Over the weekend, thousands of Lebanese demonstrators descended on a main square in the central Beirut area to protest against the government’s impotence in dealing with the garbage crisis. Mountains of rubbish have been clogging the capital and surrounding areas since July 17 after the closure of the Naameh landfill. The garbage crisis created not just a serious health hazard but also drove tourists out of the country at the height of the summer.
Tourism is a major source of revenue in Lebanon. For more than a month, the government has not been able to address the issue, mostly the result of political differences which have paralysed the decision-making process, and the well-known corruption mechanisms that rule that process.
The Lebanese people obviously couldn’t take it anymore. A movement, appropriately called “you stink” — in reference to the country’s political elite, has managed to rally the people and for the first time in years, the Lebanese people raised their voices against the political class that has taken the Arab country hostage to its selfish political and financial gains.
Sectarian parties and armed groups have dominated Lebanon and its politics since the end of the civil war in 1990. The same politicians who were behind the frequent political crises for the past 25 years are being elected again and again. Powerful armed parties, such as Hezbollah, have managed to obliterate the civilian nature of a cultured, educated and open-minded society.
Lebanon was once the leading Arab country in development. It was called the Paris of the Arab World. Its educated class have contributed to the development of other Arab countries in all fields. But today, we see just a skeleton state that is close to being another failed state. The weekend protests, however, showed that the Lebanese people cannot be written off. Unlike other rallies, the Lebanese flag was the only emblem raised in the demonstrations. Although it is unfortunate that the people had to demonstrate and clash with the security forces to demand garbage collection, it was an encouraging scene to see the Lebanese finally united under one flag — the national flag.
