Lebanon: the protest is running out of steam, the political class is hanging on

Demonstration in Beirut, August 8, 2020. REUTERS / Goran Tomasevic

Text by: Paul Khalifeh Follow

7 min

A year after the wave of hope aroused by the protest movement in Lebanon, the situation is bitter.

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Lebanon is going through a crucial phase in its history today.

Its leaders, foreign officials and most observers believe the country is sinking into such a deep and complex crisis that its very existence is at stake.

Emmanuel Macron

, who was personally involved in the search for a way out that would allow the country of the cedar to recover, clearly said: “

" 

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The

raised by the protest movement that erupted on

are gone.

The political class accused of corruption and negligence, and whose inevitable fall had been announced by many experts, resisted.

Its resilience owes it to

, which has allowed it to build over decades a loyal clientele, cemented by networks of interests and community allegiances, and to fatal mistakes made by the popular uprising. 

The two errors of the protest

However, the protest movement had won the sympathy of a majority of the population.

Every Lebanese found himself in the demands of an economic and social nature raised by the demonstrators.

Corruption has reached unprecedented heights in the world;

the services provided by the State are of lamentable quality, such as electricity, for example, still subject to draconian rationing thirty years after the end of the civil war (1975-1990);

social ascent and mobility depend on a confessional straitjacket where allegiance to the head of the community or clan takes precedence over the criteria of competence;

the large traditional parties share most of the positions in administration, justice and even security services. 

The Lebanese are in a way hostages of a system locked by a businessist political class, whose incompetent and irresponsible management has led the country to the worst economic and financial crisis in its history.

However, the protest movement, made up of a wide spectrum of groups ranging from left to right to centrists, made two mistakes that ended up shattering its momentum.

First, it failed to unite, to structure itself, to bring out leadership and to agree on a common program.

Second, he failed to rally to his cause large sections of the Shiite community which, while adhering to the economic and social demands of the protesters, remains very attached to its leaders, in particular the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, craftsman. of the liberation of Lebanon from the Israeli occupation, in the year 2000. However, part of the protest movement decided to cross swords with the Shiite leaders, putting on an equal footing the politicians considered corrupt and Hassan Nasrallah .

Quite naturally, the majority of the community chose to close ranks behind him. 

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It is therefore cut off from an essential community component that the protest movement has continued its path.

Over the months, his speech gradually became politicized, putting economic and social demands on the back burner. 

The traditional parties are engulfed in this crack and each one has used the protest to settle scores with their political opponents.

This is how the President of the Republic Michel Aoun became the bête noire of the demonstrators, while other emblematic figures of the political class, such as the Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri or the chief Christian Samir Geagea were spared. 

The

cataclysmic

at the port of Beirut on August 4, which left 200 dead, 6500 wounded and destroyed part of the capital, brought to the surface deep political contradictions.

People's anger turned to Michel Aoun and Hezbollah, and the slogan of early parliamentary elections supplanted other demands.

At this stage, the convergence of demands from part of the protest and the parliamentary opposition (which is also part of the political class hated by the demonstrators) no longer escapes observers. 

No government since August 10

At this stage, the

manifests itself in the impossibility of forming a government to succeed that of Hassan Diab, who has resigned since August 10.

Yet Emmanuel Macron, the International Monetary Fund and others have made it clear that the urgent financial assistance Lebanon needs to curb the descent into hell hinges on economic and financial reforms that only an effective government is likely to enact. . 

The political class is now more afraid of the threats of sanctions brandished by the international community than of the protest movement.

He is so weakened that he did not see fit to demonstrate against the probable return to business of Saad Hariri, driven out by the street on October 29, 2019. 

► To read also: Lebanon, a country on its knees

♦ Reportage.

Lebanon: women's revolution 

Thousands of people will be pounding the streets this Saturday, October 17 to celebrate the anniversary of the mobilization against power.

An uprising in which women have taken a central place to demand equal rights and an end to discrimination and gender-related violence, unprecedented in its scale, in a still conservative country.

Reportage.

With our correspondent in Beirut,

Since the first day of the popular uprising, 19-year-old Lara Mukahal has taken to the streets at every protest.

Always at the head of the procession, sunglasses and black cap screwed on the head, she is delighted with the central place of women in the movement.

“ 

 "

A revolt which calls for equality, and allowed the liberation of the voice of women.

On the social network Instagram, they are now hundreds to denounce the harassment and violence of which they are victims, by posting photos of their attackers.

“

'Les pervers du Liban'

 "

In Lebanon, gender inequalities are institutionalized: for example, a mother cannot transmit Lebanese nationality.

Marriage, divorce and parental rights are still governed by religious laws, which are deeply discriminatory against women.

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