Podcasts from Beirut

Liberal P: Protest Movements in Lebanon with Hussein el Achi, Lynn Harfoush and Thore Schröder

One year on from the October 17 Revolution – 12 months to forget for Lebanon. Lebanese protestors are still calling for the downfall of the political elite, although a year of rallies has so far failed to spark a full-blown revolution. Lebanon has since been succumbing to the world's highest debt-to-GDP ratio. The Revolution has aimed to remove all governmental representatives and create a government elected by the people and for the people and abolish all sectarian parties. But nothing changed for the better, in fact things worsened, and today Lebanon still has no government to confront the worst emergency it has faced since the 1975-90 civil war, as rival political factions fail to agree on how to divide power. In this next edition of the Liberal Alphabet Series – Liberal P, we want to look back at one year of protests in Lebanon. As we shed light on the events throughout the year, we look at what has influenced the movement, but also what it has achieved and what it has yet to achieve.

Thore Schröder, a German Journalist, sat down with the speakers Lynn Harfoush, the General Coordinator of the National Bloc Party, and Hussein el Achi, Lawyer and Co-Founder of Minteshreen, two figures of the uprising, we wanted to showcase how people on the ground are organizing themselves, how they are aiming to bring on change and what they think this Revolution needs to achieve its goals.