SCREAM

This picture was taken on 4 July 2020, in the midst of COVID-19, on the streets of Beirut, exactly a month before the August 4 explosion. My family and I were going down to protest because of hunger, unemployment, corruption and the depression we were and still are going through.

This is one of the most hideous pictures I have of myself. It is repulsive and sickening because these are the only attributes that our incompetent political class brings out of us.

Scream صرخة is written on my forehead. In that moment, on our way to Martyr’s Square, we screamed from the top of our asphyxiated lungs and bleeding hearts, to generate a powerful catharsis.

COVID-19 has taught us that it is now time to SCREAM. To scream for the establishment of a new world order. To scream for Equity, Justice, and Truth. To become symbols of hope for the future.

Acknowledgements: Lily Takieddine Atallah, Rowanne Atallah, Aya Atallah