New Post on Beirut Spring

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 12:57 AM PDT

This photo is making the rounds online in Lebanon. It was one of pre-war Lebanon in the seventies where people seemed carefree and happy. Unlike today, the city center seemed busy and full of life, and most importantly, full of diverse people from all social strata. It’s a great photo because of its nostalgic value, but people are reaching all sort of wrong conclusions from it.

Blaming Solidere

Compared to the days depicted in the picture, today’s Beirut central district is criticised as “artificial”, “discriminating”, “for the rich only”, and most importantly “empty” and “lifeless”. This sad story needed a villain, and who better to blame than the big bad Solidere, the company that actually rebuilt the city center?

Because heaven forbid the state of the city center today has anything to do with the fact that people started killing each other in that exact area, using all sorts of weapons from machine guns to grenades to artillery, transforming the entire area into a useless and unliveable dump:

Or heaven forbid it has to do with the fact that the person who oversaw the rebuilding of that area was blown up out of existence in that very area in 2005

Or heaven forbid it has anything to do with the fact that a hostile neighbouring country bombed the lifeblood out of our country in 2006.

Or by all means heaven forbid it has anything to do with the fact that thousands of people occupied and shut down that entire area for more than a year, turning it into a hideous and smelly tent city, killing all the neighbourhood’s businesses in the process:

Yes, by all means, the villain in the story, the party that destroyed Beirut and made it empty and charmless is the company that rebuilt it and made it liveable again.

Short Memories

The critics who lament the “emptiness” of BCD conveniently forget the golden years before 2005, when you couldn’t even set foot in the city center because it was choked by people and tourists. I remember having to walk from AUB because I couldn’t find any place to park my car.

As for the whole “it’s for rich people only” argument, what were you expecting Solidere to do? A planned city will never be like an organic city, and since Solidere is a business (with many Lebanese people as investors), it has to come up with the best business plan to optimise the city’s use. As I’ve argued before, Beirut is a great fit for luxury tourism.

By all means enjoy the photo of Beirut in the 70s. Admire the nostalgia it brings and enjoy the innocent looks on the faces of the people who don’t yet know that they are about to embark on a vicious civil war where the people they hold dearest will be brutally killed.

If you think we’re much worse off today and you think you must blame someone, I suggest you point your finger at the Lebanese people itself.