Losing Lebanon: The revolution, collapse and revenge of the state

This week on The New Arab Voice, we're kicking off a new three-part special that's diving deep into Lebanon. 

The past few years have been transformational for the small Mediterranean country. The citizens of Lebanon have been pushed to its limits by a series of crises. 

In part one, we look back at the uprisings of October 2019 and the central bank's Ponzi scheme that brought the country's economy to its knees.

Protesters took to the streets in 2019 as Lebanon's economy started to crumble and the government attempted to pass on the financial strain to the people. We explore the attempts by protesters to move away from the traditional political and sectarian structures that had ruled the country, and examine why the movement ultimately failed. 

When the protests ended, the economy went into a complete meltdown, destroying the savings that people had spent their lives working for and slashing the value of the Lebanese lira to the bone. 

We examine the Ponzi scheme that caused so much damage, the people who profited from the corrupt system, and how it affected the lives of everyday citizens. 

In this episode, we speak with Ronnie Chatah, host of the podcast The Beirut Banyan (@thebeirutbanyan), Lebanese journalist Faten Jebai (@faten_jebai), The New Arab's International Editor Yazan al-Saadi, and Dina Abu Zour, a lawyer with the Lebanon's Depositors Union.