Why do I {heart} capitalism?

“Revolution” has become a branded commodity in Lebanon. From the so-called ‘Cedar Revolution’ in 2005 to the ubiquitous ‘I Love Life” campaign in 2006, social and political change have become the domain of advertising execs and marketing agencies.

This campaign was conceptualized because empty rhetoric just won’t do anymore. Behind the pretty red, white, and green posters is a big fat lie about independence, sovereignity, and freedom. These concepts, while laudable in and of themselves, mean nothing when over 60% of the population is living under the poverty line, when those that have most to lose have no say in the country’s economic policies, when those policies continue to be peddled for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many.

This by no means is an exclusive attack on the ruling March 14 coalition (they just happen to have an awesomly exploitable slogan . The opposition, while brandishing slogans of social and economic justice, has betrayed its own constituency by failing to challenge the status quo and turning a much needeed opposition movement into a sectarian power struggle.

This campaign is an attempt to correct the slogans behind the “I Love Life” campaign and show them for what they really are: consumerism, unbridled capitalism, and sectarianism.

We’re buying the idea that the vast class rift between rich and poor in our country is an inevitable fact of life. We’re buying the fact that a bunch of warlords with our blood on their hands should still be ruling us and making the same headlines 30 years on. We’re buying the fallacy that there is no viable political alternative to sectarianism in a country like Lebanon. And worst of all, we’re buying the idea that simply buying is the solution to all our ills.

When did we begin to accept that consumerism is a form of patriotism? That purchasing power should translate into political power?

It’s time to stop buying bullshit. It’s time to start thinking for ourselves.

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