Lebanon government in 11th-hour reform drive
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s teetering government met yesterday to approve a belated economic rescue plan as thousands gathered for a fifth day of mass protests against the ruling elite. A proposed tax on mobile messaging applications last week sparked a spontaneous, cross-sectarian mobilization that has brought Lebanon to a standstill and put the entire political class in the dock. Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in central Beirut and other cities Sunday to demand better living conditions and the ouster of a cast of politicians who have monopolized power and influence for decades.
Euphoric crowds partied deep into the night, leaving all political and sectarian paraphernalia at home to gather under the national cedar flag, dancing to impromptu concerts and chanting often hilarious anti-establishment slogans.
Lebanon’s economy has been on the brink of collapse for some time and the initial grievances of the protesters were over proposed tax hikes.
But the demonstrations have evolved into a massive push to unseat ruling dynasties widely seen as corrupt beyond redemption, and Hariri’s 11th-hour rescue plan was met with disdain on the street. The cabinet held a meeting chaired by President Michel Aoun and was expected to approve a raft of measures, including
the scrapping of new taxes and a sweeping privatization program, among others. As it began, Aoun proposed new measures to improve confidence in the political class.
“What is happening in the streets reflects the pain of the people,” the National News Agency (NNA) reported him as telling ministers, though adding generalized accusations of corruption against all politicians was an injustice. “We must start by lifting bank secrecy on the accounts of those who are appointed minister now or in the future.” Lebanon has strict rules over bank account privacy that critics say makes the country susceptible to money laundering. Aoun’s son-in-law and ally, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, has been a particular figure of anger among protesters.
‘Day of destiny’
On Sunday thousands again gathered in front of the government houses in Beirut and elsewhere in the country. Many said Hariri’s reform attempts smacked of a desperate attempt by the political class to save their jobs. “It is a day of destiny for us. All our hard work and efforts in previous days and years were to get us to this moment,” Roni Al-Asaad, a 32-year-old activist in central Beirut, said.
“If they could have implemented these reforms before, why haven’t they? And why should we believe them today?” What was initially dubbed the “WhatsApp revolution” morphed into a mass non-partisan push for a total overhaul of a sectarian power system still run mostly by civil war-era warlords, three decades after the end of the country’s conflict.
Given the size of the gatherings, the five-day-old mobilization has been remarkably incident free, with armies of volunteers forming to clean up the streets, provide water to protesters and organize first aid tents. Lebanon’s debt-burdened economy has been sliding towards collapse in recent months, adding to the economic woes of a population exasperated by rampant corruption, the lack of job opportunities and poor services. Forest fires also devastated parts of the country last week, with politicians accused of inaction.
Among the protesters’ main grievances is the poor supply of electricity from the state. Usually prone to blame anti-government mobilization on another party or a foreign conspiracy, Lebanon’s top political figures have appeared to acknowledge that none of them were spared by public anger. The powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah, which has the country’s most powerful militia and also dominates political life, agreed to Hariri’s reform package, a senior cabinet official said.
‘Volcano’
The embattled premier went live on television on Friday to give his uneasy coalition partners 72 hours to back his rescue plan. “What happened in the street is a volcano that can’t be contained with timely solutions,” Imad Salamey, a political science professor at the Lebanese American University, said. “It is difficult for the demonstrators to regain trust in the state in 72 hours and with solutions only presented on paper,” he said.
The deadline expires at 7:00 pm yesterday and Hariri’s wording suggested he could resign if his move failed. Lebanon’s embattled political leaders have warned that the government’s resignation at this time would only deepen the crisis gripping the small Mediterranean country. Schools, banks, universities and many private businesses closed their doors yesterday, both for security reasons and in an apparent bid to encourage people to join the demonstrations. — AFP