Lebanon today stands at a defining crossroads, and perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the country’s restless younger generation. Disillusioned, traumatized, and deeply skeptical of the political and social structures that once held sway, Lebanese youth are increasingly detached from a system they perceive as having failed them at every level. This generational rupture is not simply a matter of youthful impatience; it represents a profound cultural, political, and existential reckoning for a nation that has endured war, occupation, economic collapse, and institutional decay.

The mood of Lebanon’s youth recalls the cultural shifts of the 1920s in Europe and America, when post-First World War societies rejected old norms and embraced new identities. Just as the “roaring twenties” were marked by rebellion against the institutions that had led Europe into self-destruction, today’s Lebanese youth are questioning the very foundations of their country’s political and social systems. Their frustration is not just with corruption or inefficiency, but with the very idea of Lebanon as it was imagined and governed in the past three decades.

For Lebanon’s young, the civil war is distant history, reduced to fading family stories and dusty political narratives. The Taif Agreement, which was supposed to mark the beginning of peace, has become instead a symbol of stagnation, domination, and betrayal. After Taif, Syria maintained control over Lebanon for 15 years, and when its forces finally withdrew in 2005, Hezbollah’s dominance quickly filled the vacuum. Successive wars, political paralysis, and foreign interventions reinforced the sense that Lebanon remained trapped in cycles of dependency and dysfunction.

Three major protest movements in the span of 15 years failed to produce meaningful change. The Cedar Revolution of 2005, the “You Stink” uprising of 2016, and the mass protests of 2019 each promised to break the mold of the old system. Yet each ended in disappointment, as sectarian divisions, entrenched elites, and external........

© Blitz