Lebanon: A Tragic Masterpiece
Art by Donia Ghaith
The romanticization of cities and nations in song, poetry, and literature has always fascinated me as I try to remain pragmatic and hopeful about the increasingly chaotic world we live in. I had always imagined that our grasp of beauty and exceptionalism was tied to our memories, experiences, and personal connection to a certain place. But if that is so, why do Americans in the Midwest yearn for visiting the romance of Paris? Why do young men in Lahore dream of experiencing the hustle and bustle of New York City? Why would the children of Gaza vigorously support a football team in Barcelona that they would die to go see play live?
I only truly understood these phenomenons when I found myself endlessly attracted to the life, stories, and politics of Beirut, Lebanon. People are not drawn to countries just for their families and experiences, but also by the mental image that they have created from the media, art, and news about these places that they find unique. Few cities have been sung to and written about as much as Beirut and all the lands that grace Lebanon. While I am typically not one for romanticism and melodrama, it truly seems something extraordinary that cannot be explained, keeps dragging my mind back to Beirut, a city I have never had the privilege of visiting myself. After exactly one year from my previous article about Lebanon, I can't help but revisit what award-winning painter and writer Rabih Alameddine describes as the Elizabeth Taylor of nations: “insane, beautiful, falling apart, aging, and forever drama laden”.
Where is Lebanon Right Now?
There is no question that Lebanon is currently going through one of the most difficult periods of its history, both economically and politically. One year from my previous analysis, it pains me to say the economic situation has only worsened. The Lebanese pound has lost over 90% of its economic value, and over half the Lebanese population continues to live in abject poverty, making day to day interactions and economic transactions painstakingly difficult for the Lebanese population. With banks essentially paralyzed, state debts reaching over 425%, and key economic partners like the UAE and Saudi Arabia taking a step back in investment, it isn’t enough to just say Lebanon’s economic situation is bleak. The Lebanese middle class that made around $2,000 a month in 2018 now make less than $140, which can’t even cover necessities and foods with soaring food prices. Gas is scarce and expensive when available, and most families have to skip at least one meal to push through the rest of the week, with food shortages expected on the daily. One week, bread, a staple for many families, is hard to come by due to wheat shortages. The next week, baby formula seems impossible to obtain. Chronic power outages have plagued the country since the end of the civil war.
With Lebanon truly holding on by a thread, government officials have called on the IMF for months to create an economic revival plan to get the country back on its feet. While a staff level agreement has been accepted between the government and IMF to pump 3 billion dollars of investment into the Lebanese economy, the IMF is requiring significant banking and authoritative reforms to increase political and economic transparency in Lebanon’s banking sector. While this agreement could be a step in the right direction, there are significant obstacles to overcome for this investment to occur. “The corruption of not just the banking sector but every section of the current Lebanese political class would prevent any of them from agreeing to increase their transparency with their public funds since public pressure on them is already so immense” stated Charles Sills, UC Davis Graduate Student and Arabic Critical Language Fellow.
Likewise, it has become clear that the IMF requires clean and pragmatic economic reform from Lebanon. Unfortunately, this seems unlikely to come from a country ruled by former militia leaders, warlords, and crooked businessmen who refuse to take an ounce of responsibility for the current situation, and who have directly benefited from the systems that have sucked Lebanon dry of nearly all of its resources. Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, was one of several Lebanese figures to have their names released in the Pandora Papers, which linked Salameh to offshore companies with almost $100 million worth of assets. Similarly, Salameh has been charged with illegal enrichment and money laundering, and is currently being investigated in both France and Switzerland for embezzlement and misuse of public funds. Banking on the transparency of spineless, arrogant old men like Salameh who have taken manoucheh loaves and baby formula out of the mouths of Lebanese children, and placed those riches into offshore bank accounts isn’t a long term plan the IMF can rely on alone.
What’s Changed?
My previous article concluded with the joint sentiment of my good friend Rima Jamaleddine and myself on the importance of the 2022 elections for Lebanon’s future. Since then, Rima has moved back to Beirut and currently works as a communications officer for a Lebanese NGO. As I reconnected with Rima again, I was shocked with her analysis of the 2022 election results. “These elections have proved to me that Lebanon will never be a peaceful or decent country” explains Rima, clearly unhappy with her words, but emphasizing the grim reality of the country. “Before the elections, we as youth were hopeful and scared at the same time. We thought we would take our country back, but didn’t know how the thugs would respond. I even volunteered to monitor the elections. Along with many young volunteers, I saw representatives from parties like Hezbollah and Amal intimidate voters and tell them who to vote for before they go inside. In the most important elections in contemporary Lebanese history, we saw a ridiculous amount of fraud and illegal influence from parties. It took them two days to get the results of the elections back! Why so late? That doesn’t happen in other countries”. These are not solely Rima’s claims, as many news outlets such as Al Jazeera and the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) have documented the illegal intimidation tactics by several Lebanese parties. The government had reportedly decreased the hours voting booths were open in order to prevent groups living outside of Beirut from voting. Even outside of Lebanon, where expats have serious voting leverage due to their sheer number of Lebanese living abroad, many observed intimidation tactics in their respective countries. “Expats went through hell in order to vote. Here in the US, I spent four hours waiting to vote and wasn’t allowed to in the end because of a technicality they didn’t even explain to me. This is clear voter suppression”, claims Sereen Banna, Lebanese founder of the Young Central Podcast and UC Davis graduate who closely followed the Lebanese elections.
Unfortunately, such staunch voter fraud isn’t the most disappointing thing about the recent election, as voter turnout was at an abysmal 41% during one of the most important political moments in Lebanese history. “Who knows why voter turnout was so low?” proclaimed Charles Sills, “Maybe it was because average citizens are just disgusted with politics and anything related to it. Maybe it was a general sense of hopelessness and apathy. Who knows?” Neither Sills, Jamaleddine, Banna, nor myself could understand why voter turnout was so low after all the damage that the political elite has caused in the past few years to Lebanon. Regardless, there was unanimous agreement that describing such a result as disappointing would be an understatement.
Alas, Lebanon Always Has Another Side
Thankfully, the soul-crushing turnout was not the only thing that all the interviewees agreed on, as no one could doubt that the success of independent and anti-establishment political groups to gain 16 seats in the Lebanese Parliament was extremely significant. Amongst the various political analysts, activists, and students I’ve interviewed, there was collective agreement that having independent voices in Parliament that actively criticize the ruling class was extremely significant and sparked hope.
“The beautiful thing about the elections this year is that it proved to the Lebanese people and the world that change is possible” claims Banna. “We have clearly voted for change. Not just change of the political elite, but also of the sectarian strife that’s kept us from truly developing for years. For example, I am Druze. We are a very small religious community, and have blindly trusted two politicians in former warlord Walid Jumblatt and Talal Arslan. This year, the Druze community was able to vote out Talal Arslan for the first time in 30 years and replace him with civil society activist and professor Mark Daou. This kind of vote for a vulnerable and tight-knit community like the Druze is a big win”. Arslan, a known Bashar Al-Assad apologist, like many others, maintained his seat off of a purely discriminatory platform that the Druze are being conspired against by Maronites and Sunnis in Lebanon and that the only way for the Druze to protect themselves was to continue to vote for Arslan. Voting Arslan out is a testament to the potential of the Lebanese people to break the shackles of sectarian strife under the right circumstances.
The Druze were not the only community to slowly eat away at the old guard, with politicians that publicly mocked Lebanon’s 2019 revolution and insulted journalists such as Ziad Aswad, Elie Ferzli, and others losing their seats to independents and pro-revolution politicians. While 16 seats is nowhere near a majority in a Parliament of 128, these newly elected independents and reformist parties have already started to make an impact on Lebanese politics. The vote for speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, went down to one single vote. Berri, Speaker since 1992 and an iconic symbol of everything wrong with Lebanese politics, from inciting violence to corruption charges, was only able to win by the skin of his teeth and is already having his authority challenged by many of the new parliamentarians. This proves the power that Lebanon’s new political forces can have despite an underwhelming election and the most dire of political and economic scenarios.
A Future for the Elizabeth Taylor of Nations
Attempting to accurately predict the future of Lebanon, a nation as complicated as it is mesmerizing, would inevitably lead me to try my best to hide this article in the future in order to not have to admit how wrong I was. Lebanon cannot be predicted or sufficiently labeled in order to accurately portray and include all its beauty, intricacies, horrors, and peculiarities. Getting rid of a rotten political class is in no way an easy task amidst one of the world’s worst economic crises and a brain drain that is forcing Lebanon’s greatest minds to flee. Amidst the country’s slue of chronic problems, Lebanon remains one of the most uniquely fascinating nations on this planet. Even the most skeptical and doubtful of Lebanon’s children who strive for any way out feel reluctant in leaving, as they know that they will deeply miss the chaotically beautiful Lebanon, even if all the logical signs point to exile. Lebanon has produced some of the world's best musicians, poets, philosophers, and thinkers since the age of the Phoenicians. As our world is becoming increasingly globalized and cultural and political clashes continue to grow more and more intense, there is so much we can learn from Lebanon. A country that has beaconed Eastern and Western lifestyles, cultures, and political systems for centuries and developed a nature of adaptability, harmonious chaos, and creativity unlike any other. We have seen what happens when we turn a blind eye to dictators and corrupt elites who have no regard for the well being and dignity of their own people, with the prime example being Vladimir Putin dragging the entire globe's economy through the mud by invading Ukraine and causing Europe’s deadliest war in decades. To learn such lessons, we must pay close attention to Lebanon, as it always has a story that will teach us and leave us enchanted with sorrow and unspoken beauty.