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SIGHTS WITHOUT RIGHTS
LEBANON
Lebanon has been for millennia and still is a seaport, a place of passage and exchange: a crossroads between Europe and Asia and has, for this reason, always been characterized by a coexistence of cultures, of very different peoples and religions. By interspersing moments of peace and conflict, this multiplicity has contributed to constantly enriching and modifying this land which, as the Lebanese actress and singer Sabah intones, "encompasses the whole world". In this small corner of the world, geopolitical and economic interests of various regional and international players are concentrated. Interests that have shaped the Lebanese economy, politics and society since its birth in the first half of the 20th century. Lebanon has survived a civil war that lasted 15 years and ended in 1990, from numerous Israeli invasions, the last of which in 2006, received a massive influx of Palestinian ('48, '67) and Syrian (2011) refugees ( Lebanon has the highest per capita number of refugees in the world), conditions that have contributed to exacerbating the economic crisis and political stability.
The Lebanese economic, political and social situation has deteriorated over the last few years: from 2011 to 2017, the GDP decreased by 2% and already in 2018 a financial crisis was looming due to the public debt which reached 85 billion dollars (plus 150% of the debt-to-GDP ratio).
The collapse took place in March 2020 with the declaration of default by the government, but for months the crisis had been lashing the Lebanese who in October 2019 took to the streets of the country en masse to demand the resignation of the government and the entire ruling class - always the same since the end of the civil war - accused of corruption and inefficiency. A large part of the demonstrators also asked for the abolition of the confessional system on which the distribution of institutional offices in the country is based.
It is common opinion that the patronage system and corruption in institutions are among the main causes of the terrible crisis that Lebanon is experiencing today, where the local currency is now waste paper and the high cost of living has reduced over 70% of the population to poverty. In Lebanon, a small minority of people owns the majority of the wealth, as a 2019 OXFAM study highlights: “Seven Lebanese billionaires have a personal wealth of $ 13.3 billion, ten times that of half the Lebanese)
Over the past two years, the situation has worsened further. In addition to the government's inability to provide basic services, such as electricity, clean water, public transport, waste disposal, funding was cut at Lebanon's only public university and several ministries, as well as a lack of fuel, medicines. and basic necessities.
The COVID pandemic further aggravated the situation and in August 2020 Lebanon suffered another major blow: the explosion at the port of Beirut with its cargo of hundreds of deaths, injuries and destruction. Lebanon needs international aid to recover from the crisis. It has initiated negotiations with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund which have placed as a condition for the granting of loans, not only profound reforms not yet implemented but also privatizations and economic interventions that have raised apprehension among many Lebanese who consider the IMF an instrument of financial and political domination.
This small nation of the Middle East has always been at the center of interests of the regional and international powers that have their referents in the Lebanese political class (The movement Future Hariri is linked to Saudi Arabia and the Hezbollah movement is funded by Iran).
The regional clash between Riyadh and Tehran has repercussions in Lebanon where a dangerous diplomatic crisis has recently opened with the Gulf countries which are among the country's largest investors. Political power is far from the people. The people have no faith in the ability of politics to put an end to the crisis and those who can are leaving the country. The phenomenon is reaching high levels, with tens of thousands of people already gone and hundreds of passport applications registered every day.
In this scenario, the political elections of next May are on the horizon, in which civil society hopes to be able to have an impact.
Il Libano: Servizi
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