Lebanon will survive until were fighting for its survival then i believe lebanon can survive. In a hussein is a lawyer by profession saving lebannon is his vocation. Ever known but its going to be the toughest case of his life and his country is on its needs. We were not just in crisis we were in a total collapse you know everything in this country had already collapsed not just economically even the social fabric of the society had collapsed. Beirut is in ruins. Not only because of the explosion at the port on august the 4th of this year which killed almost 200. 00 people and made around 300000 homeless. The lebanese economy is also want to sneeze. The country has been on the brink of collapse for months were it not for a few determined people taking matters into their own hands the country would long be dead. Through the hussein and his fiance nor want to bring their city back to life because they are coordinating everything with fellow volunteers from 1st aid to the rebel brigades who are clearing up the debris. The 1st couple of hours after the explosions we saw bodies in the streets we sell people all body dont think of going to the hospital then we decided that its your government again it will be absent it will not be here so we took matters into our own hands i dont. Know about some has been distributing food since the blast for 9 years the 29 year old has been working for various n. G. O. S in the environmental sector her experience is that the state is often absent and it was no different after the explosion hardly any lebanese politician showed their faces if you want to survive in lebanon you have to look after yourself maybe im than i am now maybe i dont so much even if i get treated so much and because we are working and where i stand we dont feel it but they can say its its right we are not newer and hussein are gearing up to fight the countrys political elite. The lebanese constitution guarantees government positions to Christians Shias and. Those in power have been exploiting the system for decades to ruthlessly plunder the country. Hussein wants to use the opportunity of a u. S. Envoys visit to prevent corrupt politicians from getting their hands on emergency aid from the west mr hale if we had only had to mr hale we have 2 words he shouts to the u. S. Envoy. 6 7 dont bail them out dont give them a lifeline. 6 for the activists this is just the beginning they are aiming to realign the countrys political system lebannon needs a reboot. We want to transform society because society here is not actually in unison its not one society its a multitude of small societies god has been bred on the fear of water so im a she offered something we have soon is there you have christians there for me like for example the last decade this sunday was kind of an enemy you know i mean hes there to come and take what i have and for him if the same thing before the christians and the muslims the same thing and the rulers they feed off of this they feed off of fear from the other. 30 year old hussein believes that it is not yet too late but many of his compatriots want something completely different they want to get out of the country as soon as they can. Tripoli around an hour north of beirut. Electro d. J. John tellem has had enough and is taking off. His next album will come out in london. He has already moved out of his flat in beirut and together with his girlfriend a russian Film Producer hes living with his parents until his flight leaves for europe. And on the evening basically leaving because we lost hope in the country and i got the chance to apply a tool u. K. In beirut kind of like its turned us down altogether because of its. Like instability and like difficulties Housing Financing my in my personal projects and all that stuff. For months hes been plowing through british red tape with lily as support. Its increasingly difficult for lebanese to get a western visa the demand is too high because so many people want to leave but john got an artists visa which entitles him to apply for british citizenship in 3 years now that was there it is more important than anything else. Exactly that and the only thing i dont get this is my way out. For. Like all lebanese until he leaves john will have to struggle with the collapsing economy he still has a few dollars left but hard currency is in increasingly short supply its becoming hard for peter to change my property because the rates you know how do you have money rates like the black market for instance like you have this 100 this used to be. Lets say this one used to be worth around 66. 00 now its like less than 10. 00 so you cant really buy anything with it. The lebanese currency has lost around 80 percent of its value against the u. S. Dollar in just a year its a catastrophe. For people in the city which is already poor. Unemployment is up almost 60 percent tripoli is falling apart. Its where john spent his youth saying goodbye to old friends doesnt come easy to him her. Default model among our things is anything happening on anymore right now she on the jay wants to tell here is siobhan suburbs of. Hes in belgium probably stay there. Hes better off than anyway but hes just coming back to pick up his stuff for free. Lebanon has a long tradition of farewells only some 4000000 lebanese actually live there as opposed to a global diaspora of 12000000. This number is likely to grow fast which is why europe is looking across the mediterranean with great concern. But some lebanese are still determined to stay. A year ago hussein and newer bought their 1st flat together. So you can to close that i know thats where the air conditioning will be. Its going in name. One of our great strengths. Its this is split. Only in the kitchen. Why do we look at home. Nothing in lebanon really works anymore including Housing Construction there are barely any Building Materials everything is going up in price and the completion of their flat has been the late theyve also canceled the wedding they were planning to come to ensure we can see said really good look at whats happening around us. I feel like i cant i cant enjoy it and. I think after the blast the whole idea of a wedding just you know its gone but. When the crisis hit the lebanese middle class a while ago. Nor in husseins Bank Accounts have been frozen. Rampant inflation has also eaten into the savings they. Sometimes i go home i just sit and think i was eating and just maybe im in shock maybe i dont know i maybe im sad i mean im good because i may be better than someone but at the same time i dont. Want. Hussein and nor are among the more fortunate ones. More and more of their fellow citizens dont even have enough to eat half of all lebanese live below the poverty line. Helpers from abroad such as germans enosh cycle or taking care of them. She works for orient help or a Small Charity that distributes food to the needy in beirut. With the faith this is the field kitchen orient help brought it here a few years ago from cairo mound down in the baker valley i think it was in 2015 years i can stuff about it it was originally that to provide food for Syrian Refugees the food was prepared for the last 5 times a day so they had something warm to wait and thats when the explosion happened i just post a message on my phone saying i will take this kitchen and use it here im. Not only the kitchen xeno too has been deployed in various projects as a photographer she came to document the work of the charity. But she. Arrived from the black forest in a country that was sliding into chaos. Xena had always longed to visit beirut even as a teenager she wanted to live there more than anywhere else in the world. To her neighborhood jimmys ones pulsated with a mixture of culture chaos and tolerance that magically drew young people from all over the worlds to beirut. But for the last year all xena has been able to do is watch her dream city slowly going to the dogs. 3 it really makes me sad incredibly sad to say. This is the hostage bay bridge its here in to maisie normally you have clubs the boss seen people go out people make money the economy is buzzing it feels like everyones out and about but none of that exists anymore and if i dont fucking wish now. What. So. The shockwave ripped into xenas flat to. She was lucky she was next door in her office when the explosion happened i said i was sitting here at my desk working the next thing i remember is lying on the floor with stuff wool around me and no idea what was happening and this is only the 2nd time ive come in here since it happened tonight is the 1st time i was shaking from head to toe because i was so scared its an incredible feeling when you realize how lucky you were every time i come into this room i realise how lucky i was one of. The explosion caused an estimated 15000000000. 00 worth of damage. Vital infrastructure such as hospitals were destroyed. The government was obviously aware that the board was a ticking time bomb but did nothing. It was an unprecedented failure. The lebanese had been protesting against the state for months in october 29 teams tens of thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against incompetence and corruption. They might have toppled the government but the new one which replaced it seemed equally useless. Hussein founded the group mean tissue in which helps to organize the protests mentation means since october referring to the month in 2019 when the demonstrations began this revolution right now is the only out to revolution because it came from the people not from Political Parties you know it was curious spontaneous 3 it started with a whatsapp docs i mean it was of course it was an i. Q. Malaysian but there were some thats really blew it out of proportion and we turn from marc. Pull of. Tons of people to hundreds to thousands and were still here. Husseins movement was right on the front line after the explosion in early august as angry citizens marched against a government that they held directly responsible for the devastation. Of the capital. Their anger exploded and suddenly the state did make an appearance with a Huge Police Presence one Police Officer was killed in the street fighting and over 700 demonstrators were injured. Including some of husseins people. Down there is injured as well he got shot in the leg during the last protest we have had 12 injured people one of them got hit in the stomach and he had internal bleeding and he had to be operated on and hes still at the hospital. After the protests the situation escalated and the government declared a state of emergency on august 13th. About but since then the army has been patrolling the streets of beirut now the army controls everything for example if the army wants to get your house they can go in get you from your house send you to military court they can do that you dont have to wait for a prosecutor to give a court order for them to investigate if were assembled they can come this person just put us in in their jeeps take us to barracks and the rest of us this is very dangerous they can even go as far as censoring whatever we write they can censor t. V. These radio stations. We live its like we live in a state of who are basically. Well i dont remember but the activists are not intimidated by the threats of the sting out of him and he said no were. All from different backgrounds different families we can reach a conclusion together because we agree we want the Common Benefit of assuming that. They are increasingly taking the fight to their opponents one of their actions involved tracking down politicians to a fancy restaurant and stopping them from dining in splendor amidst the citys poverty. They are aiming to deny those in power a moments peace. Their next plan is to dump rubble from the city in front of the politicians mansions. Yet the campaigns are getting increasingly risky the activists have a powerful opponent has belonged to a heavily armed shia militia supported by iran that controls the government and has no interest in change. Sectarian groups such as hezbollah are where the real power in lebanon lines Christians Shias and sunnis largely live in ghettos controlled by their respective groups and the government has little say in the matter. Hussein is shia he knows how deeply embedded has below is in his community and that no change is possible without them. He a newer drive to the shia district of conduct to distribute food. For them its all about reaching out. Some people from the revolution are scared of going there im sure theres a lot of them are very also have big fears from the other side you know theyre scared that these people who are coming lets say to the International Agenda are backed by the west or are backed by the u. S. And. On the other hand some people from here think that these people are less like iranians or something you know while the truth is that we are suffering from the same government their philanthropy isnt without its dangers hezbollah is not keen on outside helpers on their territory. The entrance to the district is marked by a large portrait of. The powerful hezbollah leader. Because guy and. One of the local bosses. Has invited hussein in because the people here also need help. But they still have to act fast hezbollah gunmen could turn up any moment. That. Ali wants to show hussein how bad things really are here extreme poverty starks these narrow streets ill. Come up tonight. People actually live in this damp cave like dwelling. This is a hospital with. This is a house look at the humanising these are. Open to someone will go. To his house is downstairs the whole building shook and everything from who is who is who its not i want the explosion my lot of damage here too but no help came says ali not even from hezbollah itself were going to do this morning. This is good and then know that then though we cant stay here lebanon is finished it was all our politics. Ns are corrupt without exception all our politicians are themes they are all things how. Could the anger and disillusion now be enough to break with old loyalties. Maybe but at least preference still seems clear. A picture of hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah still hangs on his wall. Outside its the same situation residents tearfully thanks ali for his help but if anything is to change here people will have to turn their back on hezbollah and its powerful allies. Such as multimillionaire nabih berri who is parliamentary speaker and head of the party. Political parties are entrenched in this area very much and still i think they have a major influence over the people there maybe they provide the services of a good state they need to survive and i think that this is something that we need to work on we need to bridge we need to talk to them more and we need them to understand what we are doing you know amal and hezbollah the take here and find out for example and the us they were hurt by that they they are all incompetent you know its not just the other parties that there are competent theyre all incompetent the court is controlled by all of them you know not a single party is not involved in this court and they all share the responsibility. Because the explosion isnt the only reason has by law is under pressure in the west it is seen as a terrorist organization. More and more lebanese blame it for the countrys misery. So even in crisis levanon remains defy. Xena from korean tell her also feels the rising tension. Shes on her way to zala a christian town in the bekaa valley. Christians dominated lebanon until the 1970 s. Now they are in a minority zala is like a showcase city. Contrary to the situation in the rest of the country theres always electricity here and the streets are cleaner than elsewhere. But the crisis has also hit here and more and more people in need help as well. Xena doesnt see anyone from the state here either volunteers are taking care of everything. Orient helpers food goes to people like 83 year old event koori who used to work for the red cross. But kathy that. When the shooting there what did you have to. Do. If you said there is no work and i caught pay the rent was not a bad way to. Say bring me food. And many of the elderly here had been supported by their children but now they are also running out of money theres barely any social safety net in lebanon at all. Because of course it makes me really sad when i see how miserable the people how little we do to them is still such a lot i think it really affects me id really like to help. Here to help in the long bond and human i wish i knew how to really help people here in the long term. As with the shias the people here turn to religion for comfort in increasing poverty. And just like in the hezbollah quarter zol is political bosses ignore the misery. Train so the future for many people is elsewhere john the d. J. From tripoli is off to london. Before he leaves he wants to go to beirut one more time to bid farewell to the city where he became a big name. Stars they didnt like shopping this is the 1st time i see it like live thats going to read about me to be honest its nothing left for. Jobs beirut is a pile of rubble in the middle of it all he bumps into johnny an old friend from his clubbing days. Believing one of the. Living from the same time a. Little. Johnny scars bear witness to the full brunt of the explosion. No one. Thinks of this. Position is all used to smoke this should get. Closer and all of you dont need these people anymore theyre all the been there for 30 years since the ninetys come on guys thats so lets get a new people new people with new fresh ideas and all that ideas they dont have those. We dont need anyone anymore tell us were talking about. Many of the powers that be do not want change. And activists. Slike hussein a newer face an uphill struggle. I know of 7 i really dont get me hopes to kill every. Damn into a living but if i want to have a family and have kids i cant i can just raise them to this country like this i have a lot of corruption and we dont have basic rights. And you know we might leave one day after death. We want to live in on that is a civil state where i can get my rights without going through the proxy of my community i dont have to be a shia to get my rights i need to be a lebanese and i get all my rights and then if i want to practice my religion i can do it freely you know i can no ones telling anyone that we wanted to got away no we dont want that i want to live in on where you have again move law and accountability and we want a loving on where anyone can live here and actually achieve something because in this levanon the only way to achieve the only way to be you know to get there in life is to get on a plane get your images should be so and to approach. A country where politicians are not allied to religion and serve all citizens not just their own base would be a real novelty. This is what hussein nur and their fellow activists want to build. To prevent the lebannon collapsing for good. What secrets lie behind. Discover new adventures in 360 degree. And explore fascinating insights. W. World heritage 360 get the map now. It was the 1st International Tribunal in history. The number of trials. 75 years ago high ranking officers of the nazi regime mourned judging by the allied forces. They were the 1st war criminals to be held accountable for their crimes. Our 2 part series. In the talk starts nov 12th on t w. This is g w news from berlin tonight a reason for hope the world one step closer to ending the coronavirus pandemic the pharmaceutical giant pfizer and the. Virus vaccine is more than 90 percent effective with no bad side effects also coming out that positive news comes as you
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