It is a normal New Year’s Eve: Lots of celebrations, family, friends, and fortune-tellers predicting the year on TV. Little did we know that those were more than predictions, that the 17 October Lebanese Revolution started on the night of December 31, 2018, on a chair on MTV, broadcasting Live Hayek’s visions.
Michel Hayek is one of Lebanon’s most acclaimed clairvoyant and is credited with predicting some of the most significant events. His annual TV appearance at the end of every year is much awaited by most people in Lebanon. His predictions, just like any other, sometimes are far from reality, and sometimes hit right on the spot. He has been predicting Lebanon’s ups and downs for three decades now.
However, now as we are living the Revolution, we can only say that his 2019 predictions hit skyrocket with too much accuracy it’s almost scary. From predicting “betrayal from a member of the Free Patriotic Movement” to “deputy Nehmat Efrem rebelling,” Hayek remarkably predicted the days we are living in now.
He spoke of a series of “amazements” and amazement we’ll wake up to every day. He predicted the Lebanese people revolting by the masses to save the economy and the country, and the shattering of sectarianism.
He spoke of the revolt scoring numerous wins, of the professionals revolting with the people and the revolting artists expressing in creativity, of Lebanon’s jail opening its doors to get in corrupt politicians, of the army joining the people, and Lebanon fighting the corruption; among other scenes that we have been living since the start of the revolution.
More or so, Hayek even predicted Choueifat’s tragic incident and some of President Michel Aoun’s stubbornness. On New Year’s Eve at MTV, Michel Hayek said how we saw president Aoun during the scenes of amazements he was describing: “No boredom, no exhaustion, no retreat, and resilience till the very last breath.” If true, you know what not to expect.
@michel_hayek_officialembedded via
As for the Choueifat incident, Hayek explained: “There will be a certain occasion that Walid Joumblatt will feel is too heavy for him. The doors of Choueifat will open to a lot of possibilities.” Even though the events he mentioned are not as detailed, like it usually is with psychics, it is still the closest to reality nowadays.
Hayek also predicted that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Gebran Bassil will face two unfortunate incidents. However, I can think of numerous unfortunate incidents Bassil is facing nowadays other than the masses revolting against him:
The resignation of the government by the people’s demands is for sure one of them, and his candidate for the prime minister withdrawing his nomination now. Could we classify these two as incidents? Maybe yet, maybe not.
It is a cultural thing with the Lebanese people to get fascinated with horoscopes and predictions, even though most don’t believe in them. But many do! It is like our little guilty pleasure. I eagerly wait till Maguy Bou Farah gives me some insights into how Scorpio will be doing this year, and I take notes so I can race my fate.
I wonder if we did believe Hayek’s predictions on New Year’s Eve, or even understood them as a huge revolution, one like Lebanon has never seen before. Would we have been more prepared to face it? Would we do it again?
If we had the chance to choose between living all the things we have lived so far, from extreme happiness to extreme despair, or avoid everything we experienced for the past month, what would we choose?
I know I would not miss the chance of feeling freedom, no matter how painful it was/is. I know I would do it, again and again, and I would not skip any part of it, especially the tough parts.
As poet Nizar Kabbani says in his Beirut Sit Al Dounya poem: “Revolution is born from the womb of desperation.”
Follow us on Instagram @the961 and on Twitter the961com as we are currently covering the Lebanese revolution stories. Also, join us on Facebook @The961Lebanon to engage with our fans in Lebanon and across the world.