The widespread devastation and mass anger following the 4 August Beirut port explosion led to the collapse of another Lebanese government. Lebanon’s acute economic and political crisis is shattering the myths of post-war stability and capitalist development, with widespread proletarianisation and deepening impoverishment of refugees and migrants. Huge protests since 2015 have confronted privatisation, garbage in the streets, healthcare cuts and astronomical taxes imposed on the masses. Presiding over a succession of national disasters are the billionaires and millionaires of the Lebanese ruling class, allied to pro-imperialists and Zionists within and outside of Lebanon’s borders. The ghosts of wars past are stalking the present with a vengeance.
Within 48 hours of the blast, French president Emmanuel Macron flew into Beirut on a private jet. Macron demanded ‘reform,’ with a French roadmap for a new government tied to the wishes of a section of the Lebanese ruling class for an IMF loan. European media showed residents welcoming his presence, with some even circulating a petition calling for Lebanon’s recolonisation under a new French mandate. While a prosperous section of the Maronite community has historically tied itself to French colonialism, others protested Macron’s visit, chanting for the release of Lebanese communist Georges Abdallah, locked up in a French prison since 1984.
The port explosion left over 200 dead and over 6,000 wounded, with around 300,000 forced from their homes. The blast was felt in Palestinian refugee camps as far south as Bourj el-Shamali. 500,000 people were immediately in need of assistance with food, clothing and shelter, with little forthcoming from authorities or international donors. Lebanon’s only grain silo was destroyed; the country imports most of its food supplies and almost all of its wheat, with 80% coming through the Beirut port. Total losses are estimated at $15 billion.
Damages from the Beirut blast led directly to the loss of 500 hospital beds and the destruction of vital PPE for use against Covid-19. The Lebanese healthcare system had already been in a dire crisis, with healthcare workers striking in November 2019 against government failures to fund hospitals. Staff have gone unpaid, medical supplies have gone unpurchased and life-saving and urgent care severely threatened. By July, hospitals faced daily power cuts and non-critical cases were being turned away. 82% of Lebanon’s healthcare capacity is run by private firms.
Official reports initially claimed that the explosion was a result of a fireworks malfunction, later confirming that it actually came from a 2,750 tonne store of ammonium nitrate, which had been left in a port warehouse since 2013. 16 port managers and workers were immediately arrested, with bank freezes and travel bans also imposed. Government-led investigations focused on the port, refusing any responsibility on the part of politicians. Journalists in Russia spoke to former captain of the ship Boris Proshenko, who insisted that ‘the government of Lebanon… knew very well that there was dangerous cargo there’, confirming that the ship had been detained on its way to Mozambique.
The US government has since hinted at Hizbullah responsibility, claiming without evidence that the group has stores of chemicals in Europe and the Middle East, preparing for ‘terrorist’ attacks. Four days before the Beirut blast, Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz had instructed the army to bomb Lebanese infrastructure if Zionist soldiers were harmed by Hizbullah, warning of ‘an unusual response from the IDF against [the organisation] and the country of Lebanon.’ Israel used chemical weapons against civilian populations in Lebanon in 1982 and 2006.
Attacking port infrastructure has long been a military tactic of colonialist forces in the Middle East. The burning of Beirut docks by the Phalange in 1975 led to Lebanese coastal areas falling into the hands of warlords. Two years’ prior, Israeli bombing of the Syrian port cities of Latakia and Tartous had caused equivalent damages of $2.24 billion. The destruction of Beirut means that Turkey and Israel will benefit economically; Turkey has expanded Mersin and Israel has grand designs for the colonised port city of Haifa. The UAE has offered to rebuild Beirut port ‘in exchange for rights to manage the port for 25 years.’ The dust has barely settled but the vultures are circling.
Within 24 hours of the devastation, Lebanese security forces were firing teargas at protesters. Attesting to both the rage of the dispossessed and the virulence of the ruling class, confrontations have exploded a government sponsored fortnight of mourning. A Beirut resident told Al Jazeera live on air that, ‘Our anger will only stop… if we see those bastards in prison.’ The Washington Post lamented ‘a small country buckling under a shocking pileup of calamities’, listing the influx of Syrian refugees alongside civil strife, famine and the destruction of the Lebanese middle class.
A week later the Lebanese government led by Hassan Diab resigned. Another new government would now be created under the rigged sectarian system created by French colonialism. Christian Hizbullah ally Michel Aoun has retained his ceremonial post as president. Hizbullah and Shia party Amal are attempting to win backing for a new Finance Minister, a pivotal role since the president must be Maronite and the prime minister a Sunni – independent Mustapha Adib has been nominated. Those opposing such moves include influential Maronite patriarch Bechara Rai. The rule of the rich is on the line.
During huge protests in Beirut on 8 August, protesters stormed government buildings, declaring the Foreign Ministry the ‘headquarters of the revolution.’ The fascist Phalange have opportunistically jumped onto the protest movement, expressing hostility to Palestinian and Syrian refugees and claiming that Lebanon is being colonised by Iran. British Channel 4 and The Guardian gave platforms to Phalangists Samir Geagea and Sami Gemayel, with sights are set not on the rich, but on Hizbullah. Rightist forces are at the centre of calls for new elections and seek to empower the openly pro-imperialist, Saudi and Israeli backed section of the ruling class. Working class anger at the heart of street protests is palpable, yet the antagonisms of the movement have become more difficult to conceal.
Louis Brehony
