Two battles were fought by the Lebanese actress Carmen Lebbos, in less than 24 hours: a battle against the de facto authority in which she won for weak people who dig up waste, and a battle against those who criticized and blamed her for defending what they described as “displaced” Syrians. There was confusion in a video in which she confronted two young men, one of whom was a member of the municipal police, who she said had assaulted a child digging in a garbage container. Armed with only her phone camera, Labbas threatened to expose the two people. She raised her voice against violence, demanding that these people be treated kindly, and not with beatings, after the municipal police escort told her that the children were scattering garbage in the street, and he always expelled them, but they returned to repeat the same act.
Drawing of the Jal El Dib Municipality 🤬 And no one tells me how terrible people are getting dirty. If we were clean and feared God, there would be no people forced to rummage through rubbish, and if they had to, they should be prevented, certainly not by beating!!!#Carmen_wear pic.twitter.com/PuPeSXFDOV
– Carmen Lebbos – Carmen Lebbos (@C_lebbos) September 21, 2023
Following a widespread campaign of criticism to which she was subjected, she came out in another video clip, defending herself, re-clarifying her position, and attacking her critics, calling for violence not to be justified under any pretext, reminding that the waste crisis dates back to the year 2015.
In general, she has every right, and there is no human being in his field who extends his hand against a creature, and the dignity of people is never a property that is subject to infringement. The return of the displaced Syrian is a necessity, not an option, but beatings and violence are a crime and also not an option. Don’t turn into monsters. The most horrific sight you will see in the whole world is a living being, whoever it may be, striking a soul or soul.
— E = mc² (@CFJF__) September 22, 2023
In both cases, she was fighting battles. Simply defending anyone suspected of being a displaced Syrian requires confrontational force. For quite a few months, Lebanon has been experiencing the largest targeting of displaced people of its kind. The discussion does not accept any humanitarian approach, and no information is circulated to dispel fears and show sympathy for a people who were left behind on a land against their will, and whose pain and ambitions are being bartered in the political slave market. His pain due to the loss of his security, possessions, and future, and his ambitions to search for opportunities, or for a better tomorrow.
In this battle, she chose to lose a Lebanese popular incubator, in order to gain her humanity. Although the demands to maintain cleanliness within the context of a local organization for the issue of cleanliness are valid demands, the background to the attack on them on the “X” platform carries greater dimensions, and proves that the political campaign waged by local political movements and forces against the displaced Syrians is the most costly campaign. This is due to the decline in priorities and opportunities for reform. The political forces shift attention to the Syrians, and invest in people’s fears, sometimes about security tensions, sometimes about the loss of the Lebanese identity in favor of the control of “strangers,” and other times through fear of taking control of the country through the force of demographics.
The situation is that dealing with the Syrians from a security angle, in isolation from the developments in the region and its conflicts over the refugee issue, is part of a crisis, the repercussions of which Lebanon is undoubtedly suffering from, and the countries active in the Lebanese file are dealing with it with an individuality that does not take into account Lebanese concerns. But the Lebanese themselves are divided into two parts, the first of which is pushing towards their return according to the approach of internal political outbidding, and in this case, they are the Christian parties… while others are dealing with the angle of overthrowing any file that might constitute a pressure factor on Bashar al-Assad, and they are the objectors. After the Sunni party was one of the parties most supportive of the issue of the displaced, its rhetoric declined after the Arab countries supported the issue of returning them.
The Lebanese are torn between options and agendas, and the Syrians are torn between the rhetoric of fear and political interests. They have no ability to confront a powerful wave that began to sweep them out of the Lebanese arena, after the parties’ audiences were affected by their speeches… Accordingly, any voice confronting this reality becomes accused of its humanity, and Carmen Lebbos is only an example, despite her clarification that the garbage disposal is unknown, and is not called for. They were brutal and violent.
