Following the Blast in Beirut, How Ready is Lebanon for Visitors?

The Aug. 4 blast in Beirut’s port devastated the city but also affected the entire country. Shock waves reverberated throughout the region, being felt as far away as Cyprus and Jordan. The cause was obscene negligence in the storage of ammonium nitrate, a component of many explosives, and the effect is 300,000 people left homeless, up to 220 dead, and parts of the city center in ruins. The scene harkens back to Lebanon’s tumultuous history of war and civil strife and effectively takes Beirut off the map in terms of international tourism.

This is all the more saddening given Lebanon’s storied history, vibrant culture and natural beauty. Lebanon has earned an unfortunate reputation as an unsafe travel destination due to its fraught political history and geographical proximity to war-torn nations such as Syria. Though a history of war still lives in the nation’s collective memory, most people view it as a piece of the past. Before the blast, Lebanon reported a record number of visitors, with just under 2 million travelers passing through in 2018 alone.

A cursory glance at the country reveals why. Though small, Lebanon’s landscape is astonishingly diverse. Its coastline holds balmy beaches and resorts, many started in the 1950s during the country’s first tourism boom. Farther inland, the Lebanon Mountains offer slopes for skiers of every skill level for a fraction of the cost compared to the Swiss Alps.

Hasroun, a village in northern Lebanon. Paul Saad. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Natural beauty is not the only wonder found in Lebanon. The Temple of Bacchus, one of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world, displays the full glory of Lebanon’s past, demonstrating the variety of influences it enjoyed due to its historical role as a Mediterranean trade hub. Arts events like the Cedars International Festival have drawn artists from around the world, including Shakira and Andrea Bocelli, with massive crowds in tow. Beirut’s nightlife alone was enough to draw thousands to its late-night parties with strobe lights, pulsing music and freely flowing liquor.

A concert in Byblos. Hisham Assaad. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

No longer. The blast damaged 2,000 venues in Beirut, many of them deciding not to rebuild. Months prior to the blast, the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the service industry, and a prolonged economic crisis which has endangered the lower and middle classes strained the balance sheets of nightclub owners. The explosion further compounds their plight. 

Equally bleak are the prospects for recovery. Rebuilding the city is estimated to cost $15 billion, a quarter of Lebanon’s GDP in 2019, and talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $10 billion bailout have led nowhere. The prime minister, along with most of his cabinet, resigned shortly after the explosion, leaving Lebanon in both physical and economic ruin with no leadership. The Lebanese dollar has lost 80% of its value while inflation has reached 112%. This has left thousands of people struggling or unable to buy food. The situation, by any metric, is abysmal. 

Lebanon’s tourism prospects are about as dire as those for its economy. Clearly, it is unwise to travel in the midst of a global pandemic to a country whose hospitals are already full. While tourism would pump much-needed dollars into the economy, it would be difficult to find food and lodging in a country not far removed from famine. Before travelers begin to think of visiting Lebanon, the country must rebuild. Only time will tell how long that process will take.

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Michael McCarthy

Michael is an undergraduate student at Haverford College, dodging the pandemic by taking a gap year. He writes in a variety of genres, and his time in high school debate renders political writing an inevitable fascination. Writing at CATALYST and the Bi-Co News, a student-run newspaper, provides an outlet for this passion. In the future, he intends to keep writing in mediums both informative and creative.

Ethiopian Migrant Workers Left More Vulnerable After Devastating Explosion in Beirut

On Aug. 4, two massive explosions in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, sent a shock wave that destroyed many neighborhoods, killed more than 200 people, injured 6,000 and left approximately 250,000 homeless. The tragedy struck a country that is already suffering from a major economic crisis, an increase in COVID-19 cases, and the corruption and negligence of the Lebanese government—corruption which led to the deadly explosion. Reports emerged that the government knew about the over 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, which is used to build bombs, and left it unattended and unsecured for six years.

As the Lebanese people’s anger boiled over, protests calling for an end to the political elite erupted, leading to the resignation of the majority of the Lebanese government. According to The Wall Street Journal, on Aug. 10 Prime Minister Hassan Diab addressed the nation in a televised address: “I set out to combat corruption, but I discovered that corruption is bigger than the state. I declare today the resignation of this government. God bless Lebanon.”

But according to Foreign Policy, “the public is unlikely to be appeased by the resignation of Diab’s government” as “the rest of the country’s political elites, the sectarian warlords of the civil war era and their descendants, clinging to positions of privilege, are still busy looking for scapegoats.” As the public continues to fight for the fall of the regime, it is hoped that not only will the Lebanese benefit, but so too will the migrant workers whose plight worsens as crises continue to befall the country.

According to The New Arab, “around 250,000 migrants work as housekeepers, nannies and carers in Lebanese homes.” Most of the workers are women, many of whom immigrated from Ethiopia and the Philippines, according to The Associated Press. The migrant workers do not have labor law protections as they were brought in through the kafala system, an exploitative and abusive sponsorship system used in Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation as the countries that practice the kafala system offer little to no protection for migrant workers—their right to work and legal presence is entirely dependent on their employer. The migration sponsorship system “increases their risk of suffering labor exploitation, forced labor and trafficking, and leaves them with little prospect of obtaining redress,” according to Amnesty International.

The ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon, along with the spike in COVID-19 cases, has made an already dire situation worse for migrant workers. According to Amnesty International, “many have reported that the value of their salaries has decreased by around a third because of the currency crash.” Their salaries were already as little as $150 per month before the severe economic crisis and pandemic, according to France 24. In June, BBC reported that more than 100 Ethiopian migrant domestic workers were fired and left homeless outside their country’s consulate in Beirut after their employers claimed they could no longer afford to pay their maids.

Now, the explosions have left the domestic workers even more vulnerable. CNN reported, “In the aftermath, rights groups are warning that this vulnerable group is facing dire situations as many of them are stranded in the country and unable to go home.” Activists like Farah Salka of Lebanon’s Anti-Racism Movement are fighting for the migrant workers’ rights. Salka told CNN, “They are running from one escalating situation to the other and it is an endless stream of trauma. They have faced COVID, economic crisis, airport closure, quarantine restrictions in often hostile conditions and they want to go home.”

Finding a way home is proving difficult for the Ethiopian migrants. According to Middle East Eye, “Ethiopia has tripled the price of repatriation for its citizens in Lebanon to $1,450, including flights and mandatory quarantine, further prohibiting the return of dozens of women stranded and destitute outside its Beirut consulate.” This is approximately a $900 increase from a May 21 article from Quartz Africa which reported, “Ethiopia’s consulate had collected $550 registration fees for the repatriation flights.”

People on social media are calling for better treatment of migrant workers in Lebanon after footage showed an Ethiopian migrant worker saving a young child from shattered glass as the second explosion erupted in the capital. Lebanese journalist Luna Safwan tweeted, “Migrant worker grabs toddler and saves her from shattered glass and windows as the second big explosion erupted in Beirut earlier today. She did not even think. Migrant workers deserve better in #Lebanon – this woman is a hero.”

Asiya Haouchine

is an Algerian-American writer who graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 2016, earning a BA in journalism and English. She was an editorial intern and contributing writer for Warscapes magazine and the online/blog editor for Long River Review. She is currently studying for her Master’s in Library and Information Science. @AsiyaHaou

Mounting Debt Brings Lebanon’s Economy to Its Knees

Lebanon is experiencing an economic crisis unlike anything it has seen since the 1940s. Although there are a multitude of factors contributing to the country’s economic turbulence, one of the biggest problems is the hyperinflation of the Lebanese pound. A currency is labeled as “hyperinflated” if the country’s inflation rate exceeds 50% per month over an extended period of time. The casualties are so extreme that Lebanon is now the third-most indebted country. The loss of value for this currency has resulted in 5.4 million people struggling to manage an unstable economy, skyrocketing food prices and inadequate government assistance. 

Life in Lebanon

Lebanon is located in the Middle East and has a diverse religious makeup. Many of its residents are refugees from Syria and the Palestinian territories, and as such, the country has survived many obstacles stemming from nearby conflicts. Lebanese luxury culture has famously endured through wars, political upheaval and civil violence, with people still willing to go out to nightclubs and buy expensive clothes. Nevertheless, it appears as though the country’s freewheeling lifestyle has finally hit a wall. 

Life in places such as the capital, Beirut, is so wracked with uncertainty that months of protesting over the past year has led to the forcing out of Prime Minister Saad Hariri in October 2019. The protests revolved around frustration at Lebanon’s politics and politicians, citing corruption and incompetence in their chant of “Give back the looted money!” Despite the swearing in of a new prime minister, Hassan Diab, in January, the protests continued into March. They only dissolved once the government implemented quarantine measures in order to manage COVID-19. 

One essential industry that is suffering acutely this year is Lebanon’s electrical providers. Blackouts have always been a fairly regular occurrence and are a regular money drain on the country, costing Lebanon up to $1.5 billion annually. This year, however, the power is exceptionally poor as a result of mismanagement, fuel problems and alleged foul play. Power cuts can last as long as 20 hours in some places, subsequently causing many people to depend on expensive generators. Perhaps most concerningly, these power cuts have been affecting hospitals. With hourslong power outages, hospitals have to redirect precious funding in order to buy fuel for their generators so that they can have light, air conditioning and surgical equipment. During a pandemic, this is especially concerning. 

Understanding the Problem

The primary catalyst for Lebanon’s economic crash is the loss of currency value. The Lebanese pound used to be held fairly consistently at 1,500 pounds per dollar. People swapped the two currencies so interchangeably that one could pay for an item in one currency and get their change back in the other. However, that ratio has since tanked. The pound has sunk by about 80%, leaving more than 45% of Lebanese people in poverty, 33% unemployed, and most unable to access their savings. 

Lebanon’s first misstep was its dependency on foreign investors and offering them high rates of return, especially during a time when other countries cut rates in order to encourage economic recovery. These high rates were appealing to wealthy foreign investors and drew many of them in, but once the Lebanese government began relying on an increasingly bloated debt to pay off its bills, investors began to withdraw. The country also failed to implement policies or reforms that could have accommodated this change, such as finding ways to unlock international aid. The country tried to counter the withdrawals by offering even higher interest rates, but they could only be covered by increasingly large deposits. As such, the situation spiraled out of control in a manner likened to a Ponzi scheme. 

Ultimately, the value of a single unit of currency has been completely changed, affecting the daily lives of Lebanese residents. While the Lebanese pound has decreased in value, food costs have surged by around 190% since May 2019, leaving people hungry and desperate. Banks are only allowing limited money withdrawals or have stopped altogether as they struggle to manage the mountain of debt. The concern for many is that any money that banks are able to make is being used to pay back foreign investors rather than aiding people in Lebanon. The country now stands at a gross debt of $90 billion, a debt only topped by Japan and Greece. 

Moving Forward

The government is struggling to get the economy under control, or at the very least to slow the mounting pile of debt. At the end of April, the country released a statement saying that it would seek $10 billion of aid from the International Monetary Fund, but the country has been unsuccessful in its previous bids. Above all, the country must find a way to stimulate the economy, or else its people will continue to suffer.

Phoebe Jacoby

is a Media Studies major and Studio Art minor at Vassar College who believes in the importance of sharing stories with others. Phoebe likes to spend her free time reading, drawing, and writing letters. She hopes to continue developing her skills as a writer and create work that will have a positive outward effect.