Beirut, the poor Easter of the Lebanese, overwhelmed by a severe economic crisis and increasingly lacerating inequalities

BEIRUT (AsiaNews) – In a Lebanon that “hides its poverty”, inequalities increase. In these days of Easter, privations are even cruelly felt in some fringes of the population, deprived of every good. “Easter is sharing”, reaffirms Elie Sfeir, curate of the Maronite parish of the Resurrection, which is located in a relatively well-off region of the country and the help of about 100 euros that the parish allocates every month ends up making a difference for about thirty needy families. “It is comforting that our churches are full – says Elie Sfeir – the crisis has awakened the consciences of many. However, shops and businesses are empty. In the clothing sector, clearance sales are multiplying”.

Only the super rich and the very poor remain. The priest relates a very significant episode: “The cashier of a shop that is part of an international chain told me that he had to intervene harshly to bring order to the crowd on the eve of the Palm Feast. In my opinion – he added – these buyers who are scrambling to buy goods below cost are part of expatriate families in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. About 130 families from my parish have left the country in the last two years, most of them heading to the Gulf. In any case concluded Elie Sfeir – in Lebanon there are no more rich people. The money of those with large financial resources is blocked in banks. At the moment there are only the nouveau riche, paid in cash dollars and the new poor, those who continue to receive their salaries in Lebanese pounds, which are the vast majority”.

The testimony of a professional. “The Lebanese – says Roland, a multilingual interpreter in his fifties – generally tries to hide his poverty. Many Lebanese are behind on rents, this is one of the first signs of poverty. But the wealthy in this region live in a bubble. We have all reduced our lifestyle, chocolate, for example, has disappeared from our porcelain wedding favors, along with other simple things that have become too expensive, such as colored eggs, invitations with friends, outings and the traditional maamouls (cakes filled with almonds) that have always distinguished the party”. Mireille and Khawla, two sisters in charge of an NGO that distributes medicine and food to the poorest called “Towards the traditional Orient”, confirm the sudden impoverishment of a middle class that saw its savings blocked by banks in 2019 and its income melting like snow in the sun in this last phase.

* Fady Noun – Asianews