Lebanese protests continue
On October 17 of last year, Lebanon awoke to hundreds of civil rights activists blocking the streets of its capital city Beirut, as well as other cities. These protesters took to the streets to express their frustration with the new tax measures that the government announced on the same day. The new measures included a gasoline and tobacco tax. But perhaps the biggest backlash came over the government announcing a new tax on the social media app WhatsApp. “That was the final straw. The government was putting taxes on everything, but WhatsApp is free everywhere in the world. Imagine if someone put a tax on Facebook. That is not O.K” says Zaynab Hamzeh, a 22-year-old Lebanese college student from Beirut. Several months later and protests are still taking place in response to the dire economic situation in Lebanon that has been worsening over the years, as well as to government corruption and failure of the government to provide basic services such as electricity and water. “[P]eople are fed up with the economic and political situation, especially young people,” says Hamzeh. Some of the main demands of the protestors are government accountability, fair taxation, and an end to the sectarian system that has long divided the social fabric of the Lebanese society.
So what is going to happen now? Hamzeh seems to be pessimistic about the future of the situation “It’s useless … nothing is going to change. We romanticized the idea of a revolution, but we’re too divided for this to work.” After months of deadlock and deepening economic crises, Lebanon formed a new government with a university professor as prime minister. The new leader, whose candidacy was backed up by Hezbollah and Amal, identifies himself as an unaffiliated technocrat. Protestors were quick to reject this new government, leading the demonstrations to carry on into the new year. The protests took a violent turn with several injured after the Lebanese security forces used batons, and even tear gases.
Luna Noofoory - Contributing Writer