Monday, December 11, 2023

Women Leaders Association x MTV - a repeat of a story told

In the early 90s there was a campaign called "Ana Loubnan" which was broadcast on television. Basically it was a civic campaign enticing people to come back to Lebanon, or - at least - not immigrate. Well, some people took heed, constructed their careers here, and what do you know? Lost all their money in the financial crash of 2019. Same people then went back to other shores which either welcomed them during the war (am thinking US, Canada, or France as general examples) or went back to seek work in Arab countries.

The Women Leaders Association x MTV takes it back right where "Ana Loubnan" stopped complete with a bilingual hashtag my_home_هون# (the last bit is pronounced "hown" which is supposed to "rhyme" with home). I am not here to comment on the movie which you can see here. But for a whole population (yes, me included) that has lost all its stacked money in the banks, which is living haphazardly (electricity has not been around for quite a few months!), in very questionable political circumstances (regionally, and then locally - we had not had a president since October 2022, there is a caretaker government, and the parliament is barely there to begin with), it is really a stretch to entice people to enjoy the country.

But, as I said from the get go, the theme seems to come back periodically in the Lebanese media. Some of us though do look back and might have regrets on their choices.