From shattered glass and broken tents, Lebanese draw resolve
| Beirut
Soaring high above Beirut鈥檚 central Martyrs鈥� Square, the focal point of a month of nationwide protests against decades of corrupt and sectarian rule in Lebanon, is a signboard of a clenched fist and the Arabic word for revolution.
But perhaps the most tangible symbol of defiance and resolve in this protest movement is found at the base of that clenched fist.
Here, like a shrine, protesters have collected the broken tent frames and smashed plastic chairs and tables left over after thugs armed with sticks and pipes 鈥� and chanting pro-Shiite slogans favoring the powerful Hezbollah and Amal parties 鈥撀燼ttacked the square in late October.
Why We Wrote This
Symbols inspire. In Lebanon鈥檚 protest movement, the national flag symbolizes unity above sectarianism. But in the smashed objects left behind after failed attempts to intimidate them, the protesters are finding resolve.
Within hours of the attack, the protest camp was erected anew. And those tens of thousands of Lebanese who continue to take to the streets every day, demanding change in cities and towns from north to south in a cross-sectarian campaign of sustained civil disobedience, count it as one more victory 鈥撀燼nd one more source of inspiration as they raise their voices.
鈥淭hey attacked everyone; they were not behaving like Lebanese,鈥� says Anita Mansour, a 30-something architect from Beirut, speaking beside the pile of revolutionary debris.
鈥淭hey had been given orders, but it鈥檚 not going to work,鈥� says Ms. Mansour, as she waits for an evening candlelight vigil and women鈥檚 march. 鈥淚f they will come back, we will come back even stronger. It won鈥檛 stop until they stop. This is the first time I feel this unity 鈥撀爓e are proud of this revolution.鈥�
The attempt to intimidate the protesters by loyalists of Hezbollah and Amal 鈥� even though Shiite Lebanese, too, have taken to the streets in anger at the lack of services and rampant corruption in the strongholds of those powerful parties 鈥� only helped consolidate the uprising.
The symbols of resistance are resonant. Among the crowds are nationals from across the Arab world who see the Lebanese fight as universal, part of a renewed Arab Spring that has this year alone boiled angrily into the streets in Iraq, Algeria, Sudan, and Egypt.
鈥淭his was a shameful act, but it will give us more courage to stay,鈥� says Nawras Abou Fakher, a bearded hipster and architect from Syria who has lived in Lebanon for five years, as he gazes at the pile of broken tents.
鈥淲e feel sorry for the people who did this, who can鈥檛 see [our] vision. This problem [of corruption] is coming to them, too,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is a big monument for the revolution. We succeeded, as seen by this pile of stuff.
鈥淭his makes us feel we need to push for more,鈥� adds Mr. Fakher. 鈥淭his gives us more energy, because we are on the ground and peaceful, while they tried violence and it didn鈥檛 work.鈥�
Lebanon鈥檚 uprising has been largely nonviolent, and its moments of violence have been turned into emblems of resistance. From protest stages, between DJs playing electronic dance music, speakers declare their defiance: 鈥淵ou beat us, we won鈥檛 move.鈥�
And painted onto the smashed windows of one building on the square are the words: 鈥淚n Case of Revolution, Break Glass.鈥�
鈥淲e have gangsters鈥�
But the violence has nevertheless been felt by 鈥撀燼nd has galvanized the anger of 鈥� people like Nabil Zeineddine, a Beirut taxi driver who shows his passengers pictures on his mobile phone of Lebanese security forces, in the first days of unrest, arresting and beating 57 protesters, including his son Hadi.
Mr. Zeineddine shows images of his 19-year-old son after a severe beating. His bare back and head are covered with welts and wounds, his forehead bleeding.
鈥淟ook what they did to him!鈥� seethes Mr. Zeineddine, describing how his son鈥檚 head was kicked.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a government; we have gangsters,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to make sure, when this revolution is over, to try them in a court of law, those who beat these kids.鈥�
Many Lebanese are still in awe of their own actions on the street, convinced they can remove a sectarian system entrenched for decades.
鈥淥ptimism is in the air, but there is still political pressure, so it is up and down,鈥� says Rita, a protesting filmmaker who would only give her first name. 鈥淚f people didn鈥檛 have hope, you wouldn鈥檛 see them in the streets.鈥�
鈥淔or the first time there is a sense of solidarity among Lebanese people, regardless of religion and sect,鈥� says Rita鈥檚 friend Nasrine, a primary school teacher. 鈥淔or the first time our voice is heard.鈥�
Need for accommodation
Protesters argue about the risk of renewed violence, with one man overheard stating about the ruling class: 鈥淭hese people will never stand down. They will burn Lebanon to ashes.鈥�
But analysts say the case of Lebanon 鈥� which still bears the scars of a sectarian civil war fought here from 1975 to 1990 鈥撀爄s unlike many others in the Arab world.
鈥淎t some point, the old guard has to do a calculation of what, realistically, can they do?鈥� says Rami Khouri, a professor at the American University of Beirut and fellow at Harvard鈥檚 Kennedy School.
鈥淭hey can鈥檛 stay in power, just by using force,鈥� says Professor Khouri. 鈥淭he nature of the Lebanese system is not like Egypt or Syria, where the government can kill people, and beat them up, and arrest thousands, because the policemen you would send out on the streets to do this are being told to beat up their own brothers and neighbors and sisters.鈥�
鈥淪o they can鈥檛 use force,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd political demonization doesn鈥檛 work; they tried it. So there needs to be some accommodation.鈥�
But how will that play out in the future? All that Ms. Mansour knows is that Lebanon can鈥檛 go back to its old ways.
鈥淲e will be strong, we will not stop. We have changed our brains,鈥� says the architect at the tent-rubble pile. 鈥淭he most powerful force on earth is a soul on fire, and our souls are on fire.鈥�
