The recent disaster may finally instigate change in a country inhibited by decades of political unrest, writes Maeve Lane
When I first watched the video of the terrible Beirut explosion, I could simply not believe what I was seeing. It all seemed so unfathomable. The smoke cloud engulfing 30-storey apartment blocks, obliterating them in its wake, the deafening boom, and the ominous, fiery mushroom which towered over the half-destroyed city, serving as a reminder of the awful, bloody event which had just occurred. Seeing a city which had provided me such an enriching semester, such kindness, welcome and joy, now losing so much, having the life and soul sucked from it in a matter of seconds, was absolutely heart-breaking. I thought back to my sun-filled and joyous Erasmus experience at the American University of Beirut (AUB) with fond memories, but was instead bemused by what my eyes showed me- a photo of the double doors at the library’s entrance, which months ago I had walked through every day, now smashed into obliteration, upturned desks and shelves, shattered lab equipment- the stunning campus which had once been so immaculate, now strewn with glass shards, dust and blood. When I read of the climbing death toll and began to understand the extent of the damage, I cried for the people of Lebanon, for the neighbourhoods destroyed, for all the wonderful people who I had come to know, hoping that they were still alive and uninjured.
Photo by Maeve Lane
I had merely spent a semester in the city, so I can only imagine what the people who call Beirut home are feeling. Their anger and frustration is raw, intense, and has accumulated over decades, during which they have been consistently deceived and wronged by the state. Even during my four months in Beirut I gained an extremely revealing glimpse into the corruption, inefficiency and immorality which has led Lebanon into financial and societal ruin. A ruin so severe that electricity only functions for a couple of hours (at best) per day, there is no functioning public transport system, entire streets are filled with garbage since the state cannot even operate a waste disposal system, and even essentials such as bread and medicine are scarce. Highly-educated and skilled young people, including my friends at AUB, have no employment opportunities in Lebanon (despite having graduated from the best university in the Middle East North Africa region) and will be forced to leave their home country or face unemployment. Here, I am only scratching the surface of the issues which have been present in Lebanon over the past several decades and which stand alongside a terrible financial crisis in the country, and rising levels of poverty and unemployment. Then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, which was the last thing Lebanon needed to deal with. Yet in the presence of such adversity, Lebanese people always showed resilience, finding solutions to the problems caused by the government’s shortcomings. People set up their own electricity generators, bought vans and began operating their own bus services, put in place their own infrastructures and kept the country alive.
Many of those volunteering in Beirut currently are the same people who have kept the country running over the past decades, and a large proportion of those aiding the recovery efforts are university staff and students.
The Beirut explosion has undone these efforts, cost more than 200 lives, left 300,000 people homeless and destroyed half of Beirut. It is both a tragedy of unfathomable proportions and an exemplification of the criminals-cum-politicians who allowed such an event to happen. The link between politicians and the explosion is not at all tenuous- the government had known that ammonium nitrate was being stored unsafely in the port for six years yet did nothing about it. Such sentiments of both sadness at the raw tragedy of the explosion, and aggrievement towards the politicians who have led Lebanon further and further into decline are evident on the streets of Beirut today.
On the one hand, you have fervent anti-government protests, calling for not only the resignation of the government but accountability for those both directly and indirectly responsible for the tragedy. One protester was seen holding a poster with an image of Michel Aoun, the Lebanese President, and the message “HE KNEW” plastered over the top of it- a justified shaming, indicative of the widespread vexation towards the country’s president. Yet on the other hand there is a massive display of solidarity, of accepting things as they are, helping those who are injured or homeless as a result of the blast and just getting on with rebuilding society. Many of those volunteering in Beirut currently are the same people who have kept the country running over the past decades, and a large proportion of those aiding the recovery efforts are university staff and students. From the morning after the explosion, AUB members were among the first to mobilise for aid, and have established their own university-run group known as the ‘Beirut Recovery Project’, which now has thousands of volunteers. I spoke to Nicolas Abdelkarim, a PhD student at AUB who has been volunteering in Beirut: “I personally chose to put work things aside and go volunteer for a few days because I felt helpless and guilty to be unscathed when half of Beirut is in ruins…I’m glad I did so because I saw so many young people doing the same and meaning well”.
Photo via cbc.ca.
While it is difficult for me to see a university, and indeed a city, which gave me so much suffering to this extent, there are things I can do and have done to in some way aid Lebanon. Firstly, I have sent messages to everyone I know living in or with relatives living in Lebanon to check that they are okay, and to offer my well wishes and love to them. Secondly, I have donated what I can to as many of the charities who are aiding the recovery in Beirut as I can. This is an extremely kind and tangible difference that you can make in order to make sure that hospitals can continue to treat the injured (by donating to The Lebanese Red Cross and the International Medical Corps), and that those homeless can be provided shelter and food (by donating to Islamic Relief, Impact Lebanon, UNICEF or the U.N. World Food Program). I have provided donation links to the listed charities below. Lastly, you can spread awareness amongst your friends and family about the severity of the damage in Lebanon and encourage them to donate to the listed charities too.
Beyond that, we can only hope that Beirut is able to rebuild itself, that such a tragedy will force some systematic and long-lasting change which will make for a fairer and more prosperous Lebanon, and that the country will emerge from the rubble and debris stronger than it was before.
Donation links:
The Lebanese Red Cross
International Medical Corps https://give.internationalmedicalcorps.org/page/65328/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=DP~LB21~DPHPL2108
Islamic Relief
Impact Lebanon
UNICEF
U.N. World Food Program