas canisters and shoot protestors with a variety of bullets including pellets and rubber bullets. The weapons targeted all sorts of protestors, even those standing peacefully in the square. These assaults caused injuries upon injuries and pain upon pain, filling up the hospitals – already exhausted or damaged following the explosion – with hundreds of injured protestors. Paradoxically, hundreds of protestors were detained, while not one minister or high-ranking officer was – until then – arrested for responsibility for the Beirut explosion.   

The freedom of the press also took another blow, as the crew of a Lebanese TV channel was banned from covering news from the presidential palace under the pretext that the channel had “insulted” and “attacked” the president when blaming him, among others, for the devastating Beirut port explosion.

Despite all the violence and attacks that we have been enduring for almost a year, our rage is growing and our persistence is fiercer. The government made us poor and hungry and stripped us of our rights and future, killed us and destroyed our city. We will not keep silent, we will never forget, we will never forgive.

I write these words with a heavy heart but a light of hope, in memory of all those who lost their lives believing in a better life, in the name of all those injured fighting for their dignity, for all those who lost their houses struggling to build a home.

I write these words to let the world know that the Lebanese people is a hostage of a corrupt sectarian system ruled by a bunch of ignorant and incompetent tyrants who tarnished the beauty of our country. We learned from history that no reign lasts forever and that tyrants fight their ugliest fight when they realize their end is near, from their fear comes their oppression, but their oppression will never silence our righteous voices. Revolution is an idea and an idea cannot be killed; we will keep expressing it in all available forms and mediums until justice and freedom prevail.

We will keep fighting to rebuild our Lebanon. Our Lebanon is a beacon of freedom among its neighbours and a hub for culture and arts in the Middle East. Our Lebanon is a model of diversity, solidarity, kindness and hospitality. Our Lebanon is a place of life, happiness and prosperity. Our Lebanon is beautiful landscapes, green forests and clean rivers and beaches. Our Lebanon is a guardian of rights and justice. This is our Lebanon and we will take it back.

I wrote the first words of this article on the terrace of a beautiful traditional unfinished guesthouse in the street of Gemmayze in Beirut. At the time, I could not have imagined the fate of Beirut, how that street in particular would be reduced to rubble a few days later. Who could have predicted a tragedy of that magnitude anyway?

On August 4^th, 2020, as much as 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate inadequately stored at the Beirut port, facing one of the most populated areas of Beirut, exploded. The nuclear-like blast killed at least 200 people, injured more than 6000 people, ravaged and destroyed a large part of Beirut leaving more than 300,000 people homeless, and caused damages as far as tens of kilometres away from the epicentre.

Every Lebanese person was affected and touched by this horrific explosion. We went in infinite loops of shock, disbelief, grief and anger, mixed with tears, lots of tears. We were all shocked and traumatized (and still are); we craved revenge and retribution (and still do). I hesitated to write, my article did not seem relevant anymore, nothing mattered anymore compared to the horror we had endured individually and as a nation.

We all thought that the conscience of our political “leaders” had hit rock bottom, that they have killed us, and pretending it was not their fault, that the colossal blast was the worst thing they had ever perpetrated. Outrageously, their reactions and their continuing lack of sympathy, aggressions and brutality facing the devastated people’s pain and anger proved that they were far worse than any human mind could ever fathom. After taking away our rights, our savings, our future and our dreams, then our loved ones, our homes, our serenity and security, their thirst was still unquenched: they also wanted to take away our voice. That is when I realized more than ever that I should speak up to spread the voice of my people to the world. I want it to be known that the Lebanese government killed its people and since then is forcing the people to keep silent about it.

For some context, the current Lebanese political system is a sectarian system that has survived and proliferated for decades due to the politics and manipulative practices of corrupt leaders and warlords who have deprived the Lebanese people of their most basic rights in order to secure and perpetuate their positions of power.

To put it in concrete terms, let me tell you how I, a thirty-year old Lebanese woman, lived – or rather survived – in Lebanon. I was born near the end of a fifteen-year-long civil war and was immediately categorized as a Christian orthodox. My parents struggled to send me to private schools. I did not have the “chance” to be scared of the dark, I had to live with it, to study, eat and shower on candlelight when the private generator was down, and I only discovered through western movies that people elsewhere could drink tap water. I grew up hearing the words “fassad” (corruption) and “wassta” (nepotism) and the same names of politicians on TV, and I still do to this day! I survived a number of  military attacks by Israel, every now and then.  I survived through a series of explosions that targeted and assassinated several political figures and journalists, that started in 2005 and ended I do not even know when. I participated, when I was just a teenager, in one of the biggest demonstrations in 2005 that resulted in the Syrian forces withdrawing from Lebanon. I survived a war in July 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah and I still do not know why this war even happened. Most of my friends left to live and work abroad. I knew that my religion and my personal connections dictated where I could work and which ranks I could reach, because that is just “how it works here”. I knew the air I was breathing and that our rivers and our sea were polluted, I was threatened to drown in a pile of garbage laying on the street or to catch some related disease. If I fell ill, I was lucky to be admitted to hospital because I could afford private insurance, while other people would die at the doors of hospitals. All of this, just because some politicians decided to steal our taxpayer money instead of developing the public education system and the energy and water sectors, finding solutions for our environmental problems and implementing a healthcare plan. All of this, just because some politicians’ priorities were to get rich and remain in power instead of actually doing their job. Despite everything, I was “lucky” because many Lebanese people lived in far worse conditions, I am “lucky” to be alive.

Our social and economic conditions tragically deteriorated even more since October 2019, starting with ravaging fires that could not be contained due to the lack of maintenance of firefighting planes, followed by the government’s attempt to impose a series of unfair tax increases. This ignited the Lebanese revolution on the night of 19 October 2019 and a long series of protests and road blocking lasting for weeks. The situation kept getting worse as we suffered from the imposition of illegal capital controls and limits on access to our bank accounts and on foreign transfers, the loss of the local currency of more than eighty percent of its value in a few months, a severe economic crisis, in addition to shortages of food and fuel resulting in more power cuts.

The events that arose since October 2019 have proven that the Lebanese authorities would not hesitate to repress free speech and use force to oppress the people – who are the very reason they are in power – to protect their shaking thrones and silence any dissident voice.

Since the start of the revolution, and despite the numerous calls of international organizations and diplomats, the Lebanese authorities not only failed to protect peaceful protestors and to respect their right to freedom of assembly, but also faced them with all sorts of violence, many times flagrantly exercised by official security forces; other times, the perpetrators were suspicious groups whose actions were disregarded, covered by or even ordered by authorities or political parties who denied their relation to those groups in an effort to dissimulate their responsibility. Security guards, riot police and even the army confronted the protestors with excessive force to diligently protect their corrupt commanders; they did not spare the use of teargas bombs and rubber bullets, sometimes fortunately missing the protestors, but other times costing young men their lives or their eyesight or causing them other permanent injuries. All outrageous crimes, disregarded by a corrupt judicial system that is controlled by the leaders or protectors of the perpetrators, remain unpunished to this day despite the authorities’ promises that, in fact, barely materialized in temporary detentions or a few disciplinary sanctions.

At the appearance of the first few COVID-19 cases in beginning of March 2020, the government gladly imposed a full lock-down on the country seemingly to curb the spread of the virus, but subtly taking advantage of the pandemic to contain and halt the revolution’s momentum. The protestors deserted the streets but turned to social media platforms and the press to keep their revolution alive, voice their demands and criticize the ruling class and its corrupt practices that have plunged Lebanon in its worst economic crisis since the civil war (1975-1990).

The authorities’ violations of our right to freedom of expression translated into multiple arbitrary arrests and interrogations of protestors, whether as a result of street protests or for posting “insulting” material on social media. In addition to enforcing the existing baffling law that punishes insults towards the president with a sentence that can reach up to two years of imprisonment and other broad defamation laws, the authorities supported measures that aim to pressure and force people into complete silence and obedience by prohibiting the use of curse words against the president. The protestors were only released under pressure by their fellow demonstrators, including road blockage and sit-ins, supported by the efforts of the newly elected President of the Beirut Bar Association. In addition, many detainees reported being subject to police violence and torture during their arrest.

The press also had its share of attacks, interrogations and intimidation attempts. Military intelligence even stopped the crew of foreign TV channels from conducting their interviews under the pretext that they should obtain permits prior to doing their job. The incident was followed by hazy statements of the army which were legally unfounded or, at best, built upon a never-before applied internal decision dating back to the 1980s, of which journalists had not been previously made aware. The Minister of Information feebly responded to the army’s attempt to control and selectively censor the press.

For the past months, our daily life had become a juggle between finding a way to survive through the collapsing sanitary and economic situation, and voicing our rights while resisting oppression. That was until the corruption, incompetence and impotence of the authorities literally blew in our faces on August 4^th, 2020. The ruling politicians failed to make any useful statement or even to empathize with the people, but did the only thing they think they are good at: dodging responsibility. Different theories kept emerging in an attempt to explain the cause of the storage of this massive quantity of explosives at the Beirut port as well as the trigger of the fire and ensuing explosion. However, the truth remains uncovered and as the Arab saying goes ‘the reasons are many, but death is one’.  The only undeniable truth was that all concerned politicians in power and authorities must be held accountable for the massacre, whether they knew about the storage of explosives and the imminent catastrophe and did not act upon it or were supposed to know about it but did not. We were only sure of one thing: the entire system must henceforth crumble from head to toe.

After three days of shock and mourning, of lifting rubble, searching for survivors, cleaning and help, almost entirely at the initiative of civil defence officers and civilians, it was time for justice and accountability. Thousands of people marched from the devastated streets of Beirut towards Martyrs’ Square in the city centre, where a protest fuelled by anger and despair took place. The army and security forces, who barely exerted any efforts to lift the rubble and rescue survivors of the humongous blast, were very much prepared to throw teargas canisters and shoot protestors with a variety of bullets including pellets and rubber bullets. The weapons targeted all sorts of protestors, even those standing peacefully in the square. These assaults caused injuries upon injuries and pain upon pain, filling up the hospitals – already exhausted or damaged following the explosion – with hundreds of injured protestors. Paradoxically, hundreds of protestors were detained, while not one minister or high-ranking officer was – until then – arrested for responsibility for the Beirut explosion.   

The freedom of the press also took another blow, as the crew of a Lebanese TV channel was banned from covering news from the presidential palace under the pretext that the channel had “insulted” and “attacked” the president when blaming him, among others, for the devastating Beirut port explosion.

Despite all the violence and attacks that we have been enduring for almost a year, our rage is growing and our persistence is fiercer. The government made us poor and hungry and stripped us of our rights and future, killed us and destroyed our city. We will not keep silent, we will never forget, we will never forgive.

I write these words with a heavy heart but a light of hope, in memory of all those who lost their lives believing in a better life, in the name of all those injured fighting for their dignity, for all those who lost their houses struggling to build a home.

I write these words to let the world know that the Lebanese people is a hostage of a corrupt sectarian system ruled by a bunch of ignorant and incompetent tyrants who tarnished the beauty of our country. We learned from history that no reign lasts forever and that tyrants fight their ugliest fight when they realize their end is near, from their fear comes their oppression, but their oppression will never silence our righteous voices. Revolution is an idea and an idea cannot be killed; we will keep expressing it in all available forms and mediums until justice and freedom prevail.

We will keep fighting to rebuild our Lebanon. Our Lebanon is a beacon of freedom among its neighbours and a hub for culture and arts in the Middle East. Our Lebanon is a model of diversity, solidarity, kindness and hospitality. Our Lebanon is a place of life, happiness and prosperity. Our Lebanon is beautiful landscapes, green forests and clean rivers and beaches. Our Lebanon is a guardian of rights and justice. This is our Lebanon and we will take it back.

I wrote the first words of this article on the terrace of a beautiful traditional unfinished guesthouse in the street of Gemmayze in Beirut. At the time, I could not have imagined the fate of Beirut, how that street in particular would be reduced to rubble a few days later. Who could have predicted a tragedy of that magnitude anyway?

On August 4^th, 2020, as much as 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate inadequately stored at the Beirut port, facing one of the most populated areas of Beirut, exploded. The nuclear-like blast killed at least 200 people, injured more than 6000 people, ravaged and destroyed a large part of Beirut leaving more than 300,000 people homeless, and caused damages as far as tens of kilometres away from the epicentre.

Every Lebanese person was affected and touched by this horrific explosion. We went in infinite loops of shock, disbelief, grief and anger, mixed with tears, lots of tears. We were all shocked and traumatized (and still are); we craved revenge and retribution (and still do). I hesitated to write, my article did not seem relevant anymore, nothing mattered anymore compared to the horror we had endured individually and as a nation.

We all thought that the conscience of our political “leaders” had hit rock bottom, that they have killed us, and pretending it was not their fault, that the colossal blast was the worst thing they had ever perpetrated. Outrageously, their reactions and their continuing lack of sympathy, aggressions and brutality facing the devastated people’s pain and anger proved that they were far worse than any human mind could ever fathom. After taking away our rights, our savings, our future and our dreams, then our loved ones, our homes, our serenity and security, their thirst was still unquenched: they also wanted to take away our voice. That is when I realized more than ever that I should speak up to spread the voice of my people to the world. I want it to be known that the Lebanese government killed its people and since then is forcing the people to keep silent about it.

For some context, the current Lebanese political system is a sectarian system that has survived and proliferated for decades due to the politics and manipulative practices of corrupt leaders and warlords who have deprived the Lebanese people of their most basic rights in order to secure and perpetuate their positions of power.

To put it in concrete terms, let me tell you how I, a thirty-year old Lebanese woman, lived – or rather survived – in Lebanon. I was born near the end of a fifteen-year-long civil war and was immediately categorized as a Christian orthodox. My parents struggled to send me to private schools. I did not have the “chance” to be scared of the dark, I had to live with it, to study, eat and shower on candlelight when the private generator was down, and I only discovered through western movies that people elsewhere could drink tap water. I grew up hearing the words “fassad” (corruption) and “wassta” (nepotism) and the same names of politicians on TV, and I still do to this day! I survived a number of  military attacks by Israel, every now and then.  I survived through a series of explosions that targeted and assassinated several political figures and journalists, that started in 2005 and ended I do not even know when. I participated, when I was just a teenager, in one of the biggest demonstrations in 2005 that resulted in the Syrian forces withdrawing from Lebanon. I survived a war in July 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah and I still do not know why this war even happened. Most of my friends left to live and work abroad. I knew that my religion and my personal connections dictated where I could work and which ranks I could reach, because that is just “how it works here”. I knew the air I was breathing and that our rivers and our sea were polluted, I was threatened to drown in a pile of garbage laying on the street or to catch some related disease. If I fell ill, I was lucky to be admitted to hospital because I could afford private insurance, while other people would die at the doors of hospitals. All of this, just because some politicians decided to steal our taxpayer money instead of developing the public education system and the energy and water sectors, finding solutions for our environmental problems and implementing a healthcare plan. All of this, just because some politicians’ priorities were to get rich and remain in power instead of actually doing their job. Despite everything, I was “lucky” because many Lebanese people lived in far worse conditions, I am “lucky” to be alive.

Our social and economic conditions tragically deteriorated even more since October 2019, starting with ravaging fires that could not be contained due to the lack of maintenance of firefighting planes, followed by the government’s attempt to impose a series of unfair tax increases. This ignited the Lebanese revolution on the night of 19 October 2019 and a long series of protests and road blocking lasting for weeks. The situation kept getting worse as we suffered from the imposition of illegal capital controls and limits on access to our bank accounts and on foreign transfers, the loss of the local currency of more than eighty percent of its value in a few months, a severe economic crisis, in addition to shortages of food and fuel resulting in more power cuts.

The events that arose since October 2019 have proven that the Lebanese authorities would not hesitate to repress free speech and use force to oppress the people – who are the very reason they are in power – to protect their shaking thrones and silence any dissident voice.

Since the start of the revolution, and despite the numerous calls of international organizations and diplomats, the Lebanese authorities not only failed to protect peaceful protestors and to respect their right to freedom of assembly, but also faced them with all sorts of violence, many times flagrantly exercised by official security forces; other times, the perpetrators were suspicious groups whose actions were disregarded, covered by or even ordered by authorities or political parties who denied their relation to those groups in an effort to dissimulate their responsibility. Security guards, riot police and even the army confronted the protestors with excessive force to diligently protect their corrupt commanders; they did not spare the use of teargas bombs and rubber bullets, sometimes fortunately missing the protestors, but other times costing young men their lives or their eyesight or causing them other permanent injuries. All outrageous crimes, disregarded by a corrupt judicial system that is controlled by the leaders or protectors of the perpetrators, remain unpunished to this day despite the authorities’ promises that, in fact, barely materialized in temporary detentions or a few disciplinary sanctions.

At the appearance of the first few COVID-19 cases in beginning of March 2020, the government gladly imposed a full lock-down on the country seemingly to curb the spread of the virus, but subtly taking advantage of the pandemic to contain and halt the revolution’s momentum. The protestors deserted the streets but turned to social media platforms and the press to keep their revolution alive, voice their demands and criticize the ruling class and its corrupt practices that have plunged Lebanon in its worst economic crisis since the civil war (1975-1990).

The authorities’ violations of our right to freedom of expression translated into multiple arbitrary arrests and interrogations of protestors, whether as a result of street protests or for posting “insulting” material on social media. In addition to enforcing the existing baffling law that punishes insults towards the president with a sentence that can reach up to two years of imprisonment and other broad defamation laws, the authorities supported measures that aim to pressure and force people into complete silence and obedience by prohibiting the use of curse words against the president. The protestors were only released under pressure by their fellow demonstrators, including road blockage and sit-ins, supported by the efforts of the newly elected President of the Beirut Bar Association. In addition, many detainees reported being subject to police violence and torture during their arrest.

The press also had its share of attacks, interrogations and intimidation attempts. Military intelligence even stopped the crew of foreign TV channels from conducting their interviews under the pretext that they should obtain permits prior to doing their job. The incident was followed by hazy statements of the army which were legally unfounded or, at best, built upon a never-before applied internal decision dating back to the 1980s, of which journalists had not been previously made aware. The Minister of Information feebly responded to the army’s attempt to control and selectively censor the press.

For the past months, our daily life had become a juggle between finding a way to survive through the collapsing sanitary and economic situation, and voicing our rights while resisting oppression. That was until the corruption, incompetence and impotence of the authorities literally blew in our faces on August 4^th, 2020. The ruling politicians failed to make any useful statement or even to empathize with the people, but did the only thing they think they are good at: dodging responsibility. Different theories kept emerging in an attempt to explain the cause of the storage of this massive quantity of explosives at the Beirut port as well as the trigger of the fire and ensuing explosion. However, the truth remains uncovered and as the Arab saying goes ‘the reasons are many, but death is one’.  The only undeniable truth was that all concerned politicians in power and authorities must be held accountable for the massacre, whether they knew about the storage of explosives and the imminent catastrophe and did not act upon it or were supposed to know about it but did not. We were only sure of one thing: the entire system must henceforth crumble from head to toe.

After three days of shock and mourning, of lifting rubble, searching for survivors, cleaning and help, almost entirely at the initiative of civil defence officers and civilians, it was time for justice and accountability. Thousands of people marched from the devastated streets of Beirut towards Martyrs’ Square in the city centre, where a protest fuelled by anger and despair took place. The army and security forces, who barely exerted any efforts to lift the rubble and rescue survivors of the humongous blast, were very much prepared to throw teargas canisters and shoot protestors with a variety of bullets including pellets and rubber bullets. The weapons targeted all sorts of protestors, even those standing peacefully in the square. These assaults caused injuries upon injuries and pain upon pain, filling up the hospitals – already exhausted or damaged following the explosion – with hundreds of injured protestors. Paradoxically, hundreds of protestors were detained, while not one minister or high-ranking officer was – until then – arrested for responsibility for the Beirut explosion.   

The freedom of the press also took another blow, as the crew of a Lebanese TV channel was banned from covering news from the presidential palace under the pretext that the channel had “insulted” and “attacked” the president when blaming him, among others, for the devastating Beirut port explosion.

Despite all the violence and attacks that we have been enduring for almost a year, our rage is growing and our persistence is fiercer. The government made us poor and hungry and stripped us of our rights and future, killed us and destroyed our city. We will not keep silent, we will never forget, we will never forgive.

I write these words with a heavy heart but a light of hope, in memory of all those who lost their lives believing in a better life, in the name of all those injured fighting for their dignity, for all those who lost their houses struggling to build a home.

I write these words to let the world know that the Lebanese people is a hostage of a corrupt sectarian system ruled by a bunch of ignorant and incompetent tyrants who tarnished the beauty of our country. We learned from history that no reign lasts forever and that tyrants fight their ugliest fight when they realize their end is near, from their fear comes their oppression, but their oppression will never silence our righteous voices. Revolution is an idea and an idea cannot be killed; we will keep expressing it in all available forms and mediums until justice and freedom prevail.

We will keep fighting to rebuild our Lebanon. Our Lebanon is a beacon of freedom among its neighbours and a hub for culture and arts in the Middle East. Our Lebanon is a model of diversity, solidarity, kindness and hospitality. Our Lebanon is a place of life, happiness and prosperity. Our Lebanon is beautiful landscapes, green forests and clean rivers and beaches. Our Lebanon is a guardian of rights and justice. This is our Lebanon and we will take it back.

I wrote the first words of this article on the terrace of a beautiful traditional unfinished guesthouse in the street of Gemmayze in Beirut. At the time, I could not have imagined the fate of Beirut, how that street in particular would be reduced to rubble a few days later. Who could have predicted a tragedy of that magnitude anyway?

On August 4^th, 2020, as much as 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate inadequately stored at the Beirut port, facing one of the most populated areas of Beirut, exploded. The nuclear-like blast killed at least 200 people, injured more than 6000 people, ravaged and destroyed a large part of Beirut leaving more than 300,000 people homeless, and caused damages as far as tens of kilometres away from the epicentre.

Every Lebanese person was affected and touched by this horrific explosion. We went in infinite loops of shock, disbelief, grief and anger, mixed with tears, lots of tears. We were all shocked and traumatized (and still are); we craved revenge and retribution (and still do). I hesitated to write, my article did not seem relevant anymore, nothing mattered anymore compared to the horror we had endured individually and as a nation.

We all thought that the conscience of our political “leaders” had hit rock bottom, that they have killed us, and pretending it was not their fault, that the colossal blast was the worst thing they had ever perpetrated. Outrageously, their reactions and their continuing lack of sympathy, aggressions and brutality facing the devastated people’s pain and anger proved that they were far worse than any human mind could ever fathom. After taking away our rights, our savings, our future and our dreams, then our loved ones, our homes, our serenity and security, their thirst was still unquenched: they also wanted to take away our voice. That is when I realized more than ever that I should speak up to spread the voice of my people to the world. I want it to be known that the Lebanese government killed its people and since then is forcing the people to keep silent about it.

For some context, the current Lebanese political system is a sectarian system that has survived and proliferated for decades due to the politics and manipulative practices of corrupt leaders and warlords who have deprived the Lebanese people of their most basic rights in order to secure and perpetuate their positions of power.

To put it in concrete terms, let me tell you how I, a thirty-year old Lebanese woman, lived – or rather survived – in Lebanon. I was born near the end of a fifteen-year-long civil war and was immediately categorized as a Christian orthodox. My parents struggled to send me to private schools. I did not have the “chance” to be scared of the dark, I had to live with it, to study, eat and shower on candlelight when the private generator was down, and I only discovered through western movies that people elsewhere could drink tap water. I grew up hearing the words “fassad” (corruption) and “wassta” (nepotism) and the same names of politicians on TV, and I still do to this day! I survived a number of  military attacks by Israel, every now and then.  I survived through a series of explosions that targeted and assassinated several political figures and journalists, that started in 2005 and ended I do not even know when. I participated, when I was just a teenager, in one of the biggest demonstrations in 2005 that resulted in the Syrian forces withdrawing from Lebanon. I survived a war in July 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah and I still do not know why this war even happened. Most of my friends left to live and work abroad. I knew that my religion and my personal connections dictated where I could work and which ranks I could reach, because that is just “how it works here”. I knew the air I was breathing and that our rivers and our sea were polluted, I was threatened to drown in a pile of garbage laying on the street or to catch some related disease. If I fell ill, I was lucky to be admitted to hospital because I could afford private insurance, while other people would die at the doors of hospitals. All of this, just because some politicians decided to steal our taxpayer money instead of developing the public education system and the energy and water sectors, finding solutions for our environmental problems and implementing a healthcare plan. All of this, just because some politicians’ priorities were to get rich and remain in power instead of actually doing their job. Despite everything, I was “lucky” because many Lebanese people lived in far worse conditions, I am “lucky” to be alive.

Our social and economic conditions tragically deteriorated even more since October 2019, starting with ravaging fires that could not be contained due to the lack of maintenance of firefighting planes, followed by the government’s attempt to impose a series of unfair tax increases. This ignited the Lebanese revolution on the night of 19 October 2019 and a long series of protests and road blocking lasting for weeks. The situation kept getting worse as we suffered from the imposition of illegal capital controls and limits on access to our bank accounts and on foreign transfers, the loss of the local currency of more than eighty percent of its value in a few months, a severe economic crisis, in addition to shortages of food and fuel resulting in more power cuts.

The events that arose since October 2019 have proven that the Lebanese authorities would not hesitate to repress free speech and use force to oppress the people – who are the very reason they are in power – to protect their shaking thrones and silence any dissident voice.

Since the start of the revolution, and despite the numerous calls of international organizations and diplomats, the Lebanese authorities not only failed to protect peaceful protestors and to respect their right to freedom of assembly, but also faced them with all sorts of violence, many times flagrantly exercised by official security forces; other times, the perpetrators were suspicious groups whose actions were disregarded, covered by or even ordered by authorities or political parties who denied their relation to those groups in an effort to dissimulate their responsibility. Security guards, riot police and even the army confronted the protestors with excessive force to diligently protect their corrupt commanders; they did not spare the use of teargas bombs and rubber bullets, sometimes fortunately missing the protestors, but other times costing young men their lives or their eyesight or causing them other permanent injuries. All outrageous crimes, disregarded by a corrupt judicial system that is controlled by the leaders or protectors of the perpetrators, remain unpunished to this day despite the authorities’ promises that, in fact, barely materialized in temporary detentions or a few disciplinary sanctions.

At the appearance of the first few COVID-19 cases in beginning of March 2020, the government gladly imposed a full lock-down on the country seemingly to curb the spread of the virus, but subtly taking advantage of the pandemic to contain and halt the revolution’s momentum. The protestors deserted the streets but turned to social media platforms and the press to keep their revolution alive, voice their demands and criticize the ruling class and its corrupt practices that have plunged Lebanon in its worst economic crisis since the civil war (1975-1990).

The authorities’ violations of our right to freedom of expression translated into multiple arbitrary arrests and interrogations of protestors, whether as a result of street protests or for posting “insulting” material on social media. In addition to enforcing the existing baffling law that punishes insults towards the president with a sentence that can reach up to two years of imprisonment and other broad defamation laws, the authorities supported measures that aim to pressure and force people into complete silence and obedience by prohibiting the use of curse words against the president. The protestors were only released under pressure by their fellow demonstrators, including road blockage and sit-ins, supported by the efforts of the newly elected President of the Beirut Bar Association. In addition, many detainees reported being subject to police violence and torture during their arrest.

The press also had its share of attacks, interrogations and intimidation attempts. Military intelligence even stopped the crew of foreign TV channels from conducting their interviews under the pretext that they should obtain permits prior to doing their job. The incident was followed by hazy statements of the army which were legally unfounded or, at best, built upon a never-before applied internal decision dating back to the 1980s, of which journalists had not been previously made aware. The Minister of Information feebly responded to the army’s attempt to control and selectively censor the press.

For the past months, our daily life had become a juggle between finding a way to survive through the collapsing sanitary and economic situation, and voicing our rights while resisting oppression. That was until the corruption, incompetence and impotence of the authorities literally blew in our faces on August 4^th, 2020. The ruling politicians failed to make any useful statement or even to empathize with the people, but did the only thing they think they are good at: dodging responsibility. Different theories kept emerging in an attempt to explain the cause of the storage of this massive quantity of explosives at the Beirut port as well as the trigger of the fire and ensuing explosion. However, the truth remains uncovered and as the Arab saying goes ‘the reasons are many, but death is one’.  The only undeniable truth was that all concerned politicians in power and authorities must be held accountable for the massacre, whether they knew about the storage of explosives and the imminent catastrophe and did not act upon it or were supposed to know about it but did not. We were only sure of one thing: the entire system must henceforth crumble from head to toe.

After three days of shock and mourning, of lifting rubble, searching for survivors, cleaning and help, almost entirely at the initiative of civil defence officers and civilians, it was time for justice and accountability. Thousands of people marched from the devastated streets of Beirut towards Martyrs’ Square in the city centre, where a protest fuelled by anger and despair took place. The army and security forces, who barely exerted any efforts to lift the rubble and rescue survivors of the humongous blast, were very much prepared to throw teargas canisters and shoot protestors with a variety of bullets including pellets and rubber bullets. The weapons targeted all sorts of protestors, even those standing peacefully in the square. These assaults caused injuries upon injuries and pain upon pain, filling up the hospitals – already exhausted or damaged following the explosion – with hundreds of injured protestors. Paradoxically, hundreds of protestors were detained, while not one minister or high-ranking officer was – until then – arrested for responsibility for the Beirut explosion.   

The freedom of the press also took another blow, as the crew of a Lebanese TV channel was banned from covering news from the presidential palace under the pretext that the channel had “insulted” and “attacked” the president when blaming him, among others, for the devastating Beirut port explosion.

Despite all the violence and attacks that we have been enduring for almost a year, our rage is growing and our persistence is fiercer. The government made us poor and hungry and stripped us of our rights and future, killed us and destroyed our city. We will not keep silent, we will never forget, we will never forgive.

I write these words with a heavy heart but a light of hope, in memory of all those who lost their lives believing in a better life, in the name of all those injured fighting for their dignity, for all those who lost their houses struggling to build a home.

I write these words to let the world know that the Lebanese people is a hostage of a corrupt sectarian system ruled by a bunch of ignorant and incompetent tyrants who tarnished the beauty of our country. We learned from history that no reign lasts forever and that tyrants fight their ugliest fight when they realize their end is near, from their fear comes their oppression, but their oppression will never silence our righteous voices. Revolution is an idea and an idea cannot be killed; we will keep expressing it in all available forms and mediums until justice and freedom prevail.

We will keep fighting to rebuild our Lebanon. Our Lebanon is a beacon of freedom among its neighbours and a hub for culture and arts in the Middle East. Our Lebanon is a model of diversity, solidarity, kindness and hospitality. Our Lebanon is a place of life, happiness and prosperity. Our Lebanon is beautiful landscapes, green forests and clean rivers and beaches. Our Lebanon is a guardian of rights and justice. This is our Lebanon and we will take it back.