Reflections on the Lebanese revolution

ENAR

When crowds began to gather in Downtown Beirut on that fateful evening on October 17, 2019, few could have predicted that, a 100 plus days later, Lebanon would be still in the furrows of a revolt with almost daily protests across the nation, several clashes between protesters and party shabiha, and with riot police—and road closures, not as common but still very much in the protesters’ arsenal. It is a testimony to the determination of the Lebanese and their unrelenting hope for a better tomorrow—namely to live in a country where their basic rights are guaranteed—that the thawra (revolution) is still alive and kicking. Over the course of its 100 days lifespan, Lebanon’s revolution has achieved a lot of which to be proud. Those successes include: the resignation of then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s cabinet; the cancellation of the November 19 parliamentary session with a controversial general amnesty law on the