Sophie Woeldgen reports: The silences of Beirut

Every month, we feature a column by one of the personalities who take turns writing for Le Regard Libre. Freelance journalist Sophie Woeldgen shares her views as a reporter in the Middle East on an itchy subject.

Four months after the double explosion that devastated Beirut, the sounds of breaking glass and shovels have dried up, as have the hopes born of the autumn 2019 protests that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. In silence, we watch each morning as the metal curtain of one stall or another no longer rises. In one year, real retail sales (calculated by removing the effect of price rises) fell by 82.5 %. It's without self-pity that the three colocata