In 2019, a series of austerity measures were introduced in Lebanon. Noticeably was the increase in taxes on gasoline and online phone calls. This so-called WhatsApp tax led to a national wave of protests. The protests began on 17 October 2019, when hundreds of protesters occupied downtown Beirut, the nation’s capital., and grew from there. As the protests spread, so did the issues spread, to corruption, sectarianism, unemployment, lack of state accountability, and need for basic services. Protesters have complained that since 1990, electricity has been provided at 80% of demand.
The protests are leaderless and have led to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, in December 2019. They continue. Unlike previous struggles in Lebanon, these protests have resisted any sectarian, political or international patronage, and continue as an expression of dissent.
The resignation of Saad Hariri left a political vacuum, which has caused the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to put pressure on the state to put up a government that can manage the situation better. On 21 January, Hasan Diab became the newest Prime Minister. Diab attempted to balance American and Iranian interests, owing to his good relations with Hezbollah and a cabinet packed with American nationals. His government is likely to continue with the policies that the protesters are agitating against.
4. Making of Lebanon
Lebanon was a country designed to be unstable. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Syria and Lebanon came under the control of France. The colonial powers defeated the Ottoman’s in an alliance of a growing Arab solidarity movement but betrayed them when they created the new countries from the Ottoman Empire.
Religion was the basis of a divide and rule strategy. At Lebanon’s independence in 1943, about half of the country was Christian. The most prominent Christian sect, the Maronites, a third of the population. Nearly a third of the population was Muslim, and the remaining population was composed of local religions. So the French Mandate of Syria was partitioned on communal lines to give a country to the region’s Christian population, the Maronites. This country became Lebanon.
After the partition of Syria, Lebanon was a free market bastion in a region of the world that had more state control. Syria, Egypt, and Iraq began to adopt Secular Socialist states based on Arab Nationalism.
The communal nature of the divide haunted Lebanon. The Christian-Muslim split had regional and urban-rural dimensions. In the 1970s, many people migrated from rural areas to urban areas. Communal tensions flared up. Some groups, mostly Sunni, advocated for reunification with Syria.
[…] in an economic crisis with large-scale unemployment, food crises, poverty, and national debts, Lebanon had seen mass protests in October last year. These protests were sparked off by a series of austerity measures that were introduced in Lebanon, […]