The marketing of protest and antinomies of collective organization in Lebanon

With the onset of the garbage crisis in Lebanon in July 2015, the unbearable odors and mounting heaps of waste presented the tipping point for people’s growing anger and resentment against self-serving political elites, debilitating public services, and deteriorating socio-economic conditions. In response, the socio-political scene witnessed significant developments following the eruption of popular discontent, with the multiplication of media-savvy protest groups, followed by the rise of “independent” municipal electoral campaigns and, most recently, the emergence of a “non-traditional” “political party experiment.” Running under the elusive banner of “civil society,” emerging collective actions have all been attempting to advance “alternative” forms of organization and political participation. Examining three contentious and intriguing developments that have captured public attention, namely Al-Hirak, Beirut Madinati , and Sabaa , this article explores the antinomies of collective organization and action in the building of political “alternatives.” The research makes use of a thorough content analysis of Facebook campaigning posts and interview data and engages with literature on “new” social movements, digital activism, and collective organization to explore collective actors’ contending relations to “the political” at the organizational level. The research concludes that rather than reconcile individuals with political participation through lasting organizational frameworks and coherent political “alternatives,” novel forms of collective organization increasingly conform to a global neoliberal logic of action that is increasingly fragmentary, individualizing and commercializing, and a fleeting logic of organization that is mostly unaccountable and unrepresentative.