Bus Map Project emerged just before the last wave of protests in 2015, and part of its DNA was a desire to see “less talk, more action.” We were tired of hearing the question: “where is the state?” At first, this alienated some of our potential allies. What we wanted was to see more people stepping into their rightful place as “the people.” At the end of the day, we are “the state,” because: 1) people are its source of legitimacy, 2) and people are what make it all function, through everyday “doing.”
It’s so heartening to see the current wave of #LebanonProtests live out this dream. That’s what we hear when you say: “we want everything.” That’s what we see when you step in to build the infrastructures of revolution, right here, right now. At one point, cleaning up after a protest was a way to appear respectable; today, it’s a way to be the change we want to see.
We salute you — the bus drivers, artists, media workers, law experts, clean-up crews, and everyone else stitching this country back together over the past few days. This didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the result of all the incremental building and organizing and networking and silo-breaking and alliance-making of the past decade.
#3alehom! We’ve come a long way since 2015.