Lebanese-born Australian journalist and filmmaker Daizy Gedeon (57) is a woman with a mission. In her award-winning latest film Enough: Lebanon’s Darkest Hour she names and shames the corrupt ruling class in Lebanon. “It is not a movie, it is a movement. I want to unite the diaspora starting with a Global Watch Party in Solidarity with Lebanon on 9 April.”

By Arthur Blok
Changing things for the better in Lebanon seems an impossible mission looking at the country’s modern history. The Land of the Cedars was a dream that never came true. A country destroyed by kleptocratic political leaders who just do not seem to understand that their time to leave lies far behind them.

ENOUGH! will be screened simultaneously in 9 cinemas across the country open free to the public. Via virtual streaming, across 11 time zones around the world, the millions in the diaspora can join the Global Watch Party for free as well.

Feudalism
The immense list of problems in Lebanon is not easy to solve, Gedeon realizes that. But she is optimistic the people will overthrow this rotten regime that raped the country for many years.

Lebanon’s infamous feudal leaders created in the past decennia the illusion of their necessity: masters in the old Latin technique of divide et impera: divide and rule. A strategy that – in practice means ‘gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.

That is exactly what happened. Now Lebanon is on the brink of collapse. Deliberate mismanagement and corruption resulted in a bankrupt and failed state with no more public services: a shortage of basic needs like clean water, electricity, and good accessible healthcare. To name a few.

If that is not enough, Lebanon's financial system collapsed because of an incompetent and mismanaging Central Bank Governor - Riad Salameh. Salameh, currently under indictment, covering up for his corrupt political friends only made things worse in the past two years.

Lebanon's inflation has skyrocketed as the country's financial and economic crisis spirals out of control. The currency has lost nearly 90% of its value and plunged three-quarters of residents into poverty.

“The situation on the ground is devastating. The Lebanese are subjected to unprecedented suffering”, said Gedeon who won the Movie That Matters Award at the 2021 Cannes International Film Festival, and the Award for Excellence for Feature Documentary, at Indie FEST.

Her mission is to unite the diaspora with the global event Sunday 9 April. “Together we can change things for the better, but the people have to do it themselves. It will not be easy but look at the conflict in Northern Ireland, Columbia, and Cambodia. All the problematic regimes were overthrown”, she said. “It is not impossible.”

Gedeon’s film will have its official Avant Premiere at Grand Cinema ABC Verdun. Check the website here for more locations. She urges every Lebanese to put this date into their agenda.

Gedeon: “The crisis is worsening by the day. Without help from family abroad people cannot survive. There seems to be no will by politicians to take serious reforms and steps to mitigate the impact of the crisis. I call on every Lebanese to go and vote this upcoming elections on an independent candidate with no link to any of the corrupt parties. That is the only way forward.”