“I believe in justice; justice is the key to every problem in Lebanon,”
During the first few weeks of the Lebanese uprising, Elvia Saghbini and her friends were tremendously enthusiastic about the great potential for change they perceived. Elvia relates the logic behind their belief to the immense number of dissatisfied and motivated demonstrators across Lebanese territories, “seeing so many diverse Lebanese come together in such huge numbers was astonishing, but that changed throughout the coming months.” The number of civilians present at protests in Lebanon had decreased drastically since the concluding months of 2019; one of the main factors was, as she puts it, “the use of fear and violence! When these barbaric things happen to you and the people you love, it is only expected to lose hope and look for security outside all of this.”
“I believe in justice; justice is the key to every problem in Lebanon,” Elvia verbalizes her assurance that justice is the main principle which drives her participation in the uprising. Additionally, and as a result of her surmise that justice and peace are inseparable, she always carried a strong conviction against violence, a shared stance among her friends and members of the female group ‘Noun’. Together, Elvia and members of Noun organized and joined various protests in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, always encouraging peace and dialogue, as Elvia conveys, “we always used peaceful methods like patriotic music and signs with demands we wanted to convey. Even when coming up with slogans and chants for the rallies, we made sure to refrain from using degrading language.”
On September 21, 2021, Elvia, along with members of Noun, organized a peaceful sit-in at the entrance of Judge Ghassan Khoury’s residence. The signs she had designed encompassed the issues and demands they hoped to convey, including his due course and lack of action in enforcing the charges on government officials linked to the Beirut port explosion. As Elvia remembers, it was about 5:30 in the afternoon when the peacefully chanting group of exclusively women had gathered at the small demonstration.
“They were cursing at us, calling us names, and using very disrespectful language with us.”
Almost instantly, the women were encountered and verbally targeted by several furious men in civilian clothes. Elvia still is not sure of their identities, but she assumes they were most likely Khoury’s guards and friends. She recounts that more men approached them, including a security officer who was armed with a rifle. Elvia sheds light on the fear that overcame her and the women, caused by the security officer uncontrollably swinging his rifle up and down in their faces, “what does he need the gun for, are we trying to attack him or something?” While terrorizing the group of women with his rifle, the officer along with the present civilians continued to harass them with verbal insults. As Elvia explains, “They were cursing at us, calling us names, and using very disrespectful language with us.” After the gunman roughly thrusted her friend onto the ground, Elvia approached him closer and verbalized that they were there as a peaceful act of protest, not to inflict harm on anyone. In the end, the protest concluded with Elvia and her friends returning home in a relatively safe way, in spite of having her right to security greatly abused.
“nothing has ever affected me to refrain from protesting. I mean of course; I feel the fear across the squares and different situations, but that in itself makes me want to seek my revenge – justice.”
She proclaims, “nothing has ever affected me to refrain from protesting. I mean of course; I feel the fear across the squares and different situations, but that in itself makes me want to seek my revenge – justice.” Throughout the Lebanese uprising and its variety of demonstrations, sit-ins, and protests she participated in, Elvia acknowledges that she encountered an array of violations which threatened her rights to safety, security, social order, opinion, expression, dignity, and assembly, and others; “where is my right to live a life of dignity, my right to be treated respectfully and without cruelty, where do those rights exist?” However, even with documented inflictions upon her rights, Elvia continues to envision and eagerly protest for the Lebanon of her dreams; one that relies on a coherent justice system consisting of fair judges to support citizens.
On May 30, 2020, during a demonstration through a convoy organized by various individuals and groups, Elvia and her son were present. According to Elvia, the protestors had been circling Beirut that day with the aim of reading statements of resistance at various politicians’ homes. One of their targets was the building where Lebanese speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, resided. At around 3 in the afternoon, after arguments broke out between protestors and parliamentary security, the massive security unit rushed at everyone, including civilians outside as well as inside their cars. “I spotted my son running away from them and towards the car”, Elvia mentions that the security force members were breaking the windshields of each car they encountered in their pursuit of her son. Before he could get into the car, the parliamentary security officers tackled and started to strike Elvia’s son on the hood of her vehicle, as she was watching. “I jumped out of the car to help my son break free from them”, but Elvia was shoved into her car’s windshield by one of the officers. Feeling a bit dizzy, it took her a little time until she stood up and attempted to get between her son and the violators another time, only to be thrusted again by another member of the security force. She landed on the front glass of her vehicle again, but this time she had suffered a deep cut in her arm from the broken windshield. “I didn’t even notice any of that, not even the blood covering my entire arm. All I was worried about was freeing my son from them”, Elvia affirms that after being forcibly pushed away twice and injured, the aggressors finally moved on and allowed them to exit the scene. Once her son entered the car, they drove away to meet with the rest of the protestors in a safe environment. Yet again, Elvia had been exposed to members of the security force using blatant force against her natural rights to opinion and expression, safety and security, as well as order and non-discrimination.
“I think that protesting for women specifically is safer than it is for men, because security personnel often show women more humane treatment due to our social norms and beliefs;” Elvia continues to presume that when women are taking part in protests, levels of tension and aggression are always diminished. Albeit she realizes the amount of psychological harm inflicted on her and everyone, women and men equally, who have been exposed to similar human rights violations. As she puts it, “the impact all the oppression has left on me is a constant mix of anger and anxiety. I am angry at everything that has happened, and anxious about all of it still being a reality.” In regards to the possibility of anything making her feel better, Elvia enunciates, “only justice can do that.”
