Hi guys! 

So Hariri resigned, -well, kind of- and a little question we were asking ourselves these past days is whether we can call the Lebanese protests of the past 14 days a revolution, so that we could use it in our articles and posts. 

We do hear the word a lot: revolution, thawra. It is standing in the middle of Martyr’s square. And it is declined, sometimes beautifully, on most of the buildings around it. 

But we also hear the word protests (the trending hashtag is #lebanonprotests) 

And revolts. 

So we did some research, and this is what we found: 

The Cambridge dictionary defines 

-a revolution as a change in the way a country is governed, usually to a different political system and often using violence or war

– a revolt is an attempt to get rid of a government by using violence

–protests are an occasion when people show that they disagree with something by standing somewhere, shouting, carrying signs, etc.

–demonstrations are an occasion when a group of people march or stand together to show that they disagree with or support something or someone:

So we guess that the correct word for what happened/is happening in Lebanon would be protests or demonstrations, as the vast majority of the people in the streets protested peacefully or at least wanted to (our hearts are with those who are being beaten for expressing their opinions..:() , and as the country is unfortunately still governed in the same way by the same people.

So yes, it’s not a revolution yet. So let’s keep the pressure up.

Oh and btw, the Lebanese hashtag, لبنان ينتفض, technically means “Lebanon is rising up”. Like the Phoenix that it is so often compared to (yes we know it’s kind of cheesy, but hey, every revolution needs cheesiness :)) 

#lebanonprotests # لبنان ينتفض #becausewealllovelabneh