The Lebanese revolution started on the 17th of October as a way to bring down a corrupted system. On its third Sunday, November 3rd, a group of three protesters decided to deliver a brutal message that represents what all protesters are desperately trying to fight.
The three protesters literally hung their “execution” ropes in Riad El-Solh and staged a scene of hanging that which they each aimed to represent. All in white shrouds, their heads bowed, their ropes showing from their necks to the execution bar, they each had a poster in their hands.
As indicated in her poster, the young woman represented the Lebanese Civil War of 1975, emphasizing as such the death execution of that 15 year period in the Lebanese History that had divided the nation, and its consequences which the people in Lebanon are still suffering from.
“Sectarianism” was the word that one of the young men carried. It represented the continuous sectarian conflict, fueled by the political leaders of Lebanon’s 18 different sects to manipulate the people into their political agenda serving their own power play.
The statement is powerfully clear: The revolution wants to eradicate sectarianism that has been causing sufferings and divisiveness, hence the staging symbolized the killing of sectarianism.
The third “death execution” seemed less intense yet carried also a powerful statement; a message of sacrifice for one’s fellow countrymen and countrywomen enduring deprivation because of the political elite, to which he also sent a rebellious message.
The poster in his hands said, “If I died, donate all my organs to the poor except for my middle finger, give it to the government.”
These three revolutionaries stayed “hanging” all day long in Riad El-Solh. Their persistence to meet the intensity of their message was so strong that they kept their eyes closed and head down all day without moving.
“We wanted to show everyone how suffocated we are by these conflicts by suffocating ourselves with them,” said Guitta Mcheik, one of the trio. “We do not want anything they [the politicians in power] are using to suffocate the people anymore. We want to be free from these chains, even if we lost people along the way.”
“Our message was to shed light on the martyrs, as well as to get rid of sectarianism and the [influence of the] civil war.”
It is also significant to mention that these three revolutionaries staged their execution in Riad El-Solh, near Martyrs’ Square where Lebanese protesters were executed by the Ottoman rule in 1908. These forefathers of ours had protested to end the Ottoman brutal dominion over Lebanon in favor of nationalist movements.
Kudos to this incredible representation of civil disobedience!
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