While you see blood, violence and chaos -- I see peace.
If you follow western news outlets, you may notice coverage of the Lebanese revolution is ramping up. Headlines read, “Protests in Lebanon are turning violent” and “Lebanon is on the brink of chaos.”
Before you judge -- please understand the whole story.
From the start, protesters have been adamant about making this a peaceful movement. They’ve protested by dancing in the streets, blasting national songs and proudly waving Lebanese flags.
As an American girl, walking around with a camera, I never felt safer. In fact, protesters went above and beyond to help with my stories. They offered to drive me to demonstrations, lift me up when I needed a better camera angle, find people to interview, and bring me food and water.
I also never felt more inspired.
Though these people were denied everything -- job opportunities, decent incomes, just law enforcement, clean water, reliable electricity, trash pickup -- they refused to be violent.
At one demonstration, I even witnessed hundreds stop the protest to pray the rosary. With tears in their eyes, they prayed for a new government to give them basic rights.
But the current leaders aren’t giving in. Instead, they’re retaliating. Just last week, police in Beirut fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons at protesters. So, after three months of being peaceful, some people are fighting back.
That doesn’t mean all Lebanese are violent. That doesn’t mean it’s “yet another violent uprising” in the Middle East. Western media often runs with that narrative -- but it’s important we understand the full story.
The full story is Lebanese people want a decent life in their home country. They have been *trying* to ask for that in a peaceful way. But they face forces that we, here in America, never have to encounter. So, before we judge the situation based on headlines, let’s understand the complete picture.
