I’ve just watched Lebanon commit suicide – and it’s heartbreaking

I’m sorry, Lebanon. We love you but we can’t take it anymore. We’re breaking up with you.

My wife and I have lived in Lebanon, on and off, for almost ten years. Our retreat began in the summer when we couldn’t face going to the beach with our two-year-old daughter. Every year, Lebanese scientists publish a report saying that the seawater around many of the beaches is full of fecal bacteria. Raw sewage is discharged into the sea along Lebanon’s coast; from some beaches, you can actually see the pipe.

Lebanon’s failure to do something as basic as treat its sewage is one result of its corrupt politics. The venality of the people in charge is visible all around. Drive out of Beirut and every green space has been built over. Building without a permit is a simple matter of bribing your local police and politicians — the police lieutenant kicks some of the bribe up to his captain, who sends some up to his colonel, and so on. A Lebanese general may well be a dollar millionaire, despite a pittance of a salary. A Lebanese politician can get even richer.

The corruption could perhaps be forgiven if it were not for the incompetence. Since the civil war, Lebanon has not had enough electricity. Now, with the economy collapsing, power can be off for 20 hours a day. It shut down altogether over the weekend. So Beirut has to rely on thousands of diesel generators. They’re run by the hated generator mafias, whose political clout may be another reason the power crisis is never solved. Fat particles of soot carpet your windowsill. The air is thick with carcinogens. And you don’t even get reliable power from all this, because there’s a fuel crisis as well. Our mobile-phone signal dies.