To Make Sense of Lebanon’s Protests, Follow the Garbage

Instead of making money from its useless provocation of Israel, imagine if Hezbollah morphed into a pure political party devoted to all of Lebanon’s people and their welfare. Hezbollah could turn Lebanon into a showplace for good governance rather than a laughingstock. All they need to do is recognize that being an Iranian puppet has led them and Lebanon to disaster.

“A system meant to foster peaceful coexistence has only reinforced sectarian divisions,“ Looks like the good peoples of Lebanon can’t overcome sectarianism. In these times, it’s not surprising. Dividing the country up between the sects would be an unfortunate alternative.

I’m not sure why you refer to the political class as political elites. There is nothing in this article to suggest they are elites at anything let alone politics. We should always be reminded that these so called leaders are - often uneducated - warlords. One cannot expect them to understand the issues the country is facing

Could we get the packaging and bottling companies to stand behind a cradle-to-grave responsibility for their products? And if we can't get them to agree and effectively implement such a policy, could we make laws to require them to do so? And could we put a price on disposable packaging via fees, taxes and fines - a price that would more than pay for sustainably cleaning their disposable products out of our public space? Yes or no?

Vivian Yee and Hwaida Saad seem to forget a powerful, rich, armed to the teeth group, a government within the government of Lebanon: Hizbollah. They are part of the the wide-spread corruption at local and international levels: "For the leader of a party that has branded itself as the vanguard of Lebanon’s grassroots resistance for decades, Nasrallah’s (= leader of Hizbollah) backing of the country’s corrupt establishment might seem odd." https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/04/lebanon-shiite-hezbollah-resistance-establishment-protest/ Why are they missing here?

Sounds like the proposed HIRE Act. Send the Federal agency offices to politically favored states, regardless of efficiency or cost.

It gets worse. Bourj Hamood is an area that was allotted to Armenian refugees who fled the massacres of the early 1900's. It remains an area with a heavy Armenian population. To stick a trash plant there...ohh my..we are talking message sending. As for chaos in third world nations. It is not new. It has other issues, Lebanon's population is skyrocketing. It sits at near 7 million people in an area that is tiny. It is the 10th most densely populated nation on earth. Wow what problems lay ahead!!!!

Lebanon is a small example of what is happening in the world right now, even in the United States. Garbage is a huge problem. We need to develop recycling capabilities that eliminate the need for landfills and to clean up the landfills. We have the capability as humans to develop technology to separate things into their component parts. Once we do that, all we have to do is take those component parts and reuse them to make things we need. We can work our way to reducing things to atoms and then, using computers, put them together into useful items. If we did this really well, we could produce food if we wanted. It would be the "replicators" from Star Trek. It is time we developed that capability. We also need to go to solar energy, wind energy and other forms of generation of electricity that do not involve carbon. We need to do this as soon as possible.

Lebanon is just one of many many many examples of what goes wrong with sectarian government of religious and/or political persuasion. Fanatics and their manipulators ruin all. The US developed many institutions to stop this from happening, all under corrosive attack today. Work to keep those institutions strong, or your own society will be trashed.

Oh my Lord that photo of the beach is staggering!! Please citizens of Lebanon, get your act together. How about a group beach clean-up day every Saturday from now until done!

What all the corrupt countries need to go though is a French style revolution to get rid of fake aristocrates and disgusting clerics with violent confrontations.

Until the sectarian militias (Shia, Christian, Druze...all being manipulated by outside powers) are disbanded, Lebanon will never be a successful nation. All it is now, to quote the title of a fine book by Charles Glass, is a collection of "tribes with flags". And it seems that the level of tribal paranoia is so high that a united, progressive democratic Lebanon is a pipe dream.

The rich are killing us and the planet.

Government corruption isn't the only reason there is a garbage crisis in Lebanon. For every Lebanese producing garbage in 1950, one lifetime(70 years) ago, there are now 5 Lebanese producing garbage. Why do the authors assume Lebanon has the capacity to process 5 times as much garbage as it processed in 1950?

This is RIDICULOUS. I fervently wish the antigovernment protesters success. Religion has no place in government.

We need our global climate change warriors to go and work in Lebanon. It would satisfy the climate change deniers while helping sort the country's garbage crisis. May be people also will realize that population growth is contributing to this crisis.

Lebanon, you see now this is all about money. Defuse this crises and invite known, intelligent and productive American companies to destroy the toxic waste, before it ends up in the food chain for all Lebanese citizens. I recommend Veolia Environmental Services. Search no further than their expertise in dismantling chemical weapons in Syria. As for waste management, you face a cultural divide and elitists that will continue their rant, internally, that they are doing a job well done, to your lawful specification. Clearly, they are misguided in their judgement. We have plenty of experts, waiting for you to tap on the shoulder. Have a chat with Ambassador Elizabeth H. Richard, at our Embassy in Beirut. Ask for the phone number, and contact information for the many, many consultants, here on our Eastern Sea Coast that are ready to answer all of your questions. My favorite pick, to manage your crisis, is Republic Services, Inc. Truth be told, though, you might want to keep all of your waste in one basket, and stay the course with Veolia.

And Beirut was once the Paris of the Middle East? One can't help but wonder what Lebanon would be if Syria and Israel had stayed out, if Lebanon had been left alone by outside forces.....

THis is so sad, Beirut was once arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is a perfect example of what happens when religious sects run government. It is time for an overthrow of the government and to freeze the assets of the ruling minority. I wish the Lebanese people a much better future.

The region of The Lebanon has been a cradle of corruption going back for millennia now, since the days of the Phoenicians and Philistines. Today, the country is a veritable laboratory for swindlers and finaglers, who have raised "Rent-Seeking" schemes up to a dark science. This is the template for the future, and corrupt grifters around the World will seek to emulate the most lucrative rackets that are devised in Lebanon. In parts of Red State America, it is only a matter of time--perhaps 10 or 20 years-- before both the landscapes and culture of hypocrisy begin to resemble, if not surpass, the Lebanese paradigm.

Having spent 2 weeks there hiking around and staying with host families, I can only say that the Lebanese people are some of the kindest, most hospitable, generous people I've ever met. They deserve much better.

A fantastic analysis of how Lebanon's wrongheaded political configuration has led to such extreme levels of corruption. While we have similar types of corruption in the U.S. in local governments where scrutiny is low, this takes it to another level. Unfortunately to a casual observer, the stereotype likely persists that Lebanon, as a diverse Middle Eastern country, has fallen afoul of "ancient" conflicts between its fractious religious groups. Stories like these detail how that is a dangerous and vast oversimplification. Conflict in the Middle East stems from the same sources as conflict anywhere else: greed, corruption, manipulation of public will and political ambition.

Thank you for this comprehensive article. It was insightful, accurate and highlighted the toxic nature of Lebanese politics. Like other readers, I encourage NY Times to further their reporting on the developments in Lebanon. As a subscriber I’m surprised at how little coverage has been given to these demonstrations which are now entering the 50 day mark.

Another difficulty that Lebanon faces is refugees. One is three people living in Lebanon is a refugee with no path to citizenship. First there were the Palestinanians, who are still there. Now the the Syrians. The Lebanese have opened their doors where others have not, but their refugee situation needs some resolution.

This reminds me a lot of the mob-controlled landfills from the 70s & 80s. Little oversight with all of the payoffs to local politicians. Oddly, it was the corporatization and consolidation of the waste management companies that led to increased oversight and alignment with community standards.

Spot on analysis. Would like to see a comprehensive investigation into Lebanon's simmering sovereign debt crisis. Sooner or later the financial system is going to implode--folks in Lebanon are already feeling the heat with illegal capital controls being imposed without regulation nor direction--and when it does there won't be a state to bail the banks out, and there won't be any banks left to bail the state out.

Look deeper. The bottom line is that there is no permanent rise in education and life status while the greed beast is fed at the bottom rung. Look at Angola supposedly rebuilding after decades of war. The city --of colonialists still exerting power-- is being electrified while outside no planned expansion of water and sewer and electrification goes right. Exactly what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. The western interference when the oil discoveries occurred in the Middle East seemed to be planned to make sure the only refineries were in controllable Saudi Arabia. Democracy at work.

I was a tourist in Lebanon shortly after the protests started, including the week Hariri resigned. There were roadblocks on the highways, and what was remarkable to me was the good-spiritedness of the drivers. No horn honking, no irritation. Only cooperation, as drivers coming from the opposite direction stopped, rolled down their windows, and told other drivers what was going on ahead. The Lebanese people deserve much, much better than what their government is giving them. The problem is how to dislodge the existing powers, including Hezbollah. I don't see how they can get from here to there, but fervently hope they do.