In February, Lebanon’s tourism ministry released a promotional video shot using drones. It shows off the country’s postcard beauty: its historic cities, snow-capped mountains and pristine rivers, a country where you can (supposedly) ski in the morning and swim in the ocean in the afternoon.
Conspicuously overlooked in the film is Beirut’s garbage crisis – the rampant dumping of trash in the city’s parking lots, valleys and shoreline, which has caused an environmental and public health disaster that the state is eager to downplay.
A new video from the You Stink movement, released this week, parodies the tourist board film. It too features a soundtrack of chirping birds and relaxing new-age music, and begins by panning over a lush pine forest, slowly rising above the treetops to reveal the very real sight of hundreds of tons of household waste, cutting a path through the greenery like a natural river of garbage.
“We wanted to counter the lies of the ministry of tourism,” says activist Aly Sleem. “They are talking about a green Lebanon, and this is humiliating us as Lebanese. Trash covers forests, rivers and lots of areas which are considered touristic.”
Since the simmering rubbish crisis quite literally overflowed eight months ago, when the country’s main landfill reached capacity and municipalities started dumping it wherever they could find a bit of open land – or just burning it – tens of thousands of Lebanese people have protested using music videos, throwing eggs, even building a medieval catapult to hurl trash bags at the prime minister’s office. Activists say the government’s failure to find alternate sites has meant rampant illegal dumping under highway overpasses, in abandoned lots or concealed in country roads. They have demanded sanitation reform, urged recycling efforts and called for the resignation of ministers.
Many blame wider post-war corruption, which has long hamstrung the Lebanese state’s attempts to deliver basic public services. For decades, power outages and poor drinking water have forced citizens to rely on generators and bottled water. Meanwhile, public space and coastline access are rapidly disappearing as politicians approve luxury towers and private marinas.
But it is the stench of festering garbage throughout Beirut that has caused the biggest cross-sectarian show of public outrage in recent years.
Public health officials and researchers from the American University of Beirut have warned that airborne toxin levels have grown exponentially, including a spike in carcinogens, as a result of dump burning – a tactic used by many municipalities as a makeshift solution. There are fears that garbage concealed in rural areas has seeped into the water table.
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The live protests shrank considerably over the winter after a summer crackdown by government forces that saw the use of tear gas, water cannons and the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators. You Stink has increasingly resorted to the internet, using viral videos, infographics and memes on its Facebook page to shame politicians. They have filmed themselves offering “free delivery” of garbage bags to government ministries and unleashing hundreds of ping pong balls down the hill facing the Grand Serail. They have also staged ballroom dancing at dump sites and dedicated particular garbage piles to individual cabinet ministers.
The tourism minister has threatened to sue the makers of the parody film for using the ministry’s logo, saying it “harmed Lebanon’s image” and violated copyrights.
“They only care about their logo, not about the garbage,” Sleem says.
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