Tribune. A man from behind on a terrace overlooking the Port of Beirut. Head down, he looks away from the ruins on the horizon. Nine months after the deadly explosion on August 4, 2020, which sowed chaos and desolation in my hometown, this photo by Gianmarco Maraviglia acts on me like an allegory of Lebanon. This man like many others, as I am also tempted to do sometimes, looks away so as not to be ashamed.
Shame of this state which leads a paradise to ruin, shame of its leaders, shame in the name of these women, these children, these old people, these betrayed and abandoned refugees. The day after August 4, the resigning Prime Minister said loud and clear: “Those responsible will have to be held to account. “ Nine months later, he continues to manage current affairs, the investigating judge in charge of the investigation was recused. This parody of justice is like a second explosion, a second death for the victims and their families.
My country is dying and its children find themselves held hostage, paralyzed by misfortune, stunned by disasters: the port, the coronavirus and the economic crisis. More than 200 deaths, thousands of injured after the apocalypse, more than 6,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the past year, one suicide every two and a half days, an average that has increased because of the economic berezina.
Famine looms
Behind these figures, they are women, men with their history, their strength and their weakness. These are my brothers who are fighting just to have a place to live, to eat, to be looked after. Famine is looming. Even the iconic thyme pancake has seen its price increase fivefold, the labels in the few open shops change several times a day. A civil servant who earned 1,450 euros a few months ago brings home only 145.
Faced with this reality, that they are far away, these demonstrations of autumn 2019 … Certainly, a few courageous people continue on certain days to block the roads leading to Beirut or to march with placards. They have nothing more to lose. Everything was taken from them, even their tears, their laughter, their dignity. Far from them, I admire them. But a people on their knees does not rise up. He must first stand up, guess the light at the end of his dark daily life to prevent the worst from happening.
My country is dying, and the international community turns a blind eye. Emmanuel Macron in Beirut takes over Rimbaud: “We do not have the right to remain“ Seated ”. ” But it is difficult to stand up for and in a country that is not your own, against the inertia of a corrupt ruling class too busy counting its bundles of greenbacks. When all that remains is ashes in the land of the Cedars, they will still be able to fight for the biggest pile to belong to them!
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