Inside Lebanon: Protests, Change and What Comes Next?

Hadi al-Aly, Lebanon

THP’s Lebanon Correspondent Omar al-Jamal spoke with Hadi al-Aly, a Lebanese student, about the ongoing protests and his future within the country.

What do you make of the current protests?

'“Protests are more about expressing or expelling anger. I personally see that our fight with the regime as being, if I may use a term from Mr. Nizar Saghieh (President of the NGO, Legal Agenda), like bullfighting. We hope to get as many victories as we can against this corrupt regime and if we can try to take part in running the country, we will try. Be it through our activities in the streets or at least in raising awareness towards the importance of work on that field.

We are living in a country where there is a lot of glorification of the military. There is a lot of fear among the Lebanese around taking political action and our activities should encourage them to take action. I could personally vouch for myself and where I grew up in [Kalamoun], I noticed that the Lebanese tend to fear and canonize their leaders.

So, we are starting to see that during the 17 October revolution, we have destroyed the politicians' idols and we are now in a position to speak to them. Maybe they will allow us, the youth, to handle this situation or to participate in this corrupt regime, meaning that we desire the opposition should have a role in the political process.”

How have things changed?

“As a 17 year old guy it shouldn't be my goal to go down to the street or to only find safety in that environment, which is not even safe to begin with. To be honest, I feel like wherever I go, I don't feel at peace with myself, even if you take into account that I am more privileged than other people, unless I'm down here. Especially after the Beirut explosion, I feel that I cannot be silent and turn my back on the world when I can contribute to some kind of change.

I honestly have no idea when I became more socially aware but the October 17 revolution has, of course, done so much for me, way more than I have done for it. I feel like I have to give back to this revolution. It changed the course of my life and I became more involved in volunteer work and NGOs, which I'm not a fan of but I want to help in any way I can. Before the revolution I had a lot of ideas, but I never had the means to put them into action – the revolution helped me a lot in achieving that.”

Do you see yourself staying in Lebanon after this?

“As someone who is about to complete his final year in school, it is normal for a guy my age to think about leaving Lebanon. However, this decision for me will be a last resort, meaning that if there is anything I can do while I'm still in Lebanon; I wouldn't really be against that. There are a lot of problems happening right now such as the increasing exchange rate (from $ to LBP) and all the universities are taking their payments in dollars, so it's become extremely difficult, especially if you factor in that the sector itself is politicised.

It's true that I am an expatriation project; however, I will come back to Lebanon. Whether now, or after ten years, who knows? We were all raised in this country and at the end of the day, one is bound to feel a certain connection to their homeland whether they come or go. I'm not going to speak about the usual clichés like Tabouleh, Hummus, and whatever. But I feel like this is my country and I cannot imagine myself living anywhere else.

I have honestly tried to live a few days abroad when my family had to temporarily leave during the July War (in 2006). I was much younger than I am now and even in that brief period, I didn't feel like I would be able to be away from home.

Immigration is going to be very hard but what are we supposed to do?”