Commentator Alan Woods wrote that foreign journalists and observers are either extremely naive or extremely foolish, asking how a large amount of highly explosive materials could have been stored in the center of a densely populated area in the capital for so long? They would find it strange: no one raised any questions about this incredible situation, no inspections were conducted, or even if inspections were conducted, no reports were provided, no arrests were made, and this huge powder keg was left unattended until it blew Beirut Port upside down.
But in Lebanon, no one dreams of asking such a question, for the simple reason that the answer is well-known to them. This is how public affairs in Lebanon are handled, and as long as the current corrupt system is allowed to continue, it will always be so. Most Lebanese people are well aware of the root cause: mismanagement is ubiquitous in this corrupt country. The port of Beirut is known locally as the “cave of Alibaba and the Forty Thieves” – where a large amount of misappropriated national funds are hidden, officials receive huge bribes, and tariff payments are waived.
Politicians and bureaucrats have been at large for decades. But everything has its limits. The patience of the Lebanese people has now reached its limit. The Beirut explosion was just the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Al Jazeera reported the words of Lebanese sociologist and political activist Rima Majed: “Beirut no longer exists, and those who ruled this country for decades cannot escape punishment. They are criminals, and this may be the biggest of all the crimes they have committed so far
The Guardian editorial wrote that Lebanese people are familiar with the negligence of a country controlled by sectarian interests, which operates services and public utilities as mafia style extortion. A well regulated port would not be so easily affected by industrial accidents of earthquake magnitude. In a functioning democratic country, authorities are subject to supervision and held accountable.
Lebanon has institutions that simulate democracy, but the parliament does not represent the interests of the people. The distribution of power is aimed at maintaining balance among militarized factions, which are roughly defined by religion. This divisive arrangement is a legacy of the 1975-1990 civil war and a bad legacy of earlier French colonialism. Its result is a country that has been almost inoperable for decades, with the vitality and optimism of ordinary citizens relying solely on the support of wealthier immigrant remittances.
Lebanon is one of the world’s largest debtor countries, with a public debt of $74.5 billion, accounting for 140% of its GDP. A government with a high debt burden is also accompanied by significant social inequality. Seven billionaires dominate the entire country’s economy, most of whom come from Prime Minister Hariri’s family or Makti’s family. These aristocratic families, who have been involved in politics for decades, constantly misappropriate public assets to enrich their own pockets and serve their political or personal interests. These actions were carried out against the backdrop of an overall unemployment rate exceeding 25% and a youth unemployment rate reaching 37%. Moreover, these are official unemployment figures that would definitely underestimate the severity of the overall situation.
In 2018, the Lebanese government led by Hariri met with international investors from the Americas and Europe in Paris. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have both pledged to provide over $11 billion in loans to the Lebanese government, on the condition that the Hariri government must comply with “structural reforms”. The International Monetary Fund emphasizes that the Lebanese authorities must reduce their financial deficit to obtain this loan. Behind these fancy words, there is a serious reduction in spending to safeguard the interests of labor and youth, in order to balance the budget.
This means that elites are shifting the entire burden of this economic crisis onto the poor masses to pay. The austerity plan that attacks the public interest began as early as June last year, cutting the retirement benefits and bonuses of public sector workers and freezing recruitment. This has angered the Lebanese people who struggle for survival every day. Most parts of Lebanon have almost no access to basic services such as electricity and water. The most basic public service of market cleaning was even suspended for a period of time in 2015, and even now it is often unable to be provided.
When the government announced plans to tax WhatsApp users, the situation reached its peak, and people finally took to the streets in October last year. The economy has been exposed as a massive pyramid scheme, where public funds magically emerge from the banking system driven by debt that cannot be repaid. When the foam burst, the government tried to squeeze citizens’ income. A wave of anger that transcends sects swept across Lebanon, with nearly one-third of the country’s population coming forward to participate in the protests, successfully driving Prime Minister Hariri out of power.
But the successor government led by Hassan Diab failed to prevent the country from collapsing. According to former Foreign Minister Nasif Hiti, negotiations with the International Monetary Fund have stalled on national reform issues, and Lebanon is on the brink of complete failure. Lenders do not want to inject money into a corrupt machine, while the small circle of traditional power agents in Beirut prioritize protecting their property over the national government’s ability to repay.
It is crucial to resolve this deadlock after the explosion on Tuesday. The structure of the problem has not changed, but now there is a more urgent moral need to find a solution. The biggest danger is that the corrupt elites in Lebanon will try their best to exploit this tragedy for their own benefit, taking advantage of Lebanon’s worsening fragility to strengthen the current power structure. For decades, this has been their trick.
Behind the Beirut explosion lies an lawless place for international shipping
After the Beirut explosion, the vast majority of attention and anger focused on the incompetence and chaotic operation of the Lebanese government. In a recent commentary article titled “Behind the Beirut explosion lies the lawless world of international shipping,” Laleh Khalili, a professor at Queen Mary University of London and author of “Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula,” pointed out that this disaster has a deeper and broader root – a desire to protect at all costs. Commercial shipping capital and legal fraud networks.
The question raised in the article is why the 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate that ultimately caused the Big Bang appeared in a port warehouse so close to residential areas? The incident dates back to 2013, when the MV Rhosus carrying this batch of goods set sail from Batumi Port in Georgia to Mozambique. This Russian ship is registered under the name of a Bulgarian company, flying the Moldovan flag, and operated by eight Ukrainian crew members and two Russian crew members, who were unaware that the previous crew members had left in protest against the shipowner’s refusal to pay. When the Rothers was forced by its owner to make an additional stop in Beirut to load more cargo, it was detained by Lebanese officials on the grounds of violating international shipping organization standards and failing to pay fees including port charges. Usually, the reasons for a vessel being detained include a lack of necessary documents, being deemed unsafe or hazardous to the environment, and serving as a payment guarantee for debt.
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