“Control the food and you control the people”

Henry Kessinger, 1974.

and this is what politicians have been doing since the start of civilization. You control one’s food and you control their choices, their decision making and their actions in life but what if people wanted to be free? What if someone, somewhere decided to say “I had enough of you controlling me”.

We have seen reports about couples and families wanting to live off the grid and the number of people wanting to purchase a land where they can build their own house and grow their own food is rising. The world is shifting again towards self- employment and farming.

For the past thirty years, Lebanon has been ruled by warlords, drug lords, gangsters and all what comes along such a package. Laws were broken or ignored, people were killed or bribed and some just disappeared. The economy was engineered to fit those ruling the country and they took the coast, they plundered the resources and they made every Lebanese indebted even before they were born.

This year, on October 17^th, an uprising started and people from all regions filled the streets. I will not discuss opinions on this matter and I leave you to your political readings however, the Lebanese Pound or Lira has lost more of its half in value and the fall is not stopping soon. The warlords and gangsters along with their corrupted agents started their war against each other as no one would like to be the first to fall. Gangster wars, you know how it goes, we’ve seen enough movies to know what awaits.

The Lebanese individuals, born indebted, spend their life learning languages and other majors as they know that leaving the country will be the only way to preserve their ambitions. Engineers, Doctors, nurses, scientists, journalists, therapists, artists, teachers, artisans, musicians, writers, dancers, economists, and more, they all studied in our prestigious universities to go and find life elsewhere.

Despite the hard life, some decide to stay and their reasons could go from emotional to a lack of money or a lack of luck. These people stuck in Lebanon in this economic crisis know for a fact that their Lebanese Lira is in free fall and they won’t be able to buy much. They had enough of being controlled because of their poverty and their need to feed their families.

I keep saying that Lebanon is a village. It is a tiny country, the size of a town or a National park in Europe or in North America. Lebanese are villagers and well-educated ones. They are like hobbits, living in small communities, supporting each other, storing food, talking about it and gathering around it.

Here I am visiting this country and I see people from different education and cultural backgrounds, lining up in stores to buy seeds and sprouts. They are starting to grow their own food. Seed stores are overwhelmed, agriculture advice is being sought after and the lands are being pampered. People finally started getting it as they have no other choice left.

The warlords made them poor and pushed them to sell their lands but what if this time they thought differently? What if they planted this land and were able to eat and hide away until the gangster war was over, and their voices were heard? Well we do not know if the voice of the people will be ever heard but hope is all we have got left. The return of the farmer is the phenomenon of this dreadful year in Lebanon. Anyone I know or know of is planting and harvesting these couple of months. People are trying to avoid a dreaded famine in the upcoming winter.

Control your own food and you control your destiny, to certain extents of course. Grow your own food, it would be healthier, more nutritious and cheaper. Grow your own food and feel the overwhelming feeling of independence. This awful financial system will come to an end one day, be the start of it. Grow your own food.

Here is an article about the Lebanese pantry and preserved food https://astoryofthoughts.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/mouneh-%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86%d8%a9/