Mohamad Faour dreams of one day returning to live, work and prosper in Lebanon, his homeland, even though he has only lived there on and off on holidays.
Mohamad, like so many Lebanese, lives and works abroad as one of the many Lebanese of the diaspora. He is proud to call himself Lebanese, but he is also critical of a system that perpetuates an eternal stream of emigration to Australia, the Gulf, Canada and Europe. Meanwhile, those who remain are condemned to a dysfunctional and demeaning dilution of their rights and citizenship, as sectarian warlords-cum-politicians divvy up their patronage and clientelism among those who convey appropriate loyalty or have sufficient 'wasta' to play the system. Or, that's how it was designed to be, until it stopped working.
A gradually worsening economic crisis exploded into popular unrest in October 2019, and since then, the economy has spiraled into oblivion. Now, with nobody to blame and nowhere for politicians to hide, the Lebanese lira devaluing by the day and the IMF waiting impatiently for Lebanese authorities to start facing up to the scale of this crisis, there's a growing sense that Lebanon is transitioning to a new phase in its history, with the repercussions and implications of this transition still unknown.
Mohamad, as an economist, outlines in blunt and frank terms how this crisis developed as a product of the post - Civil War attempt to rebuild Lebanon's shattered economy. However, as a citizen, he also passionately advocates for solutions to re-establish the state, one with no links to the old regime and with the rights and dignity of Lebanese citizenship at it's core.
