Long before its modern-day borders and its independence from colonial occupiers, warring groups have fought over the tiny strip of land that forms Lebanon today. A never-ending series of power struggles has had catastrophic consequences for the country, and today more than ever, many talented Lebanese are forced to take the difficult decision to leave.

It didn’t matter that I had lived in a Shia neighborhood till I was fourteen, where the residents shared their principles, or that my school had several Muslim students. In their opinion, I was living in sin, because I wasn’t going to a Muslim school or mostly engaging with ‘jnoubiyye’ (southerners) in Beirut.

Unlike other groups still divided along sectarian and political lines, Lebanon’s Sunnis have for years felt underrepresented and without a single strong leader. Hariri, who has traditionally been the community’s main man since the assassination of his father in 2005, has come and gone from the political scene repeatedly over the years, leaving a void no one has yet managed to fill.

Agent, traitor, Zionist. Most people in Lebanon have become very familiar with these words, which have been used to demean, intimidate, and bully those who choose to take a stand against Lebanon’s two Shiite political parties: Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.