#​You​Stink

Life imitates art, they say, but life can also imitate corrupt politics, and when it does, you have a great opportunity to point out the truth and strike a blow for justice. The Lebanese people were handed such an opportunity on the July 17, 2015 when the country’s privatized waste management monopoly closed the Naameh landfill (aka the “Landfill of Death”) and suspended its waste collection operations. Garbage piled up in the streets of the capital, Beirut, and other cities, and began to stink. Meanwhile, the corrupt and dysfunctional government had no alternative plan.

Since the end of the Lebanese civil war (1975 - 1991), the government had been riven by sectarianism, corruption, and favouritism, which had led to endless infrastructural crises, including electricity blackouts, potable water shortages, air pollution, inadequate public health care, and poor public transport. But the garbage crisis of 2015 was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the country’s many frustrated citizens — and they jumped on it to denounce the incompetence of the government, as well as raise more deep-seated concerns.

The name #YouStink symbolises both the literal stink of the garbage piling up on the streets as well as how the ruling elite stink of corruption and injustice.

With the summer heat, life in the garbage-filled streets of Beirut became unbearable and posed a very serious health hazard, leading to protests that kept mounting to eventually reach more than 100,000 protesters in August (see: TACTIC: Mass street action). The initial goal of the then forming “YouStink” movement was the removal of garbage from the streets and finding a proper environmental solution for this crisis. But when the government cracked down on protesters, the movement was thrust to the next level. People were outraged that the government would arrest and use violence against citizens that simply wanted to live in a country where they could breathe the air (see: PRINCIPLE: Anger works best when you have the moral high ground). The movement grew and attracted people of different sects, backgrounds, and political orientations.

People joined not only to protest the ever-present garbage filling the cities, but to protest the entire corrupt political class and the broken political system. The name “YouStink” was a stroke of genius that linked the two together. It symbolises both the literal stink of the garbage piling up on the streets as well as how the ruling elite stink of corruption and injustice (see: PRINCIPLE: Change a name to change the game).

YouStink became a widespread, popular, and independent movement, and as it grew the demands expanded to include: an end to the garbage crisis, an end to police brutality, an end to the majoritarian electoral law, and the enactment of a proportional representation electoral system.

While the surge of mobilization (see: THEORY: Al faza’a [a surge of solidarity]) eventually faded out over time, “YouStink” continues to move forward on multiple fronts: exposing corruption; boosting the chances of independent, social justice-oriented candidates for parliament; and building awareness around the need for effective environmental solutions for the garbage crisis that erupted in 2015.