Lebanon is dead! Long live Lebanon.

As the majority of Lebanese have gone below the poverty line, we all ask, why isn’t anyone rising up, why isn’t anyone fighting, where is the revolution? The answer is simple. We lost hope. In a country where 80% of the population is brainwashed by religious, sectarian and outdated beliefs; employed as useless minions for political agendas on the expense of the country’s economy, and filled with hatred to any and all that is different; We all lost hope in any change happening. Add to this the obvious mass schizophrenia where some people are living like no tomorrow while the rest are barely surviving.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” A very smart man said that. Do we really believe that the warlords, that got us here, will suddenly fix everything? Do we really believe that the IMF loans will not drown us in even more debt? Do we really believe that the armed militias will suddenly decide to give up their arms after taking over not only the country but the region? Do we really believe that any foreign entity or government from east or west, have nothing but our best interest on their agendas?

We need to wake up. We need to stop lying to ourselves first. We need to acknowledge that we were living a lie called Lebanon. We were brainwashed by fictions of phoenixes, cities that never die, the so called message of co-living and many more. Lebanon is only a fiction dreamed by song writers and signers.

I does not matter how bad our situation is, how poor we get and how devastating this situation is. It does not matter how strong and brutal they can be, or how many guns and minions they have. It does not matter how many are covering them, brainwashed by them or fed by them. It does not matter how corrupt they are, how much control over our lives they have. We can still have a country we all dream of. We can still turn the table on their heads, we can even create the best country in the world out of the rubble and disarray of their failed state. We just need to be crazy enough to try. Crazy enough to think beyond their line of sight, beyond their comprehension, beyond their level of non-intelligence, beyond their ignorance. We can overcome them with one great leap into the future of governance.

When companies become bigger than most countries, span across borders, attract employees and follower from all over the world, surely a country can do the same. A country is not land, it is not border, it is not buildings and ruins. A country is group of people that believe the same story, share the same culture, language, fictions and seek the same future.

In a world where our expats create ripples in the world in every domain. In the age information, artificial intelligence, automation and energy, we can find a way to reclaim our lives, our country and a future for our children. We can build a country that the world has never seen and they will not see it coming.

There will be sacrifices. Sacrifices so mediocre compared to what we have already endured. This time however, no one needs to lose an eye, a leg or their life. What else do we have to lose? We have nothing left.

To you the young and old who have been robbed of their entire life’s work, their future and present. To the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels and the trouble makers, the ones who dare to still see things differently. To those who are young, full of energy and hate for those who want to destroy our future. To the techies, geeks and geniuses who spread our innovative genes across the world. To you who are not fond of rules, who have no respect for the status quo; i say:

Our best hope is here. There is no place better and there is always hope. we can still win. We can make a difference, because we, who are crazy enough to believe can change the world are the ones who do.  “Steve Jobs”

How crazy is this plan? We are going to create a dent in the global political space. We are going to create a ripple that will grow into a tsunami and take the world by surprise. We are going to create a country the worlds have never seen before. A country so radical, so futuristic, so intelligent, that it will become a blueprint for many future countries. It is a complicated, geeky and digital. This is why they will not see it coming before it becomes too late for them to fight back.

I encourage you to open your mind, change perspective, get out of you comfort zone and imagine a world where borders, politicians and banks disappear; Where people literally own their government and where a country in complete collapse becomes a model for the future of Governance.

“Rabih Maalouf”