Tripoli deserves better than its current leaders
https://arab.news/whz9h
A building collapse in Tripoli, Lebanon, last week killed 14 people. The building was in Bab Al-Tabbaneh, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Tripoli, which is in turn one of the poorest cities in Lebanon and even in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The fall of the building makes us ask the question: Why did this happen to these people? Many do not know the rich history of the precious city. Tripoli was once a capital of trade, culture, and art in the Ottoman Empire. Why this degeneration? And who is responsible?
The building collapse in Tripoli was not an accident, nor was it the first tragedy this year to take innocent lives. It was the predictable outcome of years of neglect by local authorities and successive governments. The dangers posed by these buildings are widely known, yet no preventive action has been taken. Lebanon has a proven record of corruption. Lebanese officials have always acted with impunity. Relying on the blind allegiance of their constituencies, the welfare of the people has never been their primary concern.
According to Raymond Mitri, an activist who heads Lebanon’s anticorruption task force: “The justice system also bears primary responsibility, as those in power have grown accustomed to acting with impunity.” He added: “This culture of no accountability has enabled repeated failures and avoidable deaths.”
It is time for the prosecutor general to open a thorough investigation and hold the heads of the relevant authorities accountable for this week’s tragic incident. Without real consequences, this tragic pattern will continue and more lives will be lost.
The collapse of the building in Tripoli is the result of decades of negligence. It is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the city’s problems. I went to Tripoli a few years ago and I was shocked by the poverty, lack of infrastructure, and lack of employment. The city’s inhabitants face huge health risks because of unregulated trash dumps that also pollute the Mediterranean Sea. Tripoli mirrors the problems of Lebanon. In Tripoli, however, they are more concentrated and more severe.
Historically, the city has not been lucky with its leadership. In fact, Lebanon as a whole has not been lucky with its political class, but Tripoli has suffered particularly badly. During the civil war, various Islamist factions coalesced and created Harakat Al-Tawhid (the Islamic Unity Movement), which controlled the city. The state has been barely present. Each neighborhood has a “kabaday” (strongman) running the show. There is no real law enforcement in the city.
The building collapse was the predictable outcome of years of neglect by local authorities and successive governments.
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib
According to a lawyer friend of mine, the city is run by mafia-like organizations. The most important people are those who control the power generators. The generators’ owners divide the areas among themselves. Citizens of each neighborhood are thus compelled to buy electricity from the designated generator owner for that specific area. It is sad to see this historic city languishing. It is sad to see its historic monuments unattended. It is sad to see the kind, generous, and skilled people of Tripoli struggle with poverty and a lack of opportunity.
The irony is that Tripoli is home to some of the wealthiest people in Lebanon and even the entire Arab world. The political class is rich and prosperous and it surrounds itself with fences to protect itself from the ire of the people that it controls. According to Amine Bashir, a lawyer and political activist from Tripoli, members of the city’s traditional political class do not care about the people. On the contrary, it is in their interest to keep the people poor. The poorer they are, the cheaper it will be to buy their vote on election day. They use the people as an “election reservoir.”
At the end of the day, it is not only Tripoli in this situation. Unfortunately, the Lebanese political elite looks at the people as a means to control the country and its resources. The people are a ladder that will allow them to reach the summit of power. Following last week’s building collapse, the state sent the army to Tripoli to protect the politicians from the wrath of the people. This situation made me ask myself: When will the state use its capabilities to protect the people from the corruption of the political class?
Tripoli has suffered from negligence and impunity — this week’s tragedy is a warning that this needs to stop. The people in power need to be held accountable. The people of Tripoli deserve that. They need to rise and the system governing the city needs to fall. If the system does not fall, more buildings like the one in Bab Al-Tabbaneh will do so instead.
• Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.
