On August 4th, a massive explosion occurred at a port in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, killing at least 171 people and injuring more than 5,000. Then on August 8th, more than 10,000 citizens demonstrated for the government to step down from power in Beirut. Some protesters raided government offices, including the Foreign Ministry, the Environment Ministry, and the Energy Ministry, and armed soldiers were seen patrolling the streets. As a result, a police officer was killed, and hundreds of protesters were injured. On August 11th, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a speech to the nation that his Cabinet would resign in connection with the explosion, amid growing public anger. Despite his resignation speech, the ire of the citizens has not subsided, so let us find out what happened and why it occurred.

Lebanon is infamous for its civil war since its independence on 1941 until the late 20th century. The Egyptian Revolution (1952) and the Suez War (1956) led to the prevalence of Arab nationalism and the large-scale influx of Palestinian refugees across the border into Lebanon to avoid Israeli oppression, resulting in social chaos in Lebanon. Since then, political leaders from various religions have emerged, leading to constant power struggles, eventually resulting in an armed conflict in 1975, which triggered the start of the Lebanese civil war. The civil war in Lebanon, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, ended with an estimated death toll of more than 150,000, more than 100,000 seriously injured, and more than 900,000 refugees, making Lebanon's political and economic situation extremely dire.

Since the civil war broke out, Lebanon's economy continued to decline. According to 2018 data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Lebanon's central bank, Lebanon's debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 170 percent and economic growth reached -5.9 percent. It also found that 900,000 out of 1.8 million workers had no jobs. In fact, on March 7th, Prime Minister Hassan Diav declared * a moratorium on international debt repayment, saying he could not repay the $1.2 billion worth of bonds due on the 9th. In response, Reuters interpreted Prime Minister Diav's speech as "defaulting" at a time when the financial crisis in Lebanon is growing. (Expected) Professor Kim Sung-Hyun (Department of Global Economics, Sungkyunkwan University): "The reason why the government debt ratio is so high is that it has to go through a process of huge debts in the process of post-war recovery. Usually, the debt ratio must be reduced by increasing the size of the economy and tax revenue through the process of economic recovery, but Lebanon has failed to take such a proper approach due to lingering internal instability. As of May, this year, Lebanon's inflation rate stood at 56.5 percent, which is a serious economic crisis.

In addition to economic causes, the public expressed anger over Lebanon’s public system. Lebanon's former minister, Hitti, resigned three days before the blast at Beirut's port, saying Lebanon's politics were corrupted and inept. He pointed out that the new cabinet included many experts but failed to show tangible results in responding to and reforming the economic crisis. Also, he criticized the government for failing to reach an agreement with IMF on financial aid since May this year. His remarks were not so eye-catching, but after the explosion the next day, people began to focus again on government corruption. According to Lebanese media and other media outlets, several warnings have been raised about the dangers of explosive ammonium nitrate in storage at Beirut Port since 2014, but it has been repeatedly ignored and the court has rejected the request to take action. Maha Yahia, director of the Beirut-based think tank Carnegie Middle East Center, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the incident was a catastrophic result of the collapsing system. Maha said, "Where is anyone who has put nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate in the harbor warehouse with firecrackers? Everyone who has managed the ammonium nitrate loading warehouse for the past four to five years knew there was a problem, but that not a single person has taken action is a great proof of corruption.” Furthermore, according to an interview between a foreign media correspondent and an anonymous importer, it has been figured out that there is a system that specifies the price of the bribe at the port, and the people had to pay $500-1000 to expedite customs clearance.

(Expected) ???Professor (Department of Sociology, Beirut University of America): "We were already in a difficult society because of the Corona incident, and the situation has doubled. It is natural for people suffering from hardships to express their discontent, but we must keep in mind that the scale will grow even bigger if the government does not come up with quick countermeasures."

*Moratorium: Delaying the performance of debt for a certain

 By Yoo Chan-Ju, Reporter

ychanjoo@pusan.ac.kr