Corruption Exploded in Our Faces, Killing Us

The explosion in Beirut’s Port documented by many videos as a fierce and monstrous storm, dilapidated buildings in the capital was not really caused by a chemical reaction. The direct cause of this explosion is a matter of concern to all chemists and explosives experts: The explosion is the result of deeply rooted corruption in the Lebanese government. The corruption has been accumulating until it finally blew up in our faces.

It is not a mere coincidence that tens of thousands died, or were injured, or became homeless. They are victims of a corrupt system constantly living on risking our lives, so they remain in power.

This time our death was loud. It was a harsh and fierce sound resonating across the world. We have been dying gradually for a long time now. The polluted air emitted from factory smoke is killing us, the smell and fumes of garbage have been killing us, the polluted water has been killing us, the expired food we buy in the markets is killing us, our infrastructure is killing us, the harmful fuel we buy is killing us, the stale food in our fridges is also killing us yet we eat it, we do not enjoy the luxury of throwing it.

What happened in Beirut is similar to Chernobyl’s disaster. The political authorities colluded in covering corruption and lack of expertise until it all exploded in our faces

There are several reasons for our death, this death is rooted in the expired Lebanese political system. This system which allows the storage of 2,750 tons of Ammonium Nitrates for 6 years at the heart of the commercial hub of the city, amidst residential buildings in downtown Beirut, the symbol of reconstruction after the civil war, can only be described with pejorative terms.

What happened in Beirut is similar to Chernobyl’s disaster. The political authorities colluded in covering corruption and lack of expertise until all exploded in our faces.

This time our death was loud. It was a harsh, fierce sound resonating to reach the world. We have been dying gradually for a long time now

The last Soviet Union President, Mikhail Gorbachev, published an article in 2006 about the nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, in 1986 stating “It was perhaps the main cause of the Soviet Union’s collapse”. History books will mention Beirut’s disaster as the main reason for the Lebanese System’s collapse.

What Gorbachev said is oversimplified. Neither Chernobyl alone resulted in the Soviet Union breakdown, nor the politics pursued by the Perestroika. What eliminated the Soviet Union was its inability to handle the economic challenges it faced. “The Soviet economy was unreformable by the 1980s” Erik Hobsbawm said, “They were sabotaged by the self-interests of a nomenklatura that was by this time firmly entrenched and uncontrollable”.

The Beirut explosion was not an accident. All participants in the corrupt successive governments are to blame, as well as political parties, and all those that blessed the corrupt state of affairs of the Port of Beirut, the true image of a failed nation

The situation in Lebanon is similar. What is worse, “the Lebanese nomenklatura” was running a government without a plan, a government of opportunistic parasites hijacking the nation as their personal interests dictate.

The Beirut explosion was not an accident. All participants in the corrupt successive governments are to blame, as well as political parties, and all those that blessed the corrupt state of affairs of the Port of Beirut, the true image of a failed nation.

We need to precisely know what happened this time. Whatever the investigation costs! Specifying the names of those involved, and all those who were aware and involved in this calamitous disaster.

The political system is built on lies, and it will collapse as the waves of truth come out.