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Since the evening of October 17, the Lebanese express their deep anger against the political class they accuse of corruption. The government's decision to impose a six-month-a-month tax on Whatsapp and other e-mail is the straw that broke the camel's back, throwing tens of thousands of people into the street, exasperated by the deterioration of their living conditions. life.
They were still tens of thousands of protesters occupying the squares of major Lebanese cities Sunday, October 20, in a festive atmosphere. Far from running out of steam, the movement is growing and getting organized. Yet he does not seem to have a leader or leader.
The beginning of the challenge is a typical example of an event initiated by social networks, which preceded the traditional media. Everything began spontaneously, Thursday, October 17 in the evening, calls on the web to demonstrate to denounce the decision of the government to tax Whatsapp. First, a small handful of people headed to the city center, then over the minutes, thanks to photos and comments posted mostly on Facebook, the number of protesters began to increase in view of eye. Even before the mainstream media realized that something important was happening, and decided to cover the facts, the majority of Lebanese were already aware of what was going on and many of them had decided to react and share on the web.
Hashtags have magnified the mobilization
Just hours after the start of the protest, the Lebanese found themselves an icon, whose identity remained unknown. A video showing a woman kicking the crotch of a ministerial guard armed with an automatic rifle was shared viral Thursday night on social networks. A drawing representing the scene has been shared thousands of times.
The hashtags appeared in French, Arabic and English on Twitter have helped to increase the mobilization. One of the most shared, with 150,000 appearances, is "Lebanon revolts" in Arabic. #Lebanonprotest is also very popular on the web in Lebanon and abroad, and has helped mobilize Lebanese communities in Paris, Washington and other cities around the world. Another hashtag , #Thathoweprotest is coupled with images or videos showing scenes where protesters show civility with other citizens, such as this group of young people trying to calm by a song a frightened child, stuck in a car with her mom in the middle of a rally. These hashtags and visuals go around the web and are relayed by famous bloggers and bloggers.
Political Account Settlements
Although the protest movement is spontaneous, some political forces try to exploit it for settling scores and this inevitably appears on the web. This is always the case in movements of this magnitude. There is a clear desire to associate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with the political class being hated by the protesters. The hashtag #Nasrallah is one of them, in reference to the political class. He appeared after a speech by the leader of the Shiite party on Saturday, October 19, in which he clearly opposed the resignation of the government, while supporting the social demands of the protesters.
This hashtag appeared more than 4,000 times on Twitter. The canvas then turned into a virtual battleground between supporters and opponents of Hassan Nasrallah. Another hashtag " Nasrallah is our trust ", spread like wildfire, harvesting in a few hours, more than 40 000 shares.