After two weeks of non-stop protests, there is no sign that the Lebanese people are going to leave the streets until all the country’s political leaders resign their offices. The resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri on 28 October is not enough. ‘All of them must go, all of them’ is the persistent call from the huge demonstrations which have numbered up to two million people, half of Lebanon’s population. These protests have cut across the sectarian divisions which have been structured into the country’s constitution since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. The massive movement is leading to strains within the Hezbollah resistance movement as it struggles to respond to this new situation. LAMA ABBAS reports.
The mass of the people have finally decided that sectarianism, racism and the high cost of living that characterise Lebanese life must come to an end. On 17 October, after the government imposed a new tax on WhatsApp calls, the people stood up against a system riddled with corruption. The tax, $0.20 per call, was made possible by the fact that the two mobile networks in the country are owned by the state: the intention was to raise $250m a year. The background is the third highest debt to GNP ratio in the world today, and demands by international lenders for severe cuts in state spending. The result has been enormous pressure on the Lebanese pound, or Lera, which has been pegged at 1507 to the US dollar since the end of the civil war in 1990. However, the real unofficial rate has fallen in a few weeks to 1800 Lera to the dollar, equivalent to a 20% cut in wages. The immediate consequence was a strike among petrol distribution workers which led to a fuel crisis. This was followed by fires in Al Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve that spread to inhabited areas due to a lack of government intervention in putting out the flames: helicopters for fire fighting had been left unrepaired for months. The fires resulted in one death and made many others homeless.
Lebanon has been suffering from corrupt institutions for decades; this was the background to huge protests in 2015 over the collapse of garbage disposal in Beirut (see Lebanon: capitalism stinks, on this website). Half of all workers are in the informal economy, of these, an estimated half earn less than the minimum wage. The result is that 25% of the people in Lebanon are living in poverty on less than $266 per month. They cannot be employed without relying on bribes or go-betweens, teachers have been quitting their jobs because they cannot afford the transport, and young people are emigrating once they finish their education, seeking job opportunities in other countries. Poverty is particularly acute among the 1.5 million Syrian and 500,000 Palestinian refugees in the country: Lebanon has by far the highest ratio of refugees to indigenous population of any country in the world. Meanwhile, MP salaries are the highest in the world measured as a ratio to the minimum wage, nearly 20:1 ($8,500 per month against $450 for the minimum wage). In 2015, Credit Suisse estimated that 0.3% of the population owned half the private wealth of the country; based on the GINI coefficient of inequality, Lebanon ranks sixth worst in the world today.
Protests in Antelias, 17 October (photo: Shahen Araboghlian)
Following the announcement of the Whatsapp tax, thousands of people went down to the streets of Beirut demanding an end to the regime. The demonstrations grew and extended from Tyre in the south to Tripoli in the North, covering almost every city in Lebanon, blocking all the main roads and the bystreets, preventing everyone from going to work or school or any other destination. Their demand was for everyone in authority without exception to resign, stating that the leaders had proven their failure in dealing with the people’s demands for years. Protesters assembled outside politicians’ mansions singing a popular song ‘Where did you get that from’ by Mohammed Iskander, a song which was written in April about the Banque de l’Habitat, which had been exposed for bribing MPs; Iskander was himself threatened with legal action for slander. Key Lebanese politicians enjoy fabulous wealth: one-time prime minister Najib Mikati has a fortune of $2.6bn; recent Prime Minister Saad Hariri is worth $1.5bn and his family as a whole is worth more than $6bn; President Michel Aoun is worth $1bn; the family of the Speaker in Parliament, Nabih Berry, is worth $2bn and is the largest landowner in southern Lebanon. At least one in five MPs are millionaires, so when Aoun and other politicians tweeted on their accounts that they understood the pain of the people and claimed that they were part of them, it merely fuelled the anger of the protesters.
Sectarian institutions
The Lebanese population is made up of many different religions, in particular Maronite Christians, Sunni and Shia Muslim, and Druze. Signalling the end of the civil war, the 1989 Taif Agreement or National Reconciliation Accord was an attempt to maintain a future political equilibrium between the different religious groupings. However, all it achieved was to crystallise sectarian divisions and with it the need for patronage to maintain a balance between the competing interests. This has made it almost impossible for people to live a normal life away from racism. What has been striking about the protests is the unity of the people: only the Lebanese flag is flown rather than the emblems of the various sects; all are calling for a peaceful revolution to make Lebanon a better place to live in and to reduce the need for emigration. People have been in the streets at all times; protesting during the day and partying during the night in extreme circumstances chanting ‘revolution’. They are not only chanting against the corruption, but also against racism and in support of the people of the Arab nations: against Sisi and in support of the Egyptians for example. They have apologised to the Palestinians on behalf of their government’s racist behaviour toward the refugees and welcome all the Palestinian and Syrian refugees. In addition, they have declared that Israel is one of the curses of the Middle East on top of generalised corruption.
Hariri’s ‘rescue plan’
The Lebanese army declared from the first day that it was on the side of the people, and within a couple of days some ministers had already resigned. On 21 October, in an effort to buy off the protests, Prime Minister Hariri came up with a ‘rescue plan’ that included 20 items. Declaring that as one of the people, he was trying to respond to the people’s demands, he added that he supported the idea of a new government and that therefore elections would be held shortly. The package included cutting the salary of the MPs by 50% – a budget proposal made in April 2019 as a condition for receiving financial support but defeated by Parliament. However, according to the protesters, Hariri’s proposals included only 10% of their demands, and they announced they neither trusted the government nor intended to leave the streets.
More and more demonstrators were joining every day in different cities, including well known Lebanese artists and celebrities. Some MPs were seen in the streets on the seventh day of the revolution seeking to assure people that they were on their side. Unsurprisingly, the people demanded that they resign, saying that they had no trust in them. People want what they call ‘The Bank Policy’ of extortionate interest on loans and overdrafts to end, and all the money stolen by the rich to be handed back. They even besieged the Central Bank in Beirut, chanting ‘Thieves, Ryad Salameh (head of the Central Bank) is a thief’ and the names of others believed to be involved in stealing the money of the people. By 28 October, Hariri’s position became untenable, and he offered his resignation which President Aoun accepted the next day.
Hezbollah
Shia Muslims make up about 30% of Lebanon’s population; they are the base for the Hezbollah resistance movement which defeated the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon in 2006. What its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, says matters. During the first few days of the revolution, he declared while he thought the revolution was to be applauded, he was against the resignation of the current regime. In a televised speech prior to Hariri’s resignation, Nasrallah said ‘The movement already has big achievements, by leading the government to come up with a “rescue plan” and actually start implementing it, and this achievement shouldn’t be underestimated.’ He added that they will ensure that Hariri’s ‘rescue plan’ would be applied within the deadlines set for it. He however warned the protesters against having any political parties or leaders involved in the revolution, saying that their presence would be harmful and would have other political implications. He included Hezbollah among these parties, saying ‘I call the crowds of the Resistance to leave the streets’, adding ‘OK, you achieved something big, this is enough, don’t waste your time and the country’s time, you can keep protesting, but open the roads and allow people to go to their work’. He warned: ‘I fear of [the revolution] leading Lebanon to a vacuum and perhaps a civil war again’ and raised doubts about the origins of the funding of the revolution. Later, people with links to Hezbollah were seen in the streets attacking some protesters.
While the main chant of the revolution remains ‘All of them means all of them’, there are some doubts within the crowds regarding the role of Hezbollah. On the one hand, many people have obeyed Nasrallah’s request to leave the streets: it has immense authority as the Resistance. But on the other, protesters have declared that they themselves are funding the revolution, and the hashtag #I_fund_the_revolution has become very popular as a response. The movement has made it clear that its protest is directed against corruption and authority, and not against the Resistance. However, Hezbollah as a political party is included in the demand ‘all of them.’
The Zionists are of course hopeful that any reforms implemented in response to the revolution will weaken Hezbollah’s position within Lebanon’s political structures, and doubtless their agents will be active in fomenting discord. But against that, the revolution instantly achieved unity across the base of the different sects, has strengthened Lebanese identity, and overcome the racism that underpins the sectarian state structures. The Lebanese people have proved to themselves and the world that they are capable of creating change, and that they will not give up until all their demands are met.
