Reading Time: 2 minutes When I was a kid, around five or six years old, I had two neighbors, Dalal and Claude. I was fascinated by them; I wanted to be like them. They were maybe 16 or 17 years old, and what they did in 1975 was grab white flags and head to Downtown Beirut to chase the…
Dystopian nightmare
Reading Time: 3 minutes These are worrying times for all of us. In April the lockdown in Lebanon was extended for a second time. It is possible it will be extended again. On a global scale, our lives have been disrupted en masse in a way in which many people have not experienced in their lifetimes. People are anxious,…
The virus within
Reading Time: 2 minutes The situation has become even more surreal. We have a government that is totally disconnected from reality. No matter how many American passports the cabinet collectively has, this government is still undeniably perceived by the international community as a Hezbollah, Amal, and Aounist government, backed by Iran, Syria, and Russia. Meanwhile, this government’s attempts to…
Look to the people
Reading Time: 2 minutes If anything is bankrupt in this country, it is the establishment. Their incompetence is so vulgar and obvious that there is nothing they could do to convince us otherwise. The verdict is out, they know it, everyone knows it—locally, regionally, and internationally. We are all watching them clinging to the power they still think they…
No more lies
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s only during crisis that truth comes to light. As everyone scrambles into new positions, reality is revealed. Each time the Lebanese equation changes, players let their masks slip in their bid to defend their slice of what remains. The violations that are perpetrated in the process are often so flagrant that forgiveness seems impossible. …
Time to rise above
Reading Time: 2 minutes Executive has been shouting over and over again for change in this country, calling the bluffs of successive governments in our more than 20 years of coverage. At times, it seemed as though we were screaming into the void. Ignored by the policy-makers, targeted by threats and lawsuits, and resigned to the lack of reaction…
Le monde du plus fort ou du plus fou
Reading Time: 2 minutes French anthropologist Marc Augé coined the phrase “non-lieu” (non-place) in the mid-1990s to describe places where considerations of history and identity were erased—think shopping malls or airports. Listening to him speak in Lebanon earlier in September got me thinking, Lebanon is the antithesis of a non-lieu. Every space in Lebanon is linked to our history…
A plane in the sky
Reading Time: < 1 minute You can no longer live in denial, just clicking on what interests you in this fake voyeur world. Stop looking the other way, reality is now upon us. Swiping left is no longer an option. The drums of war have been resonating closer and stronger from the Persian Gulf, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria adding to…
It is about credibility
Reading Time: 2 minutes The concluding statement of the IMF’s Article IV consultations includes the following sentence: “Rebalancing the economy in the current framework of an exchange rate peg requires strong implementation of a large and credible fiscal adjustment and ambitious structural reforms.” Here at Executive this sentence sparked cynical jokes. We sensed from the reaction from our politicians,…
Groundhog Day
Reading Time: 2 minutes Some repetitions have become part of our routine; it is amazing what human beings can learn to accept. We have become used to daily power cuts, as the electricity switches back and forth between state supply and generator, and to water shortages in the summer and waiting for private companies to refill the tanks. We…