A group of concerned citizens in Beirut have a plan to overhaul the city's dysfunctional government.
The Beirut Madinati is a loose organization of volunteers, including professors, lawyers, urban planners, and researchers, who intend to elect a new Municipal Council in Beirut's city elections in May, according to Outlook AUB, a student newspaper at the American University of Beirut.
Municipal elections in Lebanon are notoriously something of a farce. The country reportedly held only one municipal election in the 35 years between 1963 and 1998.
The Madinati--who claim to not be affiliated with any Lebanese political parties--have an ambitious agenda. The group wants to make housing more affordable, make the city more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, reduce unemployment, improve the city's economy, double the number of public libraries and resolve Beirut's notorious garbage problem--all in the space of six years.
Workers load garbage bags into trucks on a street in Jdeideh, Beirut, Lebanon. End of 8-month garbage crisis - AP pic.twitter.com/0YxhQONbEf
— GoldenCouple (@TRH_WandC) March 21, 2016
The Madinati held a meeting in mid-March at the American University of Beirut to discuss how to achieve these goals, Outlook AUB reported.
The government clearly needs some reforming: last year, the closing of an overflowing landfill sparked an eight-month garbage crisis in Beirut that continues to this day. Photos of the city's "river of garbage" went viral and plans to export trash to Russia or Sierra Leone were discussed but never fully implemented.
In August, protests in Beirut over the trash crisis turned violent as police resorted to tear gas and beatings to subdue angry crowds. The protests were called "You Stink" and were directed at the government generally as much as they were at the garbage problem.
Take this big stink in the context of a national stalemate and political malaise. A leadership vacuum due to a moratorium on general elections pretty much over the course of the Syrian Civil War has set in: Lebanon has been living for nigh on two years without a President or cabinet.
Frustrations might be giving way to an appetite for challenging this heavy cloud of apathy with action on the local level. It hasn't been hard to get people to join the Madinati [which translates as "My City"] campaign, American University of Beirut English instructor Milia Ayache, who's involved in the effort, told Outlook AUB. "People don’t need a lot of convincing, since they are already fed up and disillusioned with the current situation in Lebanon. We have seen the city change for the worse over the past fifteen years, and everyone has seen it; whether they are rich or poor.”
--HS
