Lost in all the Church vs Middle-Upper class liberties’ bubble fight last week was the fact that the Byblos Festival (and all other regional -read sectarian quotas- festivals) and all of its concerts are subsidized by the bankrupt Lebanese state. At a time where the President of this failed Republic is calling for sacrifices, people from all over Lebanon are contributing to fund a Yo Yo Ma concert, whose tickets cost between $65 and $125, or 14%-28% of Lebanese minimum wage, per ticket.
I would share the sums of how much exactly does the Ministry of Tourism pump into the festivals’ coffers every year, but that information is not on the Ministry’s website. Actually, the latest news about Festivals on the Ministry’s website are from 2015.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for subsidizing the arts and making them more accessible to the people. But as it stands the Ministry of Tourism subsidies are nothing but slush funds distributed among the ruling elite that fund instagrammable moments for those who can afford to dish out a few hundred dollars to attend a concert.
So no matter which abstract concept won, the Church’s “Jesus” or the Rights Bubble’s “Freedom of Speech”, there are only absolute losers when it comes to the net tangible costs of this battle, unless your name is Yo-Yo Ma of course.
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