nick al jazeera dory burkina faso, now vietnam as beach heiner as the world record holder for the longest bridge made out of glass. the white dragon bridges suspended between 2 mountains and it opened on saturday. the bottom, the bottom is made from 3 layers of glass and it can hold up to 450 people at a time. at 632 meters long, it's a 100 meters longer than china's glass bridge. in kwan don't. and we have to tell you about the swedish grandmother because she set a world parachute jump record at a sprightly 103 years old. rich lawson came the oldest person to complete a tandem. skydive jump took place in what tyler in sweden. and she is said to celebrate this with a little cake. ah, a quick look at the main stories we've been following this hour and thousands of flag waving israeli ultra nationalists of march through occupied eastern islam in

a deeply divisive parade. the annual flag march organized by ultra nationalists, jewish groups marks israel's illegal occupation of east jerusalem after the 1967 war earlier some jewish worshippers preyed in the alex. i'm moscow bound, violating a longstanding agreement there. now you as president joe biden, isn't of all the taxes, ways been comforting families who lost loved ones in america's was shooting for nearly a decade. is renewed calls for stronger gun control measures. the u. s. justice department also says that it will investigate the police response to the shooting officers waited for more than an hour before confronting the gunman who killed 19 school children and 2 teachers and former gorilla fighter gustavo petro. as come top in columbia's presidential election with over 40 percent of the vote, he will face independent candidate rudolph hernandez in a likely run off vote in june. generation changes next. but before that we leave you with memories of our colleague sharing apple app play.

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a veto to live on counting the cost vibrant launches his plans, the u. s. economics engagement in asia. what accounts are china's in the region western capital that billions of dollars can ukraine's economy? but is it enough and will africa see a boom from the global scramble from metal? counting the costs out of a welcome to generation change a global series that attempts to understand and challenge the ideas that are mobilizing you around the world. i'm doing our stuff. want an independent journalist based in lebanon, where jen, z, campaigners are fighting for a radical change with challenges. they couldn't be more daunting economic. a last political sale made social unrest and

the devastation caused by august 2020, a. close and here. and believe in this episode, we need to young people using their skills, the contract decades of corruption and victory. anything they believe a total means that is the only way for me. oh oh, i mean, can you tell me a little bit about your childhood and the roots? were there any specific moments or events that saved your political activism?

the early part of my childhood was not really influenced by politics, but oh, i grew older gradually. okay, mental and lebanese dynamics, however, also important a lot of the ideas and concepts that were created by the abuse ruling class and terms of the sectarian connotations of the crisis. so at the end of the day, we're all currently broadnix of the society. and the general a urologist and soon by the regime. but then i got exposed to various other ideas, movement groups that try to deliver an alternative vision for what the country may be, as opposed to what i learned to be as a child. oh, why do you think that the secular club is important and will it have some kind of effect outside the awfully denise universities, the secular club decided as

a socio cultural, political space for students to know more about politics. and the various developments happening with the students as a social group. and this group had to have economic interest which had to be protected. whether it's leaning on condition that is against the administration to protect student freedom or, and needing long tuition strokes, which protects the students' rights or what there is 1019 it was basically the youth student component of your former 17, oppose them. but it also transformed into a force which was able to impose a certain de sports under lebanese landscape. are you optimistic that her mother network will emerge as it relates to kill movement and lebanon? now the way i see the movement rigs or the political movement, the notary housing extensive social base and then has taken the grassroots as

a strategy. it has, they can be the idea that it should be creating a counter giovanni and challenge most that they're in parties, munitions based on the various other forces which of these places and as are re forward. and i think that's what makes the political movement. but as the unified generation that was born and peace time, but in 2006 was changed for you. yeah. can you tell me a little bit about god's o, as in lebanon during the 2006 war during the summer hours and parted physically, but also i took it in and i understood even when i was taught that narratives impacted public opinion. but it was really during the 2014 goes away. when i was interning at major news organization, look, i understood the weight and the importance of accountability, journalism and independent journalism. so that was the road that i took in my

career. oh them on, on witness, assume a protest from the past years from 2011, 2015. and then the big 2019 approved that what was the role of the media in lebanon? the media are owned by parts is in groups and political parties, which are the political class. that's a lot of people and the protest movement throws up against at the hearts of corruption. i enabled ers, which are the mainstream media. this information is the illustration of corruption in narrative and ideas. so it's really important for me to focus on the needs and narrative, and also counted it through investigative work. so with the independent me, the organization i worked for, i took on the daily news reporting and covering her violations against protesters.

protests that were happening all over the country. there were media blackouts, though we were the ones who said lights on what was going on in a way that most he needs it means to me did to them there has been an increase in attacks on journalists and i'll needs l. workers. is freedom of speech and danger, and lebanon in your opinion. i think freedom of speech right now as going through a specific kind of challenge because of social media and the government's use of social media, who intimidates people into self censorship. we need to speak against that, whether or not the intimidation is there. and i think a lot of independence means that workers understand the stress. and they understand that now is the time to continue with the accountability. journalism continues with open source investigations in order to uncover the status quo and to dismantle it

completely. cut him as that. thank you so much for being with us here today. your generation did not really witness the civil war in lebanon. however, everyone husband's card in the country may be through our parents or through stories that we hear. now i want to start with euclidean, how did this shape your political activism in the country? no, although we will experience the civil war. we were taught or inherited the narrative about no sectarian connotations, even forms of heroism in all the people that we were supposed to think of very highly. at the end of the day, we also formulated a counter narrative. the idea that we are trans, something this newborn and trans, something the sector and connotations which exist alongside of it. and this is something we're currently working on. what about you? i so i also have a kind of unique, a bringing as my parents are both from secular background. so i had this angle

that i got from my parents wide understanding the trauma that they lived through during the civil war. since it's an inheritance, intergenerational trauma and wanting never to have this happen again. so this was basically my viewpoint going into politics going into activism and going into journalism as well. so, is your generation more radical scheme, more uncompromising in a way we were thought for a long way to lebanon, that this is the country? these are the relationships that exist between the ruling class and the people between the people themselves, between the various clinical factions which exist in the country. and we're suggesting that there's nothing static about them. lebanon is always in the dynamic transformation, and we're here, you know, experiencing another dynamic respiration which going about after october 17, which came about after the oldest for exclusion. we do thing that we have the

agency to create the vibe of alternative. i think. what are the ways in which you can implement such change in your opinion? i think that we learned a lot from what's happening around us since they're so called arab spring and what people are age as when we're able to achieve not only in 2011, but also in 2019 with us across iraq, algeria, sudan, and, and swear, and we learned from each other about tactics and futures and his cities that who want to work together towards getting your, the chair of the political working group of the meadow network, which connect secondary clubs across universities in lebanon, canada transform, the student activism into any, some lights political movement in your opinion. well, i think the florida could already be case in the sense that the network is established and more than 12 to 13 universities. this suggests that there is potential for genuine competition between secondary progressive components in the

mini society against a more sectarian reactionary components which have existed historically, the secondary clubs are the mother network and not only calling for secretaries, and they're also calling for a wider progressive package and also use would social justice, more democratic inclusion, ideas pertaining to mingle, the deliberated from the norms which have destroyed their society. so we're not an distant ideological group. we are part of the society. you are speaking to them with their basic needs. how can you actually convince people who might be even older than this generation to vote outside the scope of their sex when you have 18 facts and lebanon, when you have political parties that are based on their sex and that are not based on merit or even deep politics, the problem was tackling such a question is that we need to tackle it through it which his client,

amazon can someone though it's for political fact, they're also voting for the ability to get a job to be able to get, to get in a school to be able to get social welfare and all of these things that are tied to sectarian political parties. so really thinking about getting people to vote outside of their sectarian loyalty is we need to also be cognizant that we are telling them to make themselves vulnerable to a reality without their so should protections. and the political protections that a mainstream political party would offer them. so this opposition movement should have a certain as turn it is and realistic solutions to the sectarian claims in a sick system that has been ingrained in every institution and every parts in person of our life. so what you're saying basically is that none thick therion opposition groups need to compete with these long last thing and political parties

by proving that this is not the way. so actually, and this was a very interesting phenomenon that's happened after the august 4 albedo to blast people came together from across lebanon and forums, networks of solidarity and financial and collaborative. certainly there is in networks that don't mimic the same authoritarian client in this thick structure that we're so used to getting the government would say that they are attempting to tackle corruption in lebanon with establishing an anti corruption committee. and, and you law, tackling corruption in the country. what's your opinion on that? in lemon, on particular, the, the term corruption is basically, and potentially, i mean, particularly when it's anti corruption. because the issue in lebanon was not just corruption in the sense that, you know, we have some interest being distributed within state sectors. it's a very structured and systemic issue. we have and has been amplified as the

ninety's. we have a run based economy that is completely based on monopolies, the making sector plus the real estate sector. we have a sectarian system which completely distributes all ministries, all as values that have come across after the war. we have enlarged that we have a lot of the social and economic inequality. no productive sectors, which would use anything. and we're simply living the remnants of an extremely amelia brewed and unfair economy. so people that are saying we want to fix corruption, but don't even want to fight back the interests of the oligarchy and the banks. then we can't really trust whether they're actually fighting corruption. so as long as this is at stake, there is no such thing as anti corruption. i sat on august, 4th, 2020 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded, embattled, causing damage to the whole city. can you tell me what happened on that day? so i was in the office, i had the work call in the middle of it and then 6, so 8 happened and then i felt a tremor that took me back and forth. and i hadn't realized what had happened. but

i heard the noise of a huge explosion, and i saw that everything was destroyed around us. our colleagues were really close to the windows, and we were trying to figure out if anyone was injured. and because my apartments in my office were right beside each other, and i could see complete destruction of my apartment because this was an office for an independent media organization. some of our videographers took their gear and they went down to found the carnage. it was a complete massacre. it was something that i think no one wants to live through again or ever. what about to kennedy once i heard the explosion and i felt that everything was shaking the 1st thought, the dental all mine is that this is it's, i also was qualified than in the position i was in because i felt maybe the

building could collapse at any moment so it was extreme uncertainty about the next 30 minutes after i was out and took my car. i notice that people are injured everywhere. so it was a huge catastrophic, a moment in which everything norman, in our lives was host. i say you mentioned that you in an office working with an independent media organization. did you manage after that to resume your work direct? he, i think what fueled us to continue and to actually double down on our reporting and on our coverage was our anger towards whatever happened and whoever were responsible. so this could be seen with our investigations with our daily news coverage and trying to piece together what's happened. why was there a fire? what's blew up before the ammonium nitrate?

where was it exactly and which warehouse i was able to look at. ok, this video was taken on the roof of this building, and this time this enabled me to actually piece together something so that i can know what's happened because the anxiety of not knowing was worse than their anxiety. us. what's happened? ashtosh? $15000000000.00 is the number estimated when we talk about the damages that were caused by this explosion. there are so many alleged accusations that corruption reached aids. where does corruption, ent, kareem? the aid is this of them, of the answer to corruption. because thieving this regime with more funds or theory by the international community, with only me to it's reproduction and safeguarding its own basis. the solution is in us is in the hundreds of thousands of people from various social

groups of monroe's insects. who believe as they mobilize and create the differences of solidarity, this could potentially create an adequate resistance in the regime. but there is no certainty in sites, but there is always hope cream. can i just jump in here? when i look at are i understand corruption. it isn't just and i like an institutional governmental perspective, but if there is corruption, one place it's probably tied to corruption elsewhere. when a megaphone used in an investigation about the origins of the ship that brought them on united states to the bay to its poor. there were tied to the syrian russian firms with addresses in london. so corruption is the globin. now i think when we want to understand and to fight corruption, we need to think about it as a system of solidarity. that is, boy dallas,

at the same time and collaborate with independent media organizations just like the panama papers have done to uncover money laundering scandals across the world. i think there's only really important what she said, but there is also something or a term for size on based on this that have been is regime is tied to international and global interest which sustain it. now that is something to critique, but it's also something to look at and slightly so be inspired from that. if we do break these links or if we do create alternative links across borders that goods or multiply the strength of our movement. and potentially, we could benefit from a, an alternative international network of people who think this way. and that's how we can create alternative power in the country and ultimately replace the current regime in sites. i mean,

cream. just looking at the protest starting tactics from the 20 october 2019 protest movement. we learned from hong kong. we learned from turkey, we learned from sudan. and then again in may 2021, the george floyd protest. i said lebanese activists how or created a guide for a black lives matter activists in minnesota in order to help them in terms of distance see, help with tear gas. so this solidarity doesn't just transcend our fight against corruption, but also our fight against utter authoritarian regimes and oppressors. one of the so many challenges that the country is facing an integration or brain drain, many of the young generation are leaving for good. and even you mentioned that you're part of the meadow network, which is connecting different secretary clubs that the protests are kind of on hold right now. how do you motivate people? how do you revive these events and this chiefs?

not many people have the luxury to go else. a lot of people are stuck here in the sense and they have no choice but to fight back for these after the august for explosion, when the people basically occupied martyrs where they were and saying, you know, let's make some calculations and see if we can afford this or that they just went sometimes we assume that if people emigrate than they don't have her own. but this is a huge fantasy at times, the lebanese regime benefits from the bi explorer. they benefits from the fact that we're gonna export every one. and then they'll give us the money so we can sustain ourselves. the opposition has a reality. the reality is that people are outside. how can they benefit us? well, most of our organization that mechanism than the mechanisms are becoming online as dresses movements. so people can take part in meetings and sharing ideas and talking to people and getting people to vote. so that's all about tracing alternative networks by using that i a sport that was exported by the regime itself

. but also kareem, i think, as opposition groups, or as students or union organizers, we need to learn to that the college, our hope for the future, which we saw on the streets in the beginning of the 17 october 2019 protest movements. people were coming together and dancing cooking together, singing together trading things with each other. and these are informal system relationships and trades that had never been seen in at his downtown bay routes until before itself. a civil war. as that, we do know how media is monopolized in lebanon, how it's tied to private businesses, to politicians. how can you change that? so 1st, i think we need to recognize that 12 political families own, at least half of the mainstream media in lebanon. the other half is either owned by business men, by individuals politically affiliated or by specific political parties. so the

control over one, the media, but 2 and most importantly, the discourse and the sources of information is squarely in the hands of those and powered but independence. visa organizations have found ways mobilizing the jess broader and becoming important sources of information from the ground. since they are the only ones that film from the ground, from the point of view of the protesters from the point of view of the oppressed. but again, that independence media needs to work together with a grassroots movements where sort of site organizations to bridge together of these things in order to have a sustainable future. when you talk about all of these hopes and dreams, there's a certain component that we need to talk about, and that is challenging. a secular state has been law as a dominant political shade fighting lebanon. now, some argue that they are

a state within a state. how do you been a secular government with the presence of such parties? i don't think it's even possible to look for genuine the radical reform of the country with the state of the state like husband, which is not just a party that distributes it's an infrastructure of a state of the south. it participates in other conflicts in the region and it also tokenize is on the causes. now the question remains, how do we resist this? and i knew also have an issue with those who proclaimed to fight against has below . and in fact, they only tackled as well from their own sectarian point of view. it was never a progressive starting point. and that's something that's extremely necessary. we want to go a step forward, but isn't that challenging? because has bella says that they are present to defend delivering these borders? the only way to tack is such

a permeated nip state as well as to recreate a new narrative. it does not mean we have to concede hezbollah at all. in fact, that's a big mistake. many opposition parties are doing. we need to continue creating this counter hedge money from a starting point which is secular, progressive and insularity with all of those oppressed by hello. and by not has model. yeah. so, is there is face for optimism and a country so complex like lebanon, that the weights for the 2022 elections or some kind of change. there's never pessimism or optimism. there is a complex reality as you said. and this complexity in of itself gives us hope because was happening this year, may not happen 3 years later. but the 2022 elections cannot be seen as

a break. so it can only be seen as a to, however many other breakthroughs await. because at the end of the day, saddle had it in october 29, 2019 was not taken out and it actually, it was taken out by the streets and the streets could reinvent itself as does that mean his regime? so i agree completely with cream and saying that elections is a, it's not a means to an end. i think, organizing through syndicates to clubs, to students unions and across identities and security and loyalty is really important. so are you going to be the generation that finds a solution for this ongoing crisis and lebanon? i don't know. that's a lot of responsibility for a generation, because i think our parents thought they would be that generation. and i think their parents thought they would be that generation. so maybe i will listen. i

actually think there is no such thing as this. you know, one time change in the country, lebanon, 200 years ago, was the, from the lebanon today. and social movements always existed and pressured in a certain direction. so i think each generation made this contribution and we're here to make our modest contribution and to see what comes ahead of us. that's it for this episode of generation change from lebanon. katie mazda, thank you so much for taking part. it's been a very enlightening conversation. thanks rhonda. bye. how distinct console information. how does the narrative inform public opinion? how is citizen journalism re framing the story? be its own line on air or in point for listening post dissects the media on al

jazeera, short films of hope, and inspiration. a series of short personal stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds. al jazeera select ah o. revocation and not to bodies. jerusalem, tens of thousands of flag waving his radius, marched from muslin areas of the city. ah .