Debate tents help citizens become part of discussion

Men and women of all ages sit in a huddle to listen to the speakers

Asecular state, early elections, solving poverty. Every evening, Sarah Al Ghur joins other residents of Lebanon’s second city Tripoli to debate how to fix her protest-gripped country.

“I’d rather take part in the discussions than applaud or shout out slogans,” says the 32-year-old in the city’s Al Nour square.

After years of disillusionment and apathy, a freefalling economy and antigovernment protests have spurred Lebanese back into political debate.

Across the Mediterranean country, squares where protesters have denounced mismanagement and corruption have also become centres of spontaneous discussion.

In Tripoli, Al Ghur walks between debate tents, stopping outside one where people are discussing a “roadmap for the revolution”.

Men and women of all ages sit on the floor, huddle on benches or stand arms crossed, listening to the latest speaker.

Nearby, protesters revel to the sound of patriotic tunes and techno beats.

Knowledge is power

“I’ve discovered laws I knew nothing about,” says Ghur, her hair trimmed short and wearing a dress.

“Now I’m more aware of my rights and my duties,” she says, in an impoverished city that has emerged at the forefront of the protests.

Every evening from 5pm to 9pm, Tripoli residents gather under the tents to rebuild their country one idea at a time.

University professors, activists or even economists are often in attendance.

They talk of secularism and sectarianism, in a country whose legacy from a devastating 1975-1991 civil war is a political system that seeks to maintain a fragile balance of power between the myriad of religious communities. They discuss poverty, in a country where around a third of the population is poor, and the World Bank warns that proportion could soon rise to half.

But they also discuss the questionable independence of the judiciary, alleged corruption and plummeting public funds..

Noha Raad, a 49-year-old Arabic language teacher, said she was happy to be learning something new.

“People need to be made aware, but mostly they made us understand the meaning of revolution,” she said.

AFP People gather at a tent where Lebanese anti-government protesters debate and discuss political and economic topics at Al Nour Square in Tripoli last Wednesday.