Wasta, the satirical board game that denounces corruption in Lebanon
A Lebanese flag flies above the devastated port of Beirut (illustrative image).
REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Inspired by Lebanese society and its flaws, a game designer, Elie Kesrouany launched “Wasta” (piston, in Arabic).
These maps drawn by Bernard Hage, a Lebanese comic book author, make fun of the political system and denounce corruption.
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With our correspondent in Beirut
,
Sophie Guignon
In his café for board game enthusiasts, Elie Kesrouany, the creator of Wasta explains the rules to a group of young people: “
The clearest card is the sheep.
It represents the people who vote for leaders who have ruined their lives for twenty or thirty years, but they always vote for them because they buy them with such and such a service
”.
The player must survive between the banker and his banknote vacuum cleaner, the militia thug and the crooked politician.
Figures shouted down during the 2019 protest movement. “
It's a satirical game.
In Lebanon, everything is based on the pistons.
It's a message in the form of a game, the goal is to amuse people, to make them laugh, but it also makes them very aware of what's going on
", launches Elie Kesrouany, who participated in the
movement of dispute
.
At the table, Makarious Azzam, 28, discovers Wasta for the first time: “
This game tells what we live.
The message is very clear.
All Lebanese can identify with it.
Things have to change
”.
The sarcastic card game has already sold 6,500 copies.
As the economic and political crisis drags on in Lebanon, humor seems to be the only way out for
young people in need of perspective.
►
To read also: Lebanon: from protest to the polls
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