0:00 Intro

1:37 How We Met

6:07 Where We Are Today

18:41 Appetite for Change

23:57 Politics as Usual

30:49 Hope

35:38 Special Tribunal for Lebanon

40:51 Secularism & Sectarianism

47:02 Online Tirades

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/1jBBGEq44-Y

We're with Mazen El-Hassan for Episode 191 of The Beirut Banyan.

We discuss the symbolism of how we met; political developments in recent weeks; whether there remains an appetite for fundamental change; politics as usual vs radical change; hope persisting despite immense economic constraints; the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's upcoming verdict; notions of secularism vs sectarianism; and the benefits and disadvantages of online tirades.

Mazen El-Hassan is a graduate from Kingston University. He is the elder son of Wissam El-Hassan, Lebanon's former Minister of Interior, assassinated on 19 October 2012.

My father and Mazen's are buried side by side in Martyrs Square.

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Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.