By Ayah Elwannas
To thoroughly comprehend the lasting impact of Tuesday's explosion that raged through the heart of Lebanon's capital, it is vital to turn back the clock.
Before the total destruction across the city, Lebanon had endured a series of shock waves that left it transformed beyond recognition.
The nation was already in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, which devastated its middle class and drove the poor into destitution leading to lost livelihoods. Economists suspect the rate of poverty to be as high as 80%.
Before the blast plunged Beirut into darkness, it was rare for most of the country to obtain more than a few hours of electricity a day. The latter was a result of the inability of the cash-stricken government to afford enough fuel. The morning of the explosion, in protest over increased power rationing, hundreds of demonstrators had stormed the energy ministry.
Before the chemical explosion brought a plume of poisonous gas into the air, Lebanon's waters and beaches were severely polluted. Not far from where its residents swam and bathed, harmful sewage would pour into the sea.
Prior to the decimation of a port that held most of Lebanon's indispensable resources, the country already faced a food crisis. Crimes of hunger" – when people steal things like baby milk, food, and medication – most recently skyrocketed as a result of the worsening economic status.
Although the inquiry into the cause of the explosion is still underway, interior minister Mohammed Fahmi indicated that the blast was possibly triggered by more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that was seized in 2014.
A corrupt political elite that ruled the country since the end of the civil war consisting of warlords from that very conflict has deprived generations of Lebanese people of their right to be regarded as citizens and not dependents.
Mass demonstrations against the country's corrupt leaders spread. "All of them means all of them," chanted the demonstrators, acknowledging that the political parties and representatives of the nation. It was a call for an end to the sectarianism that enabled those leaders to stay so long in power.
The demonstrations have been the most significant and numerous in decades, but they have subsided under the weight of many crises in Lebanon. That rage is expected to return after the tragic port explosion.
In reality, to some, this tragedy seems like an extension of the same injustice that has destroyed the Lebanese people for years.
Sara Assaf, a local activist, spoke out on the government subsequent to the explosion: "They killed us financially. They killed us economically. They killed us physically. They killed us morally. They killed us chemically. There's no one form of death they haven't used with us. Damn our political class."
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