A Phone Call that Shook a Nation

I was invited by the Heinrich Boell Foundation to comment on the events following the arrest of Shadi Mawlawi and its repercussions in Lebanon. The piece expanded on themes I had written about in Beirut Spring, from Sunni anger to the state of Sunni politics in Lebanon and the prospects of the Future Movement

ON SATURDAY May 12, a young man from Tripoli Lebanon, named Shadi el Mawlawi received an important phone call. The events triggered by this call ended up rocking Tripoli and the rest of Lebanon for several weeks. From violent protests to urban warfare, chaos broke lose as dark smoke from burning tires billowed across the country, and angry people from Akkar to Saida blocked major Lebanese roads in anger.

The call, Mawlawi believed, was from the Safadi Foundation, a well-known philanthropic organization that assists people in need. Mawlawi was eligible for medical aid for his newborn daughter, he was told, so he rushed to a Safadi center to claim the money. By doing so he walked into a trap set by Lebanon’s General Security which resulted in his arrest.

Why did the arrest of one man cause so much instability? What does this tell us about Tripoli, about Lebanese politics and about the Arab spring’s effect on Lebanon? Continue Reading at the Heinrich Boell website >>