The Grand Factory is actually a nightclub in Beirut, overlooking the harbor and the sea. DJs like Sven Väth set up here, this year the club was voted one of the 100 best in the world by a scene magazine.
For several weeks, however, The Grand Factory has also been the venue for political statements. Guests dance to Electro, throw their hands in the air and chant: "Thawra, Thawra". This is Arabic for "revolution" - and since 17 October the slogan of thousands who participate in the mass protests against political leadership.
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Many protesters are talking about the end of the denomination system in Lebanon. The old order guaranteed rights and political participation to all 18 recognized faiths in the country, but it also fostered corruption. Touching her was a taboo.
Club owner Wassim Bou Malham
"We used to have a sign on our door saying," There's no political discussion in here! "Says Wassim Bou Malham, co-owner of The Grand Factory, saying the club has always been" a retreat. "
Malham, 33, emphasizes that his company is still "on no side". At the same time, he is enthusiastic about the uprising. "We found a common language for the first time as a people," he says. Malham and his co-owners, DJ pair Jade and Tala, actively support the protests: "We pay our employees even when they're on the street."
Because of the economic crisis and the potential collapse of the financial system, club operators can plan "only from week to week". In spite of these existential concerns, Malham also protests himself, for example speaking at a rally in front of the electricity utility's building about the revolutionary power of art and culture.
"We did not try, we were cynical"
Most recently he had been involved in a political foundation 15 years ago, but then withdrew "out of frustration at the mendacity of the system" and then worked for several years in the advertising industry. "We forgot how important it is to be with people of very different backgrounds," he says now about the collective awakening of the post-Civilized generation.
Thore Schröder
Protester Mouin Jaber: Suddenly political.
Mouin Jaber belongs to her. The 29-year-old is the son of the famous music manager Ali Jaber. He was preparing for exams for US colleges when the protests began in Beirut. Like many others, he was politicized in a rush. "I was at a lecture that madly upset me on the system we live in," he says. Of course, much could have been learned much earlier. "But we did not try, we were cynical."
Thore Schröder
Influencer Hiba Dandaschli: live videos of big demonstrations
The influencer Hiba Dandaschli - as @whatworksforhiba with more than 23,000 followers on Instagram - is one of the privileged protesters. She had already campaigned for women's rights in the past. Their great political awakening did not happen until October. Since the beginning of the rebellion, Hiba Dandaschli has been involved in major demonstrations and parliamentary blockades, and she is also online almost non-stop, sometimes up to 14 hours a day. At Instagram, Hiba Dandaschli reports on live videos from the street or answers questions from followers. "That way I can motivate the Lebanese who are not in the country."
The youth in Lebanon have three options, analyzed Aya Shamseddine, a fellow of the Lebanese think tank Synaps, already in 2018: leave the country, join a party or isolate themselves in a personal bubble of reality.
The bubble has burst for many young Lebanese. It also appears that some of them are chanting slogans at the Thawra nightclub. Wassim Bou Malham says: "That's just how people show that they are touching the fate of their homeland."