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| Artwork by Tarek Chemaly (As you are, you shall be governed - Imam Ali) |
Newsflash: I like the protesters dancing dabke, I find the man in the inflatable pool quite funny in the middle of the highway, the woman adjusting her lipstick on her reflection on the shield of an anti-riot troop got me in giggles, the DJ right there in Tripoli playing tracks was cool, and the man doing grilled chicken too is hilarious. The "bon enfant" ambiance is super, truly.
Oh - just so long you remember that the people are supposedly rebelling against were voted into power in 2018. Which is not long ago, mind you. Whether votes were out of conviction or simply opportunism is not the question.
Let it be known, I did not vote.
Imam Ali did say it "as you are, so you shall be governed". One of the things that baffle me the most is - what do protesters want? As in really, really want? (Sorry I went into Spice Girls mode here).
Their "manifesto" is - at best - a joke. Need I remind you we tried it before in 2005 to varying degrees of bad results.
Today I am convinced the people manifesting do not know what they want. The know what they do not want. Which could be a good place to start, but not a good place to end.
Russian writer Alexander Heren did say "the departing world leaves behind it not an heir, but a pregnant widow" - the problem in Lebanon is that pregnant widows end up marrying the same suitors over and over.
You voted for them, the suitors, expecting full-blown heirs.
Let that sink in.