DID WE DO THIS?
As uncomfortable as it may be, the message scrolled on that wall in Beirut might as well read, ‘WE DID THIS’, we all should take some shared responsibility along with our Lebanese brothers and sisters.
This image sent to Uniform November yesterday epitomises my growing unease with regards the mounting anger and violence in Beruit. These antagonistic political declarations from some citizens trying to come to terms with their trauma after this horrific event are being eagerly aired by social media and mainstream news outlets around the world.
Scapegoating the government has often proved obstructive and could naively fuel potential situations in which many more vulnerable and politically weary people could be hurt or lose their lives thus perpetuating the misery and instability in the region.
I hope the people of Lebanon consider (as 'we' all should) that their government didn’t do this on purpose. Their authorities have shown, a lacking of unified action, complacency, oversight and the poor management of the region's estate and this has resulted in the conditions where a catastrophic disaster was more likely to happen.
When Lebanon is ready, there should be an opportunity for political reform and a transparent and just investigation to ensure accountability is acknowledged and dealt with.
However, as uncomfortable as it may be, the message scrolled on the wall in Beruit might well have read, ‘WE DID THIS’, we all should take share responsibility with our Lebanese brothers and sisters. This tragic set of conditions are the manifestation of political, social and economical pressures (past and present), internally and externally shaping potent mix of post-conflict emotional entanglement, globalisation, elitism, social fear and poor trust in our fellow humans.
In today's networked and overseen existence, we all must contemplate our part in this and other travesties on or involving the planet.
To address global issues such as, the catastrophe in Beirut, climate change, political violence, pandemics, pollution, drought, starvation etc we must all consider the social, economic and political conditions that we helped orchestrate. We can't allow ourselves to become complacent bystanders or be divided and conditioned through manipulative politics, biases, ratings-hungry media groups, malicious gossip, intolerance or ignorance.
In Kindness
FMH
