Lebanon’s Bread Crisis Persists as Flour Supply Dwindles

Lebanese bakeries saw massive crowds on June 27 amid news of a looming bread shortage as Lebanon’s currency collapses against the dollar.

Although Lebanese bakers sell bread for the local currency, they must pay for flour in dollars from millers who import wheat from abroad. After the Lebanese pound took yet another dive in value, many in the country fear a shortage in flour, and by extension, bread.

 

The Head of the Union of Bakeries Syndicates, Ali Ibrahim, said bread will no longer be available until bakeries have a solution for their losses.

Pictures of citizens’ queues at the entrances to the bakeries provoked the activists to condemn the government, the ruling political class, and on Hezbollah and the gangs that smuggle flour from Lebanon into Syria.

Protests have engulfed the streets of Lebanon since October 17 in light of the suffocating economic crisis in Lebanon that has left tens of thousands of Lebanese without a source of income. 

Protestors are accusing the political elite of corruption and the inability to find solutions to the country’s crises.

The repercussions of the economic collapse, which is the worst in decades, left no social group unscathed and triggered an unprecedented wave of high prices amid a severe liquidity crisis and the scarcity of the dollar.

The crisis also appears to have led to the emergence of a new market to meet the needs of some poor families. 

The “Lebanon Swaps” Facebook page shows the need for some basic foodstuffs, with some citizens offering to exchange personal and household items for infant formula, cooking oil, or bread.

 

Lebanon’s economic crisis

The crisis has left nearly half of the population living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, with economic experts expecting the decline of the middle class in a country that was famous for its facilities, services, and creative initiatives of its people.

Since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on February 14, 2005, Lebanon has seen periodic political and economic crises and protests against its sectarian government. 

The first major protest broke out in 2015 when authorities closed the main landfill site near Beirut without arranging an alternative, causing waste to fill the streets and signaling the government’s inability to provide for the basic needs of the Lebanese people.

In 2019, as the economy stagnated and capital inflows slowed, the Lebanese government faced pressure to control an immense budget deficit. Protests erupted again after the government failed to make progress in reforming the economy that would have garnered foreign support and instead taxed the internet. 

Demonstrators accused the government of corruption and economic mismanagement, and Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri resigned as the crisis worsened. A liquidity crunch on hard currency pushed banks to impose tight restrictions on cash withdrawals and transfers abroad.

After years of failed economic policies, Lebanon now shoulders a sovereign debt of more than 170% of its GDP and went into default in March. Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are ongoing as the local currency continues to drop, losing approximately 70% of its value in a matter of weeks, wreaking havoc on the middle class and plunging the lower class deeper into poverty.

 

Read also: Lebanon Investigating Assassination Attempt on Former PM

Beirut NGOs Launch Emergency Fund for Lebanon’s Struggling Art Scene

In May two Beirut-based organizations, the Arab Fund For Arts and Culture (Afac) and Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), launched a $1 million dollar fund to support cultural institutions struggling to survive in Lebanon. 

The country is currently experiencing the worst financial crisis in its history with its currency losing 70% of its value against the Dollar since October 2019. Anti-corruption protests, which began late last year, led to the toppling of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his government in December. The coronavirus crisis has worsened the country’s economic woes with almost half of the country’s population thought to be living below the poverty line. 

The economic crisis limits the income citizens have to spend on leisure activities, including cultural endeavors. Earlier this year, Beirut’s Metropolis Empire Sofil cinema was closed down due to a lack of funds. The art-house cinema was the home of screenings, festivals, and events in the capital for more than a decade.  

With economic stress continuing and the country’s banks limiting access to US dollars, many artists and organizations are unable to access much needed funds. In addition, artistic institutions, many of which rely on revenues from ticket sales, have been forced to close due to COVID-19. 

Much needed support 

Grants offered by Afac and Culture Resource will vary in value between $20,000 – $80,000 and can be spent on whatever the winning organizations deem necessary. Afac Executive Director Rima Mismar says, “We do not expect these organisations, at this point in time, to actually have a full strategy or vision on how they will adapt to the situation.” 

This flexibility will allow organizations to cover essential costs, such as staff salaries and rent, whilst planning how to engage with communities in the post-COVID-19 world. In addition to the support given to organizations, both Afac and Cultural Resource are operating region-wide funds to support individual artists. 

Cultural Resource aims to support 40 individual artists unable to earn a living at the moment through their Be With Art grant. In June, Afac launched its own regional scheme to sponsor up to 150 artists with $3,000 each. 

Hope remains for the art scene

Despite the struggles artists and cultural institutions are facing, Culture Resource Managing Director Helena Nassif remains hopeful for the future of the arts in Lebanon. She suggests the crisis in Lebanon has provided opportunity for reflection on “the value system we carry and the role of the arts in contributing to creating and imagining a better or different kind of society.”

Mismar seconds this, adding, “There are definitely challenges and negative impacts. At the same time, it does somehow open a moment to think of things differently. This is where aligning immediate needs with longer-term strategies needs to be balanced well.”

In spite of current difficulties, creative projects are continuing in Lebanon. Earlier this year, Beirut-based artist Abed Al-Kadiri launched “Cities Under Quarantine: The Mailbox Project.” The project saw 50 hand-stitched books sent to 50 Middle Eastern artists around the world, with participants asked to use the books to create art and document the crisis. 

Al-Kadiri hopes to publish a collection of the artists’ work in the future. 

Economic Woes Could Trigger New Levant Conflict

When the militant extremists of ISIS started occupying territory in 2013, Iraq and Syria seemingly became the center of the world. Camera-crews from around the world reported breathlessly on each small town where black-clad men in pick-up trucks were advancing. Cities like Mosul, Raqqa and Palmyra became common features in news items as each small conquest was widely shared.

But in 2020, it seems very few still care about the region. Camera-crews have moved on and politicians have found new enemies to worry about. The reporting in the region does garnish is a stream of negative news. Financial crises, the impact of COVID-19, rising bread prices, it appears the region just cannot catch a break from misery.

Countries like Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria face multiple crises at once, with far-reaching consequences for neighboring countries and the region as a whole. What seems like an uncommonly troubled region where misery appears to simply compound and evolve, is largely a strategy of orchestrated and controlled chaos at the behest of foreign powers and institutions.

Hyperinflation

Comments on “hyperinflation” are becoming more common in reports on Syria and Lebanon, as extreme inflation causes prices for basic necessities to skyrocket amid stagnant or diminishing wages. Hyperinflation has sparked renewed protests in Syria, unseen since Bashar al-Assad and Russia reasserted control over the country through a brutal military campaign.

In Lebanon protests have again rocked the country, with much of the ire aimed at the country’s banking sector and the Lebanese central bank itself. A crisis of institutionalized corruption and sectarianism have intertwined with the country’s dwindling foreign currency reserves and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic to create a “perfect storm” of troubles for the Lebanese.

Austerity

In response to a historic drop in oil demand, oil prices have tumbled to levels that no expert could have predicted at the start of the year. For countries in the region, the drop in state revenue leaves large gaps in their national budget amid an increase of costs for the healthcare sector and much needed basic support for the poorest and most vulnerable.

In order to find funds abroad, countries like Lebanon and Iraq face increasing pressures from global institutions to reform their countries in order to cut public spending, boost the private sector and increase foreign direct investment. Receiving loans from institutions like the World Bank and the IMF means bending domestic policy to align with foreign visions and implementing unpopular reforms.

Sanctions

Then there are ever increasing sanctions that further weaken local economies. The US targets the leadership of Syria by halting most international trade, including from its destitute neighbor Lebanon. Washington similarly limits Iraq’s ability to buy much needed energy from its neighbor Iran, with the US issuing “waivers” that allow Iraq to import Iranian electricity.

Iran itself is facing crippling sanctions that have turned a health crisis into an unmitigated human tragedy, as the country continues to have the life squeezed out of its last remaining international trade. Iran has faced severe medical shortages and faced major barriers to importing much needed protective equipment and medicine, making the spread of COVID-19 in the entire region more likely.

Misery by Design

While hyperinflation, austerity, and sanctions continue to make an impact on citizens’ lives in the region, none of these are accidental byproducts, but instead are very much the intended goal. Financial support only comes when nations submit to the “Washington Consensus,” turning their countries into neoliberal countries rife for exploitation by foreign multinationals.

Sanctions and hyperinflation are similarly highly related to foreign influence. Sanctions on Syria intend not just to hurt its leadership but actively intend to starve the people of Syria and Lebanon into revolt against its leaders. US officials regularly regurgitate their belief that economic hardship for citizens will lead to a popular uprising that will replace elements of the government that the US does not like.

Sovereignty

While it appears that countries in the region roll from one crisis to the next, in truth these countries have never been “granted” the ability to stop these crises. Iraq cannot exercise any sense of a sovereign foreign policy because of its reliance on US support, Lebanon cannot reform its banking sector without demands from the IMF, and Syria is unlikely to have a “successful” new revolution after al-Assad’s inhumane crushing of dissent.

If foreign powers are genuine about creating stability in the region, they would be best served by leaving the region to determine its own future. The US alone could make a significant contribution to local stability by following the will of the Iraqi people by withdrawing its forces. The US could also lift sanctions on Syria and Iran and allow Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to freely decide who it trades with.

Freedom to choose

Stability in the region will only materialize when local economies are allowed to grow, politicians are permitted to succeed, and nations can freely trade with one another. The only standard the West needs to follow, is the standard of national sovereignty that it sets for itself. Greater personal freedoms, religious tolerance, and gender equality all depend on rising living standards and the absence of fear and chaos.

By removing foreign influence from the region, the Levant and its neighbors could have a genuine shot at improving the lives of its citizens, unconstrained by the motivations and goals of nations thousands of miles away. As long as foreign powers freely meddle with the fate of millions of local people, the Levant and its neighbors will continue to spiral into further chaos, exactly as was intended.

Lebanese Blogger Calls out French Fashion Industry Racism

Samar Seraqui de Buttafoco is elegant, chic, stylish, and a sustainable fashion entrepreneur who lives in the 7thArrondissement of Paris.  

On paper, the blogger originally from Lebanon, sounds like the quintessential Parisienne, but according to a conversation with her manager posted to Instagram, she was not “Parisian enough” to grace the pages of the as yet unnamed French fashion magazine.  

Outraged by the latest rejection, the influencer shared the message with her over 100 000 Instagram followers, sparking strong reactions and support from other Arab and women of colour in the fashion industry.  

The Rejection  

“Well, that won’t work for (the anonymous magazine), not Parisian enough, you’re a certain type. Next time for sure…” Seraqui de Buttafoco’s manager said.

The Lebanese-born woman replied, “I forgot that Parisians are white,” to which her manager responded, “I know, shameful.” 

“The beautiful words of fashion,” a clearly upset Seraqui de Buttafoco responded.  

In the caption accompanying the exchange, Seraqui de Buttafoco said she has been subjected to a “systematic racism” by the French fashion industry that constantly “casts her aside” but has remained resilient, and unshaken by such rejections. 

“If one day, I have a daughter I’ll call her Simone, like Simone Veil, and many other Simones who have given me the desire to be Parisienne, above and beyond your stereotypes which are so far from the reality in French society,” the influencer said in a message clearly bound for the unnamed magazine in question. 

“I do have that “je ne sais quoi,” the elegance not to name you,” she added in a final parting shot.

The former political journalist rose to prominence through her wildly popular style blog “Une Libanaise a Paris,” (A Lebanese in Paris) and is now creative director of her own ethically produced t-shirt brand “Das Mots” (The Word). Seraqui de Buttafoco and “Das Mots” have been featured in publications like Vogue Arabia, Vanity Fair France, and Elle, and while she has abandoned her blog, maintains a strong following on Instagram and Facebook. 

The Reaction 

One of the people to come out in support of Seraqui de Buttafoco was her friend and French style icon, model, designer, and aristocrat Ines de la Fressange. 

“Parisians are rarely born in Paris, and this brand is stupid and does not deserve you!” she replied to the post.  

“I am half Argentinian, with Czech, Polish and Colombian blood,” De la Fressange, considered by many to be the quintessential “Parisienne,” added. 

The French-Moroccan blogger and founder of ‘Beatnik Creation’ Hassana Rabeh, said she was shocked by the fact such racism still exists in the French fashion industry. 

“I’m actually in the metro and it’s surprising, the majority of Parisians don’t look like the clichés that brands and magazines try to sell us,” she sarcastically pointed out in an Instagram story on the topic.  

“How many French bloggers of Arabic origins do you see…who are invited to big fashion shows, who do collaboration with major brands?” she asked in another story.  

“One day maybe it will change,” exclaimed hopeful Paris based actress and model Hajar Abourachid

Fashion Instagram page, “J’adore la France” (I love France) commented its support for Seraqui de Buttafoco and said that page had been created to provide a more accurate image of what a “Parisienne” woman really is, and to prove that “French girls are not only blonde white and skinny.” 

“Thanks to Samar [Seraqui de Buttafoco] for speaking about the racism that many women who work in fashion and want to participate in campaigns where the aesthetic is said to be “Parisienne,” are victims of. This type of talk and response is shameful and should be denounced,” it said.

The growing prevalence of pages like “J’adore la France” show that French society is starting to recognise and value its inherent diversity. Recent rallies against the death of George Floyd, and French man Adama Troare’s death in custody have shone a light on the dark, often hidden but insidious nature of racism in French society — a country built on liberty, equality and brotherhood where people, in theory “don’t see race.” 

Protests in cities across France, alongside individual incidents like the one highlighted by Seraqui de Buttafoco have forced wider society to take notice. It remains to be seen if they can actually open up the conversation about systemic racism in French society and bring about genuine change.

Read also: Tunisian Parliament Votes Down Bill Calling for Apology from French Colonists

MENA Region Faces Wave of Post-Lockdown Protests

Citizens of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have taken to the streets following the easing of COVID-19 measures. Citizens are demanding action from their governments after having adhered to painful lockdowns and curfews that brought severe economic hardship.

In Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Tunisia, large protests have emerged over the last week as citizens call upon government officials to ease their suffering. While COVID-19 fears begin to wane, a new focus on structural poverty and inefficient government is emerging across the region as protesters express their discontent.

Lebanon

The Lebanese military arrested dozens of protesters on Monday, June 15, for alleged acts of vandalism. Protesters expressed their frustration with skyrocketing inflation amid a spiraling currency crisis, while the indebted nation struggles to balance its debt obligations with popular demands for a significant increase in living conditions.

After nearly two months of empty streets, economic deprivation, and fear of the coronavirus, the Lebanese people have returned to the streets to protest the lack of solutions offered by the government of Hassan Diab. Banks and shops were attacked as Lebanese people grow more desperate, even as new sanctions on neighboring country Syria are likely to further damage Lebanon’s economy.

Iraq

Newly inaugurated prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s “honeymoon phase” in government has ended quickly as increasing austerity measures are sparking furious protests. Monthly pensions were hit by a drop in oil-revenue that is forcing the government to take unpopular measures. Nearly one million Iraqis depend on their pension each month and this month the $920 pension was more than $100 short, according to France24.

The Iraqi government has introduced several ambitious reform plans, but a dramatic fall in government revenue as a result of cratered oil prices and production cuts has meant introducing painful cuts to public sector salaries and pensions. Public sector employment has served as a method to appease Iraqis since the 2003 US invasion, but falling state oil revenues have now undermined this strategy.

Syria

Syria has seen few large protests since the 2011 pro-democracy protests that started a civil war. But protests again emerged over the rise in prices of basic necessities, a doubling in food prices and continued corruption in government. The city of Druze saw four days of intense protests as the Syrian Pound continues to fall dramatically in value.

The protesters are unlikely to see a swift resolution to their concerns as the “Caesar Act,” a new round of US sanctions targeting Syria, is set to heavily impact the last remaining economic activity that has sustained the country’s flailing economy. With an apparent consolidation of power ongoing in Damascus that has gone public, Bashar al-Assad’s regime is facing renewed pressure from all sides.

Tunisia

Protests have emerged in at least seven Tunisian cities, Reuters reported on Thursday, June 18. Unemployed and economically deprived people across the country protested what they considered government inaction in the face of a continued economic crisis. University graduates shouted “we need jobs” in Gafsa and hundreds protested in Hajeb el Ayoun and Sidi Bouzid.

The Tunisian tourism sector has suffered an unprecedented crisis after COVID-19 measures closed borders and shut the industry that provides 10% of state revenue. After a decade of high inflation and unemployment, Tunisians now call for an increased focus on jobs by protesting and even halting the country’s phosphate production through sit-ins.

A new era

The current protests across the MENA-region are likely only the beginning of popular unrest in the region, with global institutes like the IMF predicting that local economies will suffer from post-lockdown economic woes for some time to come. Protests against corruption and ineffective government appear to be supported by data, and the World Bank has called for greater transparency from MENA-governments.

As global oil prices continue to be volatile, supported by painful production cuts, revenue will likely remain impacted in many oil-dependent MENA-countries. With structural economic issues in many countries, unemployment and poverty are likely to worsen in the months ahead, as the region braces itself for a new era of popular discontent.

Protests Rage On in Lebanon

The Lebanese pound has lost a quarter of its value over two days and unemployment soars as the Lebanese become increasingly destitute, prompting another night of angry protests.

Protests rage

Angry protesters blocked roads across the country, with burning tires sending pitch black smoke into the night’s skies. What the protests lacked in size, relative to some of the mass demonstrations seen before the pandemic, they made up in intensity, hurling stones and fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

An announcement by the Lebanese central bank that it would inject more foreign currency into its market to stop the free-fall of the Lebanese Pound did anything but calm tempers. The Lebanese are exasperated by what they see as inefficient amateurism in government. Protesters appear to have little faith in their government’s ability to find a solution in coming talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Comprehensive reforms

Banks were a major target with several branches damaged or set alight as the Lebanese have few avenues left to convert righteous indignation into positive change for the country. The government of Hassian Diab is coming under increasing pressure as its promises of rapid reforms are yet to materialize.

Fears exist that the coming negotiations with the IMF will bring the painful austerity that usually accompanies assistance provided by the neoliberal institute. A Bloomberg reporter on June 4 asked the IMF, “In Lebanon it’s said that the IMF is asking to decrease government expenditures, will these costs of reforms fall on the poorest?” This prompted the IMF’s Communication Director, Gerry Rice, to vaguely emphasize the importance of “the right diagnostic and the right set of comprehensive reforms.”

Looming sanctions

The Lebanese appear to be completely justified in their frustration as further economic woes are on the horizon, a tie purposely made by a foreign actor. The US “Caesar Act,” a package of sanctions on Lebanon’s northern neighbor Syria, is about to destroy a large part of the country’s remaining international trade.

The sanctions are intended to cripple Hezbollah and perceived Iranian influence in the region, but they do so by attempting to impoverish the local population into revolt. For both Syria and Lebanon, trade with their neighbor has provided a fragile lifeline as both countries face a currency in free-fall that resulted in skyrocketing prices for basic necessities and food.

With few positives to look forward to and any optimism drained by an inefficient government, the Lebanese protests are set to continue as the people voice their exasperation with an increasingly worrying collapse of Lebanon’s future prospects.

Lebanon: Currency Collapse, Protests Trigger Emergency Cabinet Meeting

Angry citizens in cities across Lebanon shrugged off recent sectarian clashes to present a united front that called for Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and Prime Minister Hassan Diab to resign in the wake of a spectacular currency devaluation.

Violent skirmishes with security forces and arson punctuated last night’s demonstrations and, amid calls for calm, triggered an emergency cabinet meeting on the morning of Friday, June 10. 

Pound plunge 

The currency hit a new low on Wednesday and Thursday, trading at 5,000 pounds to the dollar on the country’s parallel market. After trading at an official rate of 1,500 pounds to the dollar for 35 years, there were rumors the Lebanese pound hit highs of 6,000-7,000 pounds to the dollar on Thursday, although those appear to be unfounded. 

The dramatic plunge represents a 25% depreciation in the Lebanese pound in just two days. 

The pound has lost 70% of its value since protests kicked off last October and is heading into uncertain territory as neighboring Syria’s currency has also spiraled out of control in recent days, ahead of a fresh round of economic sanctions. 

The cost of living has risen exponentially, dollars are scarce, and, as the recent drop shows, the government’s efforts to stabilize the currency have so far failed.   

In response to the raging protests, Diab called an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday morning. In attendance was controversial Central Bank Governor Salameh, who many believe is responsible for mishandling Lebanon’s foreign currency reserves and the exchange rate. 

Speaking after an additional meeting between himself, Diab, and President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri ruled out sacking the Central Bank governor.  

“It was agreed with President Aoun and PM Diab to lower the dollar exchange rate as of today to below LBP 4,000 and gradually to 3,200, but the results will not begin appearing before Monday,” Berri announced on Friday afternoon.  

Berri added the ruling triumvirate will be “addressing the International Monetary Fund with a unified language,” referring to the ongoing negotiations with the IMF over a bailout triggered by Lebanon’s sovereign debt default, and ensuing economic deterioration. 

Citizens in a State,a new political party which has gained a large following during the October revolt, rejected the government’s announcement and instead called for more protests on Saturday. 

Citizens in a State, backed by a coalition of 20 civil society movements, parties, and unions, is calling for Diab’s administration to be replaced by a transitional government with exceptional powers to drag the country out of the economic and political crisis it is now mired in.  

Protestors set up roadblocks and tents amid last night’s fury, indicating they are again in for the long-haul after a COVID-19-enforced break. Hezbollah and Amal supporters, who were behind last weekend’s unsettling sectarian violence, also rushed to join last night’s protests, according to Lebanese journalist Luna Safwan.

“With Hezbollah and Amal supporters joining the protests tonight, it seems that there’s a plan to take down the cabinet. Back to October 17th 2019,” Safwan tweeted last night. 

Thursday night’s fiery protests 

The streets of Beirut, Saida, Jal el Dib, Tripoli, Zouk, and many other cities filled with major demonstrations for the first time since the October 17 uprisings that brought down ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri. 

There was nothing to be seen of the sectarian clashes that punctuated demonstrations on June 6, with large moped-convoys of residents from majority-Shia suburbs joining the protests shouting, “Shia, Sunni, F*ck sectarianism.” 

In Beirut, law enforcement was minimal, and protestors set a massive bonfire directly in front of the country’s seat of government. Protestors set a branch of the Central Bank alight in Tripoli, along with tire barricades, billboards and other buildings. When riot police did try to disperse demonstrators in downtown Beirut, young men pelted them with rocks and fireworks, screaming “the riot police are sons of b**.”

The currency crash has reduced first responders’ wages to a pittance, and like the protestors they are supposed to control, police and fire crews are growing tired of the declining economic situation. 

“Why do you destroy shops and things and attack us security forces—do you think we’re happy? Go and f****** break that wall or go to the politicians’ houses,” a police officer told Al Jazeera as he stood by, watching protestors tear down a barrier set up to protect Parliament.  

“In the end we are with you and we want the country to change. Don’t you dare think we’re happy. My salary is now worth $130,” the officer added. 

The Civil Defence, whom the fire brigades fall under, later told local news channel LBCI they did not fight the many of the fires around Beirut, because they had no diesel to run their fire trucks—just another consequence of Lebanon’s economic implosion. 

The government — under intense pressure from protestors, the currency collapse, COVID-19, and Lebanon’s unenviable economic situation — will be waiting on tenterhooks to see what eventuates tonight, and if the protest movement maintains momentum.

Read also: Despairing Domestic Workers Dumped at Ethiopian Consulate in Lebanon

Syrians Brace for Looming Sanctions

On June 17, the ‘Caesar Act’ will come into effect in the United States, with potentially devastating consequences for Syria’s economy. The act consists of a broad package of sanctions that would, in effect, make it illegal for most countries to do business with Syrian enterprises.

The Caeser act shares the pseudonym of a Syrian military photographer who smuggled thousands of photographs of Syrian torture out of the country, revealing the brutality of the Syrian regime’s practices against detainees.

However, the package of sanctions could have far-reaching consequences for Syria. The war-torn country’s economy is already suffering from hyperinflation that has caused food prices to rise by 50% in a single month.

“Prices of goods in Syria, including locally produced ones, are rising with the exchange rate,” Elizabeth Tsurkov, of the Foreign Policy Research Institute told the Guardian. “The inflation is so rapid that prices in the morning would be lower than in the evening,” she explained.

Looming sanctions

The already dire situation in Syria is about to get worse since the Caesar Act will effectively penalize any country that does business with any company in Syria.

While existing EU and US sanctions already target senior regime officials and aligned business interests, the US sanctions set to trigger on June 17 will target any country that trades with Syrian entities, effectively targeting Syria’s few remaining trade-partners in neighboring countries and with businesses in Europe and the Gulf states.

The largest impact of the sanctions will be felt both in Damascus and Beirut, as trade with Lebanon has been one of the few remaining lifelines on which Syria’s fragile economy depended. Both Lebanon and Syria are facing spiraling currency crises and  the US sanctions aim to exacerbate these troubles in order to weaken Iranian influence in the two countries.

Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon’s government and Iranian support for both countries have long been a thorn in the side of the US military and the US now aims to break business ties between the two countries and plunge both into a dire economic crisis.

Victims

However, the victims of sanctions are rarely the elite that they nominally target. Rising prices of basic essentials and food scarcity are inevitable, but the regime’s leadership will always have enough to eat. The sanctions hope to make the economic situation in Syria and Lebanon so dire that the starving people will rise up and hold the governments responsible.

In over a century of sanctions, they have never actually produced this result. Sanctions on apartheid south-Africa actually further impoverished the black population, according to the then prime-minister de Klerk. Cuba has been under crushing US sanctions since it’s communist revolution, but the sanctions actually allow the regime to blame the US for any economic issues.

In Syria, an already devastated country with its infrastructure in ruins is facing an economic crisis even without the new sanctions. Rising bread prices have sparked protests which were met with counter-protests by government supporters, who directly highlighted Western sanctions as the reason for the economic troubles.

Following a nine-year conflict, Syria has few resources left to rebuild. The US now attempts to once again spark a popular uprising and reduce the influence of Iran and Hezbollah. But, after the first uprising was crushed with little to no official western backing, how are Syrians supposed to topple al-Assad now?

Despairing Domestic Workers Dumped at Ethiopian Consulate in Lebanon

The number of newly unemployed Ethiopian domestic workers camped out the front of the Ethiopian Consulate in Beirut continues to grow. Authorities moved around 35 women into a Caritas shelter on June 5 after some spent up to two weeks camped on the concrete outside the consulate. 

As Lebanon’s economic crisis persists, more workers are being dumped on a daily basis by employers who can no longer afford them.  

A dejected-looking young woman named Lomi, hauling a large black suitcase, is the latest discarded Ethiopian domestic worker to join the growing ranks of mostly women calling for repatriation. The 20-year-old came to Lebanon a year ago to work and support her family, but her employer threw her out on Monday without her passport after she asked for the four months wages they owed her. 

Instead of paying up, they bundled Lomi and her big black suitcase into a cab bound for the Ethiopian Consulate, which suspended services on June 3 without explanation.

“What’s going to happen with me tomorrow or after tomorrow?” Lomi told Al Arabiya. “What can I do, where can I go? What am I going to eat and drink? Where is my money from the last four months?” the young woman asked, in tears.  

Employers unable or unwilling to pay wages have decided to leave their ex-employees in the hands of the Ethiopian Consulate instead of paying for a commercial plane ticket worth around $680 and the mandatory two-week COVID-19 quarantine hotel stay upon arrival in Ethiopia. The workers, many without passports and no longer with the legal right to reside or work in Lebanon, are now in danger of being penalized by Lebanese authorities. 

The more pressing issue for women like Lomi is their lack of shelter, money, and food. Unable to afford flights or find a new job due to the restrictions of Lebanon’s kafala (sponsorship) system, there is no clear path for these women to return home or find new jobs in Lebanon. 

“You see these ones? They brought them today with their bags,” said Hanna Tadasa, who herself has been unemployed in six months, pointing to a row of new arrivals at the Beirut consulate.  

“Madame, my dear, you have parents. [These women] also have parents in their country. Don’t bring them and throw them outside. Shame on you. We are humans,” was Tadasa’s message for other Lebanese employers thinking of dumping their staff. 

Blame game  

The Ethiopian Consulate and Department of Foreign Affairs have remained quiet on the issue and now ceased service provision, adding to the abandoned workers’ sense of uncertainty and helplessness. 

“Every day they tell us come back on Monday, and when Monday comes there’s nothing,” Tadasa explained. “I want to travel to my country and live in dignity with my family.”

The consulate’s head of communications, Befirde Dengela, broke the silence on Sunday  and decried the dumping of workers. According to Dengela, the consulate was forced to close over security concerns as some women “got rowdy” and attacked diplomats, a claim the women deny.  

“The employers are to blame. They can’t just throw them out here when they can’t afford to pay,” Dengela told African publication the Mail & Guardian on June 7. 

“We have repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to intervene and hold these employers who abandon these women accountable. But they are slow to do so,” the senior Ethiopian diplomat added.  

The high cost of plane tickets and mandatory quarantine mean that although workers desperately want to be repatriated, it is essentially impossible. Lebanese authorities have entered into the blame game, saying they have done what they can for the workers but “the ball is in the playground of Ethiopia.” 

“Lebanon’s economy has been hit hard. We did what we could to facilitate the return of these women to Ethiopia by lifting the fines that undocumented migrants would normally be charged,” according to Khazaal. “But Ethiopia refuses to evacuate its citizens.” 

As the economic situation in Lebanon shows no signs of improvement, and Ethiopian women continue to either be dumped or flee their current employment situation, the future for them looks bleak. The Ethiopian and Lebanese authorities’ attempts to shift the blame are doing little for the women who are now homeless and hungry, far from home, and with no real hope of repatriation.

Read also: Outcry after Lebanese Facebook Group User Puts Nigerian Domestic Worker Up for Sale

 

 

Tensions Ease in Lebanon After Weekend of Sectarian Clashes

On Saturday, protesters in Lebanon returned to the streets for the first time since the country lifted COVID-19 restrictions. 

What started as peaceful marches protesting the country’s economic crisis, fuelled by endemic corruption, descended into worrying sectarian clashes decried by Lebanese politicians, religious leaders, and the army as a “dangerous ordeal” planned by certain factions. 

The country’s leaders unanimously condemned the slip into sectarianism, and invoked memories of Lebanon’s bloody civil war to warn against further aggression.

Leaders Condemn Saturday’s Violence 

The Army Command released a statement on Sunday calling the Sunni-Shia violence a “dangerous ordeal” and warning Lebanese citizens “against being dragged into strife.” It reported 25 soldiers were injured on Saturday, and vowed to “preserve civil peace and protect national unity.” 

Calls for disarmament for Iranian-backed Hezbollah appeared to trigger sectarian violence after some counter-demonstrators insulted the Prophet Mohammed’s wife Aisha and other historic Sunni figures, inflaming Sunni-Shia tensions.  

The military and security services intervened to prevent Hezbollah and Amal counter-demonstrators clashing with protestors in downtown Beirut, but gunfire and scuffles broke out in neighborhoods across the capital.  

Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri used colourful language to decry the events, declaring the sectarian violence “a strife that is more severe than killing!” 

“Cursed be the one who awakens it, so beware of falling into its furnaces, for it will spare no one,” Berri chastised, while also condemning insults against Islamic or Christian symbols or sacred places. 

On Monday, Interior Minister Mohamed Fahmi announced the violence had been “intentional and premeditated,” and required further investigation.  

“We had strong indicators that a fifth column could interfere in the demonstrations to trigger tension and sedition, and this is exactly what happened,” Fahmi told Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria on June 8. 

“It is inadmissible to trigger sectarian strife, no matter what it costs,” said the interior minister, who has also backed up the military’s assurances the situation is now under control. 

“Saturday’s incidents were a big shock to all political parties who must join efforts to protect the country. What happened has dangerously stirred strife and sedition, putting the fate of the nation and Lebanese at stake,” unnamed political sources also told al-Joumhouria. 

Protest Movement’s Future Endangered? 

Hezbollah supporters, who planned to protest US interference in Lebanese politics by demonstrating outside the US Embassy in Beirut on Sunday, abandoned the demonstration in the wake of Saturday’s unrest. Political commentators were quick to defend the protest movement, telling Arab News it will push ahead despite Saturday’s events.  

“Indeed, people are repulsed by what happened, but it will not prevent them from taking to the streets again to demand their rights,” commentator and public affairs academic Dr. Ziad Abdel Samad told Arab News on June 7.

“What happened on Saturday will not eliminate the civil movement, which is committed to its demands and to pressuring for the reestablishment of the authority by forming a government with powers that allow it to draft a new electoral law, as happened in Tunisia.”

A report from Brussels think-tank the International Crisis Group (ICG) agreed that the protest movement is critical and must continue to exert pressure on the government and elite to institute reform.

The June 8 ICG report states that “the current Lebanese government, and any government that may follow it, will have to carry out substantial structural and institutional reform to put the country’s fiscal and economic system back on a sound footing.”

“To succeed, such structural change will have to put an end to the political model in which corrupt and self-serving cliques appropriate and redistribute state resources and public goods,” the report added. 

It is, however, highly unlikely the Lebanese elite, who have grown rich on the current status quo of corruption and wildly unbalanced wealth distribution, will pragmatically put their own interest aside in order to save Lebanon from economic collapse.  

“It is very hard to imagine that they (Lebanon’s ruling elite and political class) will do so unless the Lebanese who have gone into the streets since October 2019 find ways to exert sustained pressure on the country’s political institutions,” the report concluded. 

Disarmament Calls and Government Stability 

It is not the first time protestors have called for Hezoballah to disarm, and political commentators remain divided about what really triggered the weekend violence. Some argue it signals a new stage of the protests, while others believe it is the beginning of the end for Hassan Diab’s government. 

Public affairs expert and activist Dr. Walid Fakhreddin believes the sectarian strife is symptomatic of the Diab government’s impending decline.  

“Hezbollah previously caused such tensions four or five times since the protests started on Oct. 17. However, this is the first time this happened under the government of Hassan Diab. This means that Diab’s government is in crisis, and this is Hezbollah’s way (of operating) when it does not want a government to continue,” Fakhreddin explained on June 7. 

According to Fakhreddin, “no one is ready to stand up to Hezbollah” and demand disarmament, while the current government “is unable to continue and will not manage to obtain funds to prevent economic collapse.”

“What happened is new. It is not an extension of Oct. 17, but rather it will mark the start of a new stage,” says political analyst Ghassan Hajjar. He agrees that Hezbollah is feeling the heat of disarmament calls, but argues it will not topple Diab’s government unless it receives assurance that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri will be reinstated.  

“No one won on Saturday — not the government, the Hezbollah nor the protesters. Everyone lost,” Hajjar concluded, a sentiment shared by many in Lebanon at present. 

It appears that for the time being, the shock of sectarian clashes on Saturday and united condemnation from Lebanon’s political, religious, and military leaders has quelled Sunni-Shia tension. The painful memories of civil war seem to have given actors across Lebanon’s political and religious spectrum a wake up call and timely reminder that sectarian violence comes at a dangerous cost. 

As the country plunges ever-deeper into the economic abyss, political control and stability become increasingly fragile. It remains to be seen if some actors in Lebanon’s fractious political scene will use that weakness to grab power, by any means, regardless of the cost. 

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