Abstract
This paper examines “The Egg,” an abandoned relic of the Lebanese Civil War that activists took over during the October 2019 mobilizations, as a site of contestation. The Egg or what became popularly known as the Eggupation (“Egg occupation”) or Eggthawra (“Egg revolution”) became a platform for intellectuals, activists and academics to gather for lectures and discussions. The topics covered economic theories, theories of resistance, and democratic procedures. While the Egg was a popular gathering site in the beginning weeks of the mobilizations, activity fizzled out. By turning to this site, we uncover multiple forms of contestation. We find that the events related to the Egg reproduced the classed divisions that prompted the mass mobilizations in the first place. In particular, our analysis complicates teleological theories which privilege an enlightened subjectivity as the path to political awakening. We argue that these political assemblies, whether strategically devised or organic, relied upon false consciousness as a state where ideology is a veil to be lifted. At the same time, we recognize the possibilities that such assemblies open up like the reinstitution of public debate and dialogue. Bringing the conversation back to/with/among the people. Our interest here lies in the performance and aesthetics of the events that took place at the Egg, including claims of occupying the space ‘first,’ historical parallels that were drawn to the May 68 events in France, and the imagery surrounding the (re)territorialization of the space. More broadly, there has been an anxiety around just what constitutes a “public” debate, leading to stunted political representation of the movement. Indeed, no group leader has come through to represent the “people.” In fact, the very “philosopher kings” who led discussions in the Egg simultaneously disavowed leadership of the movement. We examine this very disavowal or unwillingness to “speak for” and “represent” the “people” and its constitutive anxieties to better understand the politics of representation and the role they play in the national mobilizations. We are interested in the implications for the fetishistic disavowal of the self as a representative of “the people.” We turn here to the surge of contestation in the mobilizations, not only as a surge against the ‘ruling elites’ but also against any and all assemblages that overshadow or take over spaces of mobilization.
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