Why “We Want a Sea in Baalbek” is the Most Important Chant Voiced by Protestors

These protests are unique in Lebanon’s history in the sense that, rather than being instigated by this sectarian party or that politician, people demonstrated as Lebanese citizens – a rare feat for a profoundly sectarian people. We finally collectively decided that enough is enough and took to the streets.

Demonstrations in our part of the world seem to be dressed up like raves; you need chants, cries, music, and screaming to get you in that revolutionary mood.

Chants varied from “Down, down with the thugs’ reign” to the stereotypical “The people want the eradication of the regime” to the downright atrocious “hashish, Cemo, we want to remove mashnouk” – it sounds better in Arabic but you get the gist.

However, the most hilarious statement to be made was, ‘We want a sea in Baalbek.’ The chant is as absurd as it is unique; only the Lebanese would take to the streets and demand the impossible. But it is also the most important demand to be voiced by citizens in a generation. Sound strange? I know, just bear with me.

If you, like many of our minsters or elitist friends, are thinking “look how simple these infiltrators are, treating everything like a joke,” just know that the chant is much more than an infiltrator’s joke. At the end of the day, is it so different to ask for a beach in Baalback than to call for the downfall of the sectarian mafia ruling our country? 24 hour electricity? Water? Education and social benefits?

Not really. The chants speaks to the mindset of the brave men and women who have been taking to the streets in a collective F*ck You directed at our inept government. Yes, it is impossible to demand a sea in Baalbek, but when all the other demands being raised by the demonstrators seem so impossible too, what’s one more? But people are calling for them anyway, people want change and are finally waking up to the fact that they can, together, make change happen.

The ongoing revolution is not simply the occupation of public space by disgruntled citizens, it is a revolution of the mind as we finally shed our thick sectarian skin and demand services that are our birthright as Lebanese citizens.