Pen Thoughts

Rot and Renewal, week nine. What I concluded about organisations in January 2020, and what six years did to that conclusion. The road to Riad el Solh The uprising began on the evening of 17 October 2019, after the government announced it would tax petrol, tobacco and WhatsApp calls. I wanted to go that first night. My wife Jihane asked me not to, and I stayed home. By the second evening staying home was not possible. I apologised to her and took the car, a Jeep Liberty assigned to me by the organisation I worked for, which turned out to be the right vehicle for that road. I had never seen my own city look like that. Rubbish containers burning in the middle of the carriageway. Roadblocks every few hundred metres. The smell of fire and burnt tyres. Darkness, because the power was cut, so the only light came from whatever was alight. I drove at walking pace, bumping over rocks and shredded tyres and whatever else angry people had dragged into the road. There were people standing on b...

I find it really weird! On the outset of the 17th October uprising, I started a daily ritual of packing a bag and going to Riad El Soleh area. Though the first day of the uprising I was angry because what motivated people to react on unbelievable, shameless actions of the political elite, was mainly the proposition on Whatsup tax. For me, people reaction was more insulting than the proposition itself. Yet, after the fourth day of the uprising, I only got the sensation of hope and beauty in this new strange movement. I even was fearful the whole thing would end at any second. I woke up every day with an urge that took me to the screens hoping to see roads are blocked, people are in the streets shouting angerly, defying and fighting for their most basic rights. I find it weird, finally courageous and hopeful! In its seventy days anniversary, with lots of ups and downs, resistance, perseverance, and commitment, this uprising still breathing. It was reduced, however, no d...