Hezbollah supporters at an election rally in Beirut on Tuesday. WAEL HAMZEH (EFE)
Like in Chile five years ago, or in Spain ten years ago. Youth movements that have led massive protests in Lebanon in recent years against the status quo that has toppled them are hoping to use their disaffection with the traditional party system in this week’s elections. The alternative is to go to the West and the Gulf States in search of a future rejected by a failed state. With almost 48% youth unemployment it is impossible today to carry out a meaningful project in Lebanon, where 8 out of 10 citizens (twice as many as three years ago) live below the poverty line and in pounds, in local currency. It has fallen in value by more than 90% since the crisis began in October 2019. “Expats, send money to Lebanon!” a poster at the Beirut airport begs those seeking a better fortune.
Verena El Amil, 26, a lawyer with a master’s degree in comparative law from Sorbonne University, was not. “I have to fight for an alternative to chaos. “There is an opportunity for us to continue living in our country,” he explained with a smile at his home in Ain Saadet, on the slopes of Mount Lebanon, on the outskirts of Beirut. In the Christian Maronite electorate, he is running for the Generation of Change party, a broad coalition of forces opposing the state. “We want a normal country: without secular and confessional policies; “With full gender equality, the rule of law and a unified charter of civil rights, compared to the current 15 for any religious community, some of which recognize child marriage,” his program sums up.
Like many of the 300 alternative candidates – 40% of all taking part in parliamentary elections – El Amil had also cut his teeth in politics as a prominent representative in Beirut’s Martyrs Square area, the epicenter of the uprising. Young people against the party regime that emerged after the civil war that bled Lebanon from 1975 to 1990. “It was a dream come true”, the young woman eagerly recalls the days of Tavra 2020 (Revolution) with an outrage from May 1968. French. As a candidate for one of the 128 parliamentary seats, he dared to step back and try to convert ideas for change into today’s standards.
Lebanon needs more than recipes for phased reforms to survive. It is already a failed state, as UN Special Rapporteur on severe poverty, Olivier de Suter, said on Wednesday, accusing the political and financial elite of the Levantine-Mediterranean country of bankruptcy. Impunity, corruption and inequality have led to a brutal political and economic system, warns an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. “Political leaders are completely oblivious to the desperate reality of 80% of the population, where more than half of families admit that their children have to skip meals a day. The situation is even more intolerable for the more than a million Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. De Souter also warns of “lack of social protection mechanisms” in the face of disruptions in public services such as health or electricity.
Verena El Amil, former leader of youth protests in Beirut and opposition candidate in the Lebanese parliamentary elections, in a photo of her campaign.
From her balcony, overlooking the Lebanese capital, 15 kilometers from the coast and 650 meters above sea level, Verena El Amil thinks it’s time to deal with the “blackmail” that the Lebanese, and especially her generation, have caused have suffered. The party system that divides power: the presidency of the nation for the Christian; The position of Prime Minister is for a Sunni Muslim and the position of Speaker of Parliament is for a Shia Muslim. And that it tolerates the existence of “illegally armed militias” like the pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
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“All Lebanese women, all religious groups are discriminated against equally: we cannot pass on our nationality to our children, men, yes,” said the Generation of Change candidate. “On August 4, 2020 [fecha de la explosión que devastó el puerto de Beirut] We said, ‘Enough! ‘We can’t go on like this,’ concluded one of the youngest candidates in the election. civil war – no longer makes sense after more than 30 years of corruption and mismanagement.
Young Beiruts wear their best clothes as they walk, connected to cell phones, in a lazy Mediterranean metropolis, once the jewel of the Mediterranean, rising from the ashes of fratricide. Beggars of all ages harass diesel generator drivers who get entangled in power lines. The legal tender fees are a maximum of five zeros. Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Arab Emirates are now targeting thousands of young Lebanese professionals from the sinking of a failed state ship. The pandemic and the never-ending crisis put an end to the Tavra protest. Now those occupying makeshift camps and barricades have the first chance to decide in the elections the dilemma between staying in Lebanon or fleeing without looking back.
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Source: La Neta Neta
Smith Charles is a talented entertainment journalist and author at The Nation View. He has a passion for all things entertainment and writes about the latest movies, TV shows, music, and celebrity news. He’s known for his in-depth interviews with actors, musicians, and other industry figures, and his ability to provide unique perspectives on the entertainment industry.
