{"id":2988,"date":"2019-11-18T10:24:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T10:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2022-06-17T16:56:27","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T16:56:27","slug":"lebanon-protests-why-a-whatsapp-tax-sparked-a-political-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/?p=2988","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon protests: Why a WhatsApp tax sparked a political movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 17 October 2019, a proposed WhatsApp tax fuelled the largest protests Lebanon has seen in more than a decade. In a month where the government failed to deal with one crisis after another \u2013 including unprecedented wildfires \u2013 a proposal to charge \u00a34.50 a month for using voice calls on WhatsApp brought widespread anger to boiling point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protesters took to the\nstreets and blocked major roads<\/a>. They called\nfor an independent, non-sectarian government and a complete overhaul of the\ncountry’s political system. The backlash caused the government to quickly\nretract the proposal, but it was too late to stem the tide of political\ndiscontent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few expected such a protest movement to break out in a small state riven by divisions, but there are deeper undercurrents that explain why the protests in Lebanon are happening.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political alienation since\nthe civil war <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Faithful to an unwritten 1943 National pact, the Lebanese political system pivots around an executive\ncoalition in which the president is a Christian Maronite,\nthe Prime Minister Sunni and the\nSpeaker of Parliament Shia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a 15-year long civil war (1975-1990),\nsectarianism in Lebanon has remained immune to reform. Sectarian warlords hold\non tightly to power, while the gap between elite-led\npolitics and citizens has been widening year on year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The onset of\nSyria\u2019s 2011 war has turned Lebanon into a playground for regional divisions.\nThis has added much strain on the flimsy consensus that\nprevails among politicians in its sectarian government. Moreover, rampant\ncorruption, clientelism and the state\u2019s inability to\nprovide basic services such as electricity and trash collection have deepened\nfeelings of alienation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Protesters’ graffiti in Lebanon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Widespread dissatisfaction <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the context of the 2011 Arab Spring, analysts have generally portrayed Lebanon\nas resistant to the uprisings that have engulfed the region. They have cited reasons such as post-war fatigue,\nand the fear of (re)enacting grim scenarios that have superseded the 2011 Arab protests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to many surveys<\/a>, the Lebanese\nare one of the most highly dissatisfied citizenries\nworldwide. They mistrust the so-called \u2018sectarian\ngatekeepers\u2019 who rule in the name of perpetuating\nstability in a turbulent region. Indeed, Lebanon is known\nfor its population\u2019s high propensity to emigrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all this in mind, there are four reasons\nwhy the protest movement comes as no surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The<\/strong> \u2018roots of rage\u2019\nare lurking beneath<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Roots of rage\u2019 are what usually spark uprisings. And they have been visible in the everyday practices of Lebanese citizens for decades. Long before the proposed WhatsApp tax, people have expressed continuous dissatisfaction with inept governance, a deteriorating infrastructure and lack of access to public services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is something else that\ncharacterizes the protest movement this time. Namely, the\nfact that Lebanese protesters, just like Tunisians prior to the\nfall of the Ben Ali regime in 2011, are deeply convinced\nthat they will remain the disenfranchised \u2018others\u2019 while\ntheir political class grows richer and richer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The<\/strong> machinery of\nchange is ready<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Meaningful protest movements build on a legacy\nof activism. Lebanon\u2019s 2019 movement certainly does this. Although trade unions\nand interest groups have been weakened and politicized, Lebanon still has one\nof the most vibrant civil society landscapes in the Middle East. As a result, local civil society\norganisations, persistently calling for change, have harvested small but significant\ngains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the Lebanon protest movement is not born in a vacuum. The 2015 #YouStink movement<\/a> denounced the Lebanese government\u2019s inability to solve a massive garbage crisis. This, and other episodes of contention, have instilled a legacy of activism that pervades the public consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. A window of opportunity\nis open<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As social movement theorists like to say,\ngrievances are everywhere but opportunities are not. Prior to this moment, Lebanese\ncitizens\u2019 grievances were substantial. But on their own\nthey were not sufficient to sustain a longer-term movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But over the past few decades, citizens have\nseen their leaders squabble, form volatile alliances, and reiterate empty\npromises. After parliamentary elections had been postponed twice, Lebanese\nvoted in 2018 for the same sectarian-based parties who\nhad vowed to enact major reforms, only to see them drag the country into a\nmajor economic recession. Now, protesters have identified an opportunity for\nchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. It is not an isolated\nphenomenon<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lebanon\u2019s protest movement is not an isolated\nphenomenon. In fact, it is part of a global site of contention where market\neconomies and fallacies of political rule are being renegotiated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebanese protests have managed to gain wider resonance. Through performances, chants and imagery<\/a> that build on comedy and satire, these protests have struck a chord in the Middle East and further afield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Protesters in Lebanon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protesters have also borrowed from slogans\nthat Tunisians and Egyptians chanted during the 2011\nuprisings. For example, \u2018silmiye silmiye\u2019 (peaceful peaceful) and the \u2018people want the fall of the regime\u2019 have both been used at protests. Moreover, there\nare traces of the Occupy Movement and its decries of\nneoliberalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the protest movement in Lebanon sparked by a WhatsApp tax will lead to the fall of the regime or not, it certainly resonates with a cascading protest wave spreading from Hong Kong, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, to Chile.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proposed WhatsApp tax has fueled the mass protests in Lebanon. An academic gives four reasons why the unrest comes as no surprise. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":2990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1395,1391],"tags":[2004,1612],"coauthors":[2005],"class_list":["post-2988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-comment","category-international-politics","tag-lebanon","tag-protest"],"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Lebanon-protests-Why-a-WhatsApp-tax-sparked-a-political-movement-Lebanon-uprising-5.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2988"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=2988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}