WhatsApp, Lebanon and the the breakdown of society

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In the sixties and early seventies Lebanon was known as the Paris of the Middle East, but ever since the explosion in Beirut it has been highlighted as a place of deep unrest. Lebanon has experienced a series of upheavals since the outbreak of civil war in 1975, but its current financial crisis was provoked by the proposed plan to tax Whatsapp calls in October 2019. This plan would have affected the daily lives of the Lebanese people by adding extra costs to the way they keep in touch, sparking mass protests that highlighted the divisions within the sectors of Lebanese society that still exist to this day.

How did Lebanon end up here?

Civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1975, sparked by the coalescence of various militias, and exacerbated by the different ethnicities and religions of Lebanon: a mosaic of Druze, Maronites, Muslims and Christians. The four major militia groups were: the Lebanese Front, (LF), representing the Maronite Christians who made up the country’s traditional elite; the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which represented Lebanon’s large refugee population and the soviet-supporting pan-Arabists; the Amal, which represented Shi’i populists,  and the Lebanese National Movement (LMN), which represented a coalition of secular leftists and Sunni Muslims. The Cold War and the post-war independence movements impacted the demography of the country, provoking further internal division, particularly with public opposition towards the pro-Western Christian parliament that was in power.

The Civil War marks a turning point in Lebanese history. The roots of today’s financial crisis can be attributed to Lebanon’s development since the end of the Civil War, and the subsequent occupations of Lebanon by the Israelis and Syrians, achieving liberation from the Israelis in May 2000 and withdrawal of Syrian troops in April 2005 after popular pressure. The upheaval of the last quarter of the 20th century meant that the Lebanese pound has been declining since this period, with it fully collapsing in the late eighties.

The arrival of the second decade of the 21st century highlighted the fragility of Lebanon, as much of the surrounding areas descended into chaos. It failed to keep up with its spending on imports, and spiralled further into debt. In 2016 the country was without a president for much of the year, but the Lebanese banks suddenly announced high interest rates for deposits of dollars, and even higher rates for deposits of the Lebanese pound, allowing the banks to keep funding the country's excessive spending. Only two years later did the government announce a public sector pay rise, with money it didn’t have, and its failure to introduce reforms meant its foreign donors did not give the billions of dollars that they had pledged to the Lebanese government. With more uncertainty over how their spending would be funded, a plan was announced to tax the things used by everyday Lebanese, whilst maintaining low taxes for the rich, increasing the divide between the rich and the poor.

The crisis exploded in 2019 with a series of mass civil demonstrations, led principally by the youth who have been disproportionately affected by the crisis, sparked by the propositions of taxes on gasoline, tobacco and Whatsapp calls. Whatsapp is crucial to the functioning of everyday Lebanese society, but after the proposition of taxes on it by the government, the people managed to turn it against the government by using the messaging app to organise the protests. However, the battle for Whatsapp is far from won. The authorities have used it to identify the leaders of the protest and arrest them. 

But it was evident from the extent and size of the protests that there were further underlying causes. They deepened into demonstrations against sectarian rule, unemployment, corruption, and the government’s failure to provide even the most basic necessities.

By the time of the explosion in Beirut in August 2020, Lebanon was in a critical state, with the value of the Lebanese pound plummeting, the government having failed to meet the legal obligations of its vast debt and a poverty rate that had increased past 50%, alongside the COVID-19 pandemic which was crippling its hospitals. The financial crisis meant that these hospitals lacked medical supplies and couldn’t even pay their staff. The explosion killed over 200 people and destroyed much of the surrounding areas of the Port of Beirut. The subsequent investigation determined that the explosion was caused by tonnes of ammonium nitrate being stored unsafely. It highlighted the political corruption and lack of care from the government for the lives of the Lebanese people.

What’s next for Lebanon?

In May of this year, Lebanon saw its first election since this crisis was sparked three years ago, but the results don’t suggest that any change will arrive in Lebanon anytime soon. Only 49.2% of Lebanese voters went to the polls, and the majority of the parliamentary seats went to the same corrupt parties that have afflicted the political system for decades. But, for the first time in modern Lebanese history, candidates who don’t belong to the traditional political structures won seats in the parliament, and this number is not insignificant. This suggests that there is hope for the future of Lebanon, a small but existent changing tide is coming. However, it looks unlikely that this will manage to profoundly change the financial crisis and political situation any time soon.