Various media outlets have widely been circulating reports pushing the narrative that riots have recently broken out in Lebanon because of a newly proposed WhatsApp tax of a $0.20 daily charge that was going to be placed on voice calls made through it and other apps.
It's alleged that the government scrapped the plans only hours after it was suggested because of clashes between the people and security forces.
But president M. Aoun has allegedly suggested that he is willing and ready to negotiate with representatives of the protestors. It's been suggested though that the protests are largely leaderless at the moment which some argue could be playing to their benefit.
They are going to have to vote a little harder to change things from the inside.
The protests that have been ongoing in Lebanon are said to be the largest that have been seen since back in 2005.
The prime minister might have agreed to make changes that could temporarily settle frustrations, but I suspect that even if they do reform that in the long run it won't do much good. As protestors have already echoed, they see all government members at this time as being corrupt, and perhaps the sort of person that would be attracted to such a position of power over others isn't the sort of individual you want holding the position. Which is why we probably see concerns of government corruption all over the world and not specific to Lebanon alone. This is just one more lesson in government failure. Keep pushing against the people and eventually they'll push back.
But, maybe assuming that such an institution is corrupt to the core is too mean, maybe that judgement has been made too quickly. After all, that's what the leader of that institution would have us believe. As president M. Aoun has recently reminded the public, generalizing corruption is a tad bit unfair.
When you start off with violence to establish organization from the get-go though, then you cannot be surprised when accusations arise that such an organization might be little more than a tool of violence. That this institution is nothing more than a swamp that's ripe for corruption which will only naturally continue to grow like a cancer. Maybe this way of organization ourselves will continue to produce undesirable results.