New journalism project from The New Humanitarian:
WhatsApp, Lebanon
As the second anniversary of the #Beirut explosion approaches, WhatsApp, Lebanon? tells the story of life over the past three years as five young people in #Lebanon WhatsApped it.
This bilingual (English and Arabic) illustrated, interactive timeline uses real WhatsApp messages and an accompanying playlist to demonstrate what happens when #journalists ask people to tell their own stories. WhatsApp, Lebanon? is their story, and it’s Lebanon’s, too.
Humans behind the headlines
Lebanon only occasionally hits global headlines at moments like mass protests at the start of the collapse in 2019 – which were spurred in part by a proposed tax on #WhatsApp use; the port explosion; or when the currency hits a new low. This has thrust nearly 80 percent of the population into #poverty, and has impacted almost every aspect of daily life.
“It was important to me that with this timeline, we not only showed those sorts of major incidents, but also what people were talking about, and feeling, as they happened,” said The New Humanitarian Middle East Editor Annie Slemrod. “The project shows that a country like Lebanon’s fall isn’t just about ‘newsworthy’ events, it’s actually an accumulation of multiple small-seeming, intimate moments – like waiting in an endless queue at the bank only to find there is no money, or trying to do your job without electricity.”
This piece is a personal, close-up account of what it’s like to live through and deal with the collapse of a country. Ahead of the anniversary of the port explosion that grabbed the world’s attention on 4 August 2020, this story shows what happens to ordinary people in a crisis long after the headlines fade.
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