October 17, 2019: a WhatsApp tax by the Lebanese government sparks outrage and protests across the country.
October 27, 2019: tens of thousands of people form a human chain across Lebanon in a show of national unity. The chain span 171 kilometres from the south to the north of the country, across Beirut, Tripoli, Dbayeh and other cities.
October 30, 2019: Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Saad al-Hariri, resigns.
That’s right, the very government the Lebanese people have been protesting against for almost two weeks has begun to fall apart from the inside out. Hariri today resigned saying he hit a “dead end” in trying to resolve the current unrest in the country.
“We have reached a deadlock and we need a shock in order to brave through the crisis,” Hariri said in a televised statement.
“I’m heading to the presidential palace to tender the resignation of the government … This is in response to the will and demand of the thousands of Lebanese demanding change.”
Hariri’s resignation comes after protests got violent in downtown Beirut, with mobs destroying a protest camp set up by anti-government demonstrators.
The assault was blamed by demonstrators on two factions, Hezbollah and Amal, whose political leaders do not support a change in government. The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, one of most powerful figures in Lebanon despite not holding an official position, has warned of chaos if protests continue.
Ultimately, the circumstances of Prime Minister Hariri’s resignation do not matter to the people – they have finally got what they wanted: the resignation of the Lebanon’s political elite was one of the main demands of the country’s protest movement.
The PM stepping down is not an instant cure for years of government corruption, economic crisis or poor public services. But it does help to curb people’s anger and provide them with a sense of relief.
Hariri’s resignation proves one important thing: the Lebanese people do, in fact, have power. They are not suppressed, they are not voiceless, they are not ignored. They are strong and their wishes are starting to be heard.
Rami Khouri, a senior public policy fellow and journalism professor at the American University of Beirut, described Hariri’s move as a “huge victory” for the protest movement and a “critical turning point”.
He added, however, that the Prime Minister was the “weakest link” in the country’s government.
“He was the low-hanging fruit who was likely to resign,” Khouri said.
“The question now is will this trigger a process by which Hezbollah, which is the critical player in the background, as well as the president and his party … will those people agree to a technocratic government, which goes on to the next step of the demands of the protesters?”
In other words: one man does not make an entire government nor will his resignation fix the problem. It is the responsibility of remaining political members and parties to make the decisions necessary for positive change. The question is, will they?
As protests in Lebanon go into their thirteenth day, that remains to be answered.