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Melanie Cremona

Melanie Cremona is a Master’s in Public Policy candidate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and an Oxford-Saïd Foundation Scholar from Lebanon. Prior to joining the university, she worked as a Consultant for the United Nations in Geneva where she designed high-profile capacity-building projects for governments on topics related to multilateral diplomacy.

In October 2019, demonstrators took to the streets of Lebanon, chanting “all of them means all of them”— a cry for the entire government to resign. For the first time in years, the country witnessed the mobilisation of thousands of its citizens across every city. There were even Lebanese protests in major European cities and North America. Together, they formed a united front: citizens coming together regardless of religious affiliation, gender or age differences. Four months after the protests began, the country’s institutions are in shambles, a financial crisis worsens, and the media is in a near-total blackout. Unfortunately, Western attention has turned away from Lebanon. The situation, though, still warrants careful observation, as what happens next could mean a …