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ELITE ISSUE 16, FEBRUARY 2020 PAGE 8

LEBANON: THE REVOLUTION

& NEO-LIBERALISM

ALI KASSEM

PhD Candidate and Doctoral Tutor,The School of Law,
Politics and Sociology, The University of Sussex

After the end of the Lebanese civil war, Lebanon wa s thrown
In this, not only did the Lebanese masses identify the culprit and
under a set of neo-liberal economic policies, tied with
debunk the lies hiding its crime, they felt a deep desire, and ability, to
international donors and financial organisations, a s a mass project
change the status quo of imperialist capital, xenop hobia and mass
of reconstruction and ‘development ’ was launched. Like
inequality.
everywhere ‘international donors ’ and ‘international financial
As protestors claimed Lebanon to have been run by c orrupt politicians
institutions ’ such as the World Bank and the IMF gain solid
for long, many demanded ‘scientists ’, experts and specialists to take the
ground, the country has since then been put on the path of
helm of governance and salvage the nation. On Janua ry 21st 2020, over
economic collapse. Over the past few years, it has arrived:from its
three months after the protests began, a new govern ment was formed.
currency devaluing to inflation, unemployment and p ublic debt And indeed, this government was (mostly) formed of ‘experts ’.
(currently the third highest in the world).
As of yet, it is not clear how this government is g oing to function, or
where it is going to position itself. What is clear is that it is not a
On October 17, 2019, a wave of mass demonstrations mobilised revolution: it is a reproduction of the neo-liberal model which had
by these severe economic grievances was triggered b y a ministry brought the country, and so many others, to their k nees.
decision to impose a tax on WhatsApp calls to gener ate revenues It being made of experts makes little difference: e xperts can be hostage
for an increasingly impotent state. Indeed, followi ng months of to politicians and, even if they are not, are polit ical beings and
austerity, environmental catastrophes including fir es and trash themselves hold political understandings.
Today, the Lebanese protestors continue to protest, especially those
crises and rampant corruption scandals, a cross-se ctarian
leaderless revolution exploded objecting to a large ly westernised who are keenly aware of the economic model ’s failure and have nothing
capitalist oligarchic ruling elite. left to lose.
The Lebanese elite, tied to the west and hostage to the global economy,

is not going to provide the revolution needed. They are not, in other
This movement, this revolution, articulated a clear objective from
its earliest of days: the downfall of the Lebanese regime. This, words, going to overturn the economic neo-liberal c apitalist model. The
people will have to do that. Otherwise, the country will cycle into crisis
most importantly, pivoted around the downfall of th e Lebanese
just as capitalism, and modernity of which it is a part, routinely cycles
neo-liberal economic regime which had drastically f ailed. With
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into crisis until it eventually implodes.
this, a peculiar consciousness was born: discourses scapegoating

refugees and migrants, discourses of sectarianism a nd discourses
of the impossibility of change all collapsed.
ELITE Team wishes to thank Mrs. Hala Abdelgawad , F EPS Assistant
Lecturer and Sussex PhD Candidate, for her efforts in coordinating
between ELITE and Mr. Kassem the author of this art icle
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