The Pink Shoe Diaries

Lebanon's Syrian-backed government resigns

i just emailed my cousins Fouad and Maya, who live in Juniyah (about 20 minutes from Beirut) to see how things are really going. my mom is calling her friends in Beirut as we speak.

when i was there in 2003, there were Syrian army checkpoints everywhere. alot of my cousins who were vehemently against the war in Iraq actually wanted US intervention in Lebanon in order to get Syria out for good. they called elections "selections" short for "syrian elections" because even though they voted, Syria basically installed whomever they wanted in the government. everywhere, even in little mountain towns, there were pictures of the Syrian powers-that-be plastered in store windows.

and then two weeks ago when Hariri was assasinated it seemed like this big step even further backwards. (he was the the voice of the anti-Syrian movement, the prime minister who resigned when Syria basically changed the Lebanese constitution so that the pro-Syria president Lahoud could stay in power without an election).

and our friends and family didn't even want to talk about it, it was the old "we Lebanese now how to pick up the pieces and move on" (which, if you have seen pictures of Beirut in the 8os and then now, you know it's true).

and now there are 25,ooo people gathered in the martyr's square and they are calling for Lahoud to step down.

i don't want to use a trivializing adjective here, but it all seems so exciting!!

i can't wait to hear more about it tonight. if my cousin's email is coherent i will post some of it here!