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“Resilience”

This is the second in a series of five thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first post – on politics and elections – can be found here.

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Eye on the East (EOTE): So where were we?

Lebanese Citizen (LC): I had started talking about garbage and the economy, but you stopped me because you wanted to grab a drink.  Continue reading ““Resilience””

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So They’re Gonna Raise Some Taxes

They said people would take to the streets because parliamentary elections would be cancelled. “We are a democracy,” they said, “people won’t let that happen.” But people did let elections be cancelled, twice.

They said people would not let the garbage crisis go without a fight. “People may not care about democracy and holding politicians accountable,” they said, “but this is about garbage and their health.” But people also gave up, protesters couldn’t keep the demonstrations together, and the garbage crisis continued and a sustainable solution has yet to be found. Continue reading “So They’re Gonna Raise Some Taxes”

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حان وقت التغيير – The Time has Come for Change

ملاحظة: هذه المقالة قد نشرت لأول مرة في جريدة النهار في 28-03-2013

Note: this piece was first published in Lebanese daily An Nahar on March 28, 2013. You will find an English translation below.

ان ثمة شعارات ومواصفات لتحديد لبنان و ميزاته وفرادته. نتباهى, على سبيل المثال, بأن في البلد حركة دائمة و متجددة لا يشعر أناسه بالضجر. هذه الظاهرة تعني ان المشاكل فيه تتراكم و المشكلة الجديدة هي لتنسينا القديمة و تحل محلها, و يصير حلّ المشكلة في تأجيلها. Continue reading “حان وقت التغيير – The Time has Come for Change”