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Lebanese house of cards
Lebanon is similar to a boarding house of eight private bedrooms and a large common area fully equipped.
There are 8 roommates: 2 Christians, 3 Muslims, 1 Armenian, 1 Druze, 1 atheist and they are multifaceted. They lived at peace in such a beautiful & cultured home, the town had to call it the Switzerland house of the Middle East.
In the 1950s, the left neighbors, the Palestinians, came knocking on their doors requesting refugee status because their house got burned by outsiders (Israel). This created a huge dilemma between the Lebanese roommates on whether to accept them, not as visitors but as temporary residents. Most of the roommates, who sympathized with the Palestinians based on religion and Arabic identity, convinced the others of hosting them. The Palestinians moved in. There were no spare rooms, so the Palestinians had to use the couch for a while. It turned out to be for a long while. It wasn’t as peaceful as it used to be, because the common spaces were occupied and restricted, which created frictions between the roommates and a lot of hard feelings during simple conflicts such as using the washer/dryer or using the TV.
In the 1980s, the hatred between roommates grew exponentially, they accused each other of house problems, and wrongdoings, like no toilet papers, no trash bags, inappropriate use of the fridge and kitchen, and high bills. The situation exploded, and a civil war took place that almost burned the Lebanese house. The right neighbors, the Syrians, thought that by intervening they could bring peace back to the Lebanese house and create agreements between the Lebanese roommates while helping the Palestinians get back their burned house.
In the 1990s, the Syrians succeeded in ending the Lebanese civil war but started to impose their house rules in the Lebanese house. All the Lebanese roommates were poor, tired and severely damaged by the war. However, some of them were very happy as they were on very good terms with the Syrians and saw prosperity coming, while others missed the old times when they were in control of their own house and felt oppressed by the Syrian rules. The common areas were completely destroyed, and space was given to the Palestinians to find solutions for their burned house which almost made the outsiders (Israel) burn the Lebanese house in the year 2000. During the following years, the Lebanese roommates worked extremely hard, despite the jealousy and unjust rules of the house, on renovating the common areas and bringing back the Switzerland house of the Middle East to life.
In 2005’s, most of the Lebanese roommates were back in shape, some had lots of money, while others had lots of weapons. Together, and after a series of emotional painful losses to all (many assassinations), they decided to take back control of their own house and asked the Syrians neighbors to leave & stop imposing their rules immediately. It was a victory for the Lebanese house who showed lots of determination and positive outcomes. The Syrians did stop to a certain extent but truly still exercised their politics through the Lebanese roommate they had favorited during their rulings. All those years, the Lebanese house was accumulating debts, and little to no renovations were taking place in the common areas. However, the private rooms were getting richer, and fancier by the day, decorated by glamorous arts and expensive furniture. Visitors were coming to visit rooms instead of visiting the house, and the roommates lived in an illusion of luxury and success, but practically they were so deficient in having the basic amenities like water, electricity, and gas to sustain their living.
In the 2015’s, the debt of the Lebanese house grew exponentially, the infrastructure was falling, bills unpaid, and trash bags accumulating in the common areas with no one taking responsibility. The Syrian revolution pushed almost two million Syrians to seek refugee status at the Lebanese house again. They were welcomed temporarily in the common areas. It is a crisis. A town hall meeting took place to help the Lebanese house by offering the “cedars loan” to the greedy irresponsible roommates.
Today, the Lebanese roommates are struggling to form a government to subsequently receive this shark loan. The common areas are super concentrated and in a shameless state. The Lebanese roommates care only about their private rooms. So based on the following simple history, do you think this delay is due to disagreement on reform plans of the common areas, or on roommates financial profit shares?
