A walk along Armenia street

If one travels to Beirut and goes out at night it is very likely you will end up in Armenia street, in the heart of Mar Mikhael neighbourhood. Before the Port explosion, this area was known for hosting international university students and having a vibrant nightlife. Walking down Armenia street now, from its famous staircase through the hustle of busy street vendors and fancy cars at midnight, paints the picture of the everyday challenges that the Lebanese face.

Along this walk, every now and then you can see a glimpse of the sea, a mesmerising sight if it were not for the burning silos that now peak through; an ever present reminder of the utter devastation that hit the city in August 2020. Mar Mikhael was one of the neighbourhoods worst hit by an explosion that left more than 200 dead, 6,000 injured, and 300,000 people homeless. The explosion also caused extensive damage to infrastructure totaling around 400 million dollars in losses. Three years later, the devastation of the blow is still visible in the ruined buildings whose remains are still untouched; immediately beside them stand freshly painted buildings. The contrast of the Lebanese inequality is stark. After the explosion, thousands of Lebanese people went out to the street to demand compensation from the government, an investigation, accountability, justice. None of that has arrived. Those who had the means to rebuild their buildings did so, those who didn’t are still sharing home with the family members that offered them help three years ago.

The 2020 port explosion was the last drop in an already overflowing glass of economic crisis, social inequality and political deadlock. In 2019, a dire economic crisis hit the country causing the Lebanese state to default and leading its currency to start losing value. Before 2019, the Lebanese lira exchanged at 1,507 to the dollar, now, while officially pegged to the dollar at 15,000LBP its street value is of around 100,000 LBP to the dollar, meaning it has lost 97% of its value since the start of 2019. Last August, barely a year ago, the exchange rate was 30,000 lira to the dollar. It was worth more than 3 times more than it is today, showing the astonishing level of hyperinflation that is affecting Lebanon. The government’s response has been a turn to dollarization. This has especially been taken aboard by restaurants and large stores, where now payment is only possible in dollars. The government is now extending this policy to grocery stores and other small retailers, which will inevitably push more people into poverty.

Electricity and inequality

Few people in Lebanon have enough access to dollars to pay for food and essentials. Government employees, like school and university teachers, continue to get paid in lira, meaning their salaries don’t even cover their petrol costs to travel to the workplace. This has led public school teachers to strike earlier this year, leaving a million children out of school and exacerbating the education crisis that affects the country. Precarious salaries, lack of resources, political deadlock which leads to inconsistent education policies and rampant corruption in the public sector mean public schools are not able to provide quality education. With private and foreign schools as the only other alternative, inequality in Lebanon begins with children’s early school years.

Inequality seeps through everyday life. When having a drink at places like the rooftops and open bars in Armenia street it is not unusual to be sitting by a Lamborghini parked on the street. Street vendors walk up and down the street selling roses and snacks for a few hundred lira. The beams of coloured lights and the huge sound systems of outdoor clubs stand out amidst the darkness of the hills in Beirut. The unequal access to electricity literally shines through the night.

The current electricity crisis is the result of decades of mismanagement and unsustainable policies that have failed to rebuild the electricity infrastructure after the end of the civil war, leaving Electricité du Liban (EDL) – the public national supplier of electricity – unable to generate sufficient electricity to meet demand. Between 2008 and 2018, EDL went from providing around 78 percent of Lebanon’s electricity needs to around 55 to 64 percent. Blackouts have been usual in Beirut for years, but since the summer of 2021 they became extensive and a widespread crisis. At this time, the Lebanese state failed to secure the foreign currency necessary to purchase fuel. Since then, EDL has struggled to provide more than 1 to 3 hours of electricity per day. The Lebanese government has sought to sustain some hours of supply through imports of oil. For instance, it recently renewed an agreement with the Iraq government, which was first signed in July 2021, to receive crude oil to sell for revenue used to buy the fuel that supplies electric power plants. the agreement includes delayed payment and  the supply of services like healthcare to Iraq.

The alternative is fuel generators, a very lucrative business to which many within the political elite are connected, suggesting there might be strong economic incentives for some to continue the electricity crisis. In an effort to reduce dependancy on the state or the mafia-like generator industry, many Lebanese households have started installing solar panels on the rooftops of buildings. While they are certainly not accessible to everyone, the fact that they can be installed as a building-wide community investment has allowed more people to extend the amount of electricity hours in their homes. Given the amount of sunlight that the Mediterranean country gets, solar energy might be able to generate enough power to allow many to be self-sufficient and relieve demand stress from the national supply.

A glimpse of hope in the sea

The recent maritime border treaty with Israel might alleviate Lebanon’s problems. Amin Salam, Lebanon’s minister of economy, described this deal to al Jazeera as a blessing from the sky and expressed his hope that the exploration research might bring solutions to the electricity crisis. Indeed, if natural gas is found within the Lebanese maritime territory this can be used domestically to alleviate the electricity crisis. The discovery of hydrocarbon could also allow for it to be exported bringing in foreign currency and potentially also contributing towards the end of the financial crisis.

However, it is important to remember that as part of this treaty Lebanon agreed to allow Israel a share of royalties through a side agreement with the French company TotalEnergies for a section of the gas field that sits on the maritime border. Therefore, the treaty consolidates colonial links with France, furthering Lebanon’s dependency on foreign actors and the potential for international interference in its domestic affairs, a matter that accounts partly for the Lebanese political deadlock.

While there might be glimpses of hope in the future, if Lebanon manages to sustain its power supply, the country’s population is unlikely to keep enduring much more of the current living conditions. The political consciousness that fuelled the 2019 protests is very much alive in the protests that have been taking place throughout the crisis. From individuals storming banks demanding to withdraw their deposits to public worker strikes and youth protests, civil society is very much alive in Lebanon. The Lebanese often say that their politicians are asleep. While they cannot buy bread, petrol, turn the light on at night, buy meat, go on road trips to the beach or renew their passports, the politicians carelessly sleep.