Veneer of normality descends on West Beirut
After two weeks of continuous bombing Beirut has found a new rhythm to daily life. If you had arrived in Beirut sometime in the last week you could be excused for thinking that nothing has changed, but it has.
On Monday almost all of the shops in Hamra, the main shopping area in west Beirut had reopened. But earlier than usual, and their closing times were moved forward correspondingly, so their owners and employees can make their way home to the mountains from where many of them commute to work each day before the sun sets. The Israelis have been bombing more often at night than during the day and though the roads are emptier than usual if it turns out an important road is suddenly closed the drive home could take much longer than expected.
Many of the bars are still shut but those that have remained open are starting to fill up again. If it weren't for the sounds of explosions reverberating through the city from Dahieh, only a few kilometres to the south, and the plethora of cars marked as either press or UN vehicles in the street, it would be difficult to know there was a war on. A friend of mine with a particularly black sense of humour could not help but laugh at the way the inhabitants of our local bar flinched at the sound of the door slamming.
It would be a travesty to say that Beirut's nightlife is at the spectacular heights it was reaching as summer kicked into gear and the world cup filled bars with people waving other countries flags. A might higher proportion of the people you will find out past sunset are journalists and other foreign nationals who do not have he option taken by most Lebanese people in this time of crisis – a return to the homestead. The brothels all throughout Hamra are closed as their clients decide, for a change, to stay at home with their wives and children.
Lebanon, while taken by surprise, was quite well prepared for a situation like this. Scores of NGO's, steeped with experience and with their networks of volunteers still in place from Lebanon's bloodstained history jumped into action to prevent the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people from becoming homeless or going hungry. Many of those who's work has not resumed have replaced it with the daily routine of making sandwiches, driving supplies from one place to another, or a host of other tasks necessary to keep these non-profit organisations going.
A group of young volunteers have even taken it upon themselves to start cleaning the streets of Hamra as the mostly foreign sanitary workers have evaporated. Sukleen, the company contracted for Beirut's garbage collection insisted on paying them, so they have decided to collect what they earn and donate it to one of the many charities caring for those displaced.
In a clever move the Lebanese government banned ATMs from dispensing American dollars, which they used to do along with Lebanese lira. This combined with a Saudi aid package of 1.5 billion dollars, a billion of which was deposited directly into the central bank has helped to stabilize the currency, which while it is devaluing is not doing so at the rate some feared it might.
While prices for most goods have remained fairly stable, imported foodstuffs, particularly dairy products have increased in price since the Israelis bombed Lebanon's main milk factory (presumably in the hope of preventing terrorist milk reaching terrorist coco-pops).
Only long life and powdered milk are now available. Other food products, such as bread, are not increasing in price but are sometimes absent from the shelves. Pharmacies and their agents still have stockpiles of medicines, but many sufferers of chronic illnesses have been buying in bulk in case that changes.
Some are either fatalistic or deliberately oblivious. Watching the news and collecting images of children burnt to death and ripped apart from the internet, having convinced themselves of the worst so as not to be disappointed. Others refusing to admit that anything is going on and insisting that it will all be over soon, such as a young man by the name of Alan Habeeb who passes his days going for drives because the roads are so empty he can really test his high speed skills. Most however, have decided to make as few concessions to the conflict as possible and maintain some semblance of normality in their lives. There are, after all still bills to pay and things that simply must be done.
p.s. Finally figuired out how to link to other blogs... check out my friend Seans post
.
and a good one about gaza
.
On Monday almost all of the shops in Hamra, the main shopping area in west Beirut had reopened. But earlier than usual, and their closing times were moved forward correspondingly, so their owners and employees can make their way home to the mountains from where many of them commute to work each day before the sun sets. The Israelis have been bombing more often at night than during the day and though the roads are emptier than usual if it turns out an important road is suddenly closed the drive home could take much longer than expected.
Many of the bars are still shut but those that have remained open are starting to fill up again. If it weren't for the sounds of explosions reverberating through the city from Dahieh, only a few kilometres to the south, and the plethora of cars marked as either press or UN vehicles in the street, it would be difficult to know there was a war on. A friend of mine with a particularly black sense of humour could not help but laugh at the way the inhabitants of our local bar flinched at the sound of the door slamming.
It would be a travesty to say that Beirut's nightlife is at the spectacular heights it was reaching as summer kicked into gear and the world cup filled bars with people waving other countries flags. A might higher proportion of the people you will find out past sunset are journalists and other foreign nationals who do not have he option taken by most Lebanese people in this time of crisis – a return to the homestead. The brothels all throughout Hamra are closed as their clients decide, for a change, to stay at home with their wives and children.
Lebanon, while taken by surprise, was quite well prepared for a situation like this. Scores of NGO's, steeped with experience and with their networks of volunteers still in place from Lebanon's bloodstained history jumped into action to prevent the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people from becoming homeless or going hungry. Many of those who's work has not resumed have replaced it with the daily routine of making sandwiches, driving supplies from one place to another, or a host of other tasks necessary to keep these non-profit organisations going.
A group of young volunteers have even taken it upon themselves to start cleaning the streets of Hamra as the mostly foreign sanitary workers have evaporated. Sukleen, the company contracted for Beirut's garbage collection insisted on paying them, so they have decided to collect what they earn and donate it to one of the many charities caring for those displaced.
In a clever move the Lebanese government banned ATMs from dispensing American dollars, which they used to do along with Lebanese lira. This combined with a Saudi aid package of 1.5 billion dollars, a billion of which was deposited directly into the central bank has helped to stabilize the currency, which while it is devaluing is not doing so at the rate some feared it might.
While prices for most goods have remained fairly stable, imported foodstuffs, particularly dairy products have increased in price since the Israelis bombed Lebanon's main milk factory (presumably in the hope of preventing terrorist milk reaching terrorist coco-pops).
Only long life and powdered milk are now available. Other food products, such as bread, are not increasing in price but are sometimes absent from the shelves. Pharmacies and their agents still have stockpiles of medicines, but many sufferers of chronic illnesses have been buying in bulk in case that changes.
Some are either fatalistic or deliberately oblivious. Watching the news and collecting images of children burnt to death and ripped apart from the internet, having convinced themselves of the worst so as not to be disappointed. Others refusing to admit that anything is going on and insisting that it will all be over soon, such as a young man by the name of Alan Habeeb who passes his days going for drives because the roads are so empty he can really test his high speed skills. Most however, have decided to make as few concessions to the conflict as possible and maintain some semblance of normality in their lives. There are, after all still bills to pay and things that simply must be done.
p.s. Finally figuired out how to link to other blogs... check out my friend Seans post
.
and a good one about gaza
.
posted by Austin Gerassimos Mackell at 4:23 PM
1 Comments:
wow Austin, seen you 3 times at most in my life, but i feel that you know about my life more than I do. too much consumption of local products perhaps?
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