Welcome to the twenty-second edition of our monthly Arabic podcast/radio show Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة contributing to tax justice public debate around the world. (In Arabic below) Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة is produced and presented by Walid Ben Rhouma and Osama Diab of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, also an investigative journalist. The programme is available for listeners to download and it’s also available for free to any radio stations who’d like to broadcast it or websites who’d like to post it. You can also join the programme on Facebook and on Twitter.
Taxes Simply #22: how socioeconomic demands are overcoming sectarianism in Lebanon and Iraq
In October 2019, large demonstrations broke out in Lebanon and Iraq, countries that are both governed by sectarian politics. But, this time economic demands have transcended sectarian rhetoric.
In this episode, Lebanese economic researcher Nabil Abdou explains what protestors mean by the “down with the rule of the bank” slogan, and how the tax system in Lebanon encourages rent-seeking at the expense of all other productive sectors. Abdou also explains how demonstrations in Lebanon are organically linked to demonstrations in other Arab and Latin American countries.
In the second part of the programme, we speak with one of the participants of the Iraqi uprising; journalist Karim al-Nur, about the economic motives driving his participation in the demonstrations.
الجباية ببساطة ٢٢ – تجاوز الطائفية بالمطالب الاقتصادية في لبنان والعراق
أهلا بكم في العدد الثاني والعشرين من الجباية ببساطة. في شهر أكتوبر/تشرين اندلعت تظاهرات واسعة في كلا من لبنان والعراق، وكلاهما بلاد تحكمهم وتتحكم بهم السياسات الطائفية، لكن هذه المرة جاءت الكثير من المطالب اقتصادية الطابع متجاوزة الخطاب الطائفي. في هذا العدد نلتقي بالباحث الاقتصادي اللبناني نبيل عبدو ليشرح لنا تحديدا فحوى شعار “يسقط حكم المصرف” و كيف أن النظام الضريبي في لبنان قائم على تشجيع الريع على حساب أي قطاعات منتجة أخرى، فضلا عن ارتباط التظاهرات في لبنان عضويا بتظاهرات في بلدان أخرى من العالم العربي وأمريكا اللاتينية. في القسم الثاني نلتقي بأحد المشاركين في الانتفاضة العراقية، الصحفي كريم النور، متحدثا عن الدوافع الاقتصادية لمشاركته في التظاهرات.
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