«I have owned and operated a business in Beirut for nearly 15 years, since the end of the (civil) war. I pay my taxes, keep my employees well paid and happy, and make sure that my store is clean and comfortable for my customers.
About 2 months ago, one of my favorite TV shows was on called Basmat Watan. Now Basmat Watan is a comedy show full of satirical skits, poking fun at our Ministers and other political leaders. They have made several important political figures the butt of their jokes. And why not? We all know it’s in good fun anyway.
So one night they put on a skit with someone impersonating Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Within minutes of airing the program, a huge mob of Hezbollah supporters come crashing into our neighborhood, busting up our storefronts along the street. I thought they were crazy! I tried talking to them but it was no use. Immediately I feared for my life as they crashed through the windows of my store and started looting everything that I had.
There was no police; there was no protection for us. Where was our government? My business suffered thousands of dollars in losses. My insurance won’t cover anything. And Hezbollah wants me to support them? While they were preparing for war why didn’t they at least tell us that they were going to war? None of us were prepared.
Here, I just opened my business again when the July War started. There are no customers left. Nasrallah says there is money to rebuild, but what about the vandalism and the lost income opportunity? Where are the tourists and when will they come back? I am afraid of losing everything all over again with three mouths to feed at home and a mortgage».
O segundo:
«As a young girl growing up in the southern suburbs of Beirut , I would play with my brothers and sister in our yard that my father, a hardworking policeman, took care of on his days off from work. We lived in the neighborhood and my parents were well respected and contributed their time and energy to the local community.
Our community was mixed Christian and Shia. We got along well and lived in peace. We shared vegetables that grew in our gardens, sipped coffee in each other’s homes, and we kids did what kids always do: get into mischief! That all came to an end one day when Hezbollah took over our neighborhood and made it their own fortress. We lost our home, my family’s ancestral property. Everything that my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had worked and struggled to maintain through wars and recessions and the days of starvation by the Ottoman Empire … They destroyed my home. My home! We couldn’t take anything out of our house! I left in my pajamas, can you imagine! With machine guns blazing we ran out of our house. My dad tried to get back in to get the papers for the house. Snipers across the street shot at him and hit the car. We were lucky to be alive. But we lost our home, we lost our livelihood, we lost the land of my ancestors. And a Hezbollah training camp was built on our property. They refused to let us go back and see our land and visit the graves of my grandparents. For many years we struggled, moving from place to place. We were homeless refugees in our own country! We finally were able to sell our land to only one bidder at a price they offered. To Hezbollah. They got a great deal. Free rent for all those years and valuable property at a discount. It almost killed my father to sell that land. That’s how attached he was to it. I don’t like this war. And the Hezbollah brought the war back to Lebanon . For what? I don’t understand?!? I can’t sleep at night because I am afraid that the Hezbollah will come and take away my property like they did to my father that dark night many years ago.»
O terceiro:
«I live in the South. I am not a political person because politics only gets you in trouble. I don’t like to vote and frankly all politicians are corrupt. So what’s the point of pretending to vote? That was the attitude I had last year when we had the elections for Parliament.
So the weekend arrived and generally that is the best time to keep your business open. The local leaders were trying to whip up the community to vote for the Hezbollah slate with offers of cash and goods.
They came to me with cash and I refused. They took my refusal and came back with their goons and their guns. They raised their guns and demanded that I close my store and vote.
What was I to do? So I closed my store and they followed me to the polling place at gunpoint. Of course, I voted for the Hezbollah slate! Satisfied with my vote being cast for their slate, they allowed me to return to my business. Democracy bastardized. Like I said, politics only gets you in trouble. »
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