Beirut Diary
Beirut Diary
Early December 2018
Here for an Energy Economics conference at the American University in Beirut
Drizzly season in Beirut, not cold, about 20 degrees C. Signs of the civil war (1975-1990) are still at nearly every turn, bullet holes in buildings, and older elegant buildings, abandoned. The older buildings were up to 6 stories and had balconies, colonnades, wooden shutters and orientations to capture breezes as it gets hot and humid here in the summer. Currently there is overbuilding of the new – concrete and glass towers -- and since the country is in a recession building has stopped and buildings are both vacant and not finished. And we heard people are stressed; they look tired.
Perhaps it’s the overcast weather, but the city seems sad. It is burdened by traffic, bumper to bumper, and the greatest skill seems beeping. Beeping is a whole art and language in Beirut, a real communication form – want a ride? Let me through, pay attention, move over, its my turn. There is no public transportation, there are private jitney mini buses, crammed full of commuters, but after the war there was no money, so no investment in public infrastructure. Instead, the car prevails and the infrastructure struggles to accommodate ever more traffic. Scooters are common, but not nearly as common as in places like Taipei, and I think I even saw an electric one. There are few bicycles, not culturally appropriate, not manly enough and not appropriate for women, so people are trapped in cars, expensive as they are, and fuel is not cheap. It feels suffocating, and it is. It takes forever to get across town, taxi fares are by zone. Trash collection is private and varies across the city, some neighborhoods are clean, others not. The president did, however, rebuild the historic souk with high end shops, very, very expensive, global brands, and housing was rebuilt there too, all for the elite, an elite that flies to Milan, Paris and other capitals on the weekends. We could be in Beverly Hills.
Military, private security and other police are ubiquitous with submachine guns, checkpoint boxes, barbed wire and barriers. The UN building, a pretty glass modern structure, is surrounded by blast walls, guard posts and barbed wire, a fortress. And while the city is crammed with cars, daily life seems slow. Men hanging around drinking coffees with their friends in stores, and cafes, smoking. There is a lot of smoking, men and women. Hookah cafes are popular, and there are both men and women smoking and drinking coffee. Some are tiny shops in informal buildings sporting big espresso machines, couches and water pipes scattered all over.
The country seems to have enormous agricultural wealth, produce abounds in the many small stores, from bananas to citrus, eggplant, olives, potatoes. It is all very fresh and grown in country. Restaurants serve mountains of food, and what is not eaten is thrown out. Apparently the food waste here is huge. And because of health reasons, its not given away or collected, except at Ramadan. Water is not potable though Lebanon has plenty of water, so plastic bottles are ubiquitous, everyone drinks bottled water, and every building has water tanks, to deal with interuptions.
The National Museum barely made it through the civil war. The renowned and brave director figured out how to save most of its collections from being bombed to smithereens, such as encasing the ancient sarcophagi in blocks of concrete, pilling tires and other obstructions in front of the exquisite tile works from the Roman empire. The museum itself was practically in ruins. The reconstruction effort was Herculean and the result is an elegant and welcoming building. The remaining collections, such as the glass work from the Phoenicians are stunning, absolutely incredible. (Where are the glass blowers today that have that artisanship???). Levels of artisanship and dexterity were very high in these ancient cultures. And what is perhaps most poignant in a way is the reference to the abundant wildlife – lions, birds, gazelles, snakes. Such a rich region.
The refined museum shop was stocking for the holidays, and as I was browsing there arose a tense argument switching around in Arabic, French and English, among the ladies who were working to put things on the shelves. A window into the pre- civil war Lebanon, an historic crossroads with a learned cosmopolitan culture. Lebanon was invaded by Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks, Romans, Christians (the nation was Christian), then the Arabs all occupied, destroyed and rebuilt in this fertile region. And then there were others, including the Ottomans (18 different cultures/invaders in all). The French had a stint here as well.
Despite the overall level of poverty, there remain many high quality book stores, with books in English, French and Arabic. People seem to follow literature, many of the most recent publications are available here from Europe, but there is also a marvelous number of books in English from Middle Eastern authors – Lebanese, Turkish, Iranian. Such temptation to just stock up and get introduced.
The Armenian neighborhood, specialized in jewelry, remains low key, and did not seem to have as much war damage as the central city. It has warren like streets with jutting balconies, clothes drying under the commonly seen shades that cover the outside of the balconies, shutting out sun, rain and light. Some are ragged and used, some newer, but overall things are worn. Walking by the apartment building entrances one can see water tanks in the entry halls and hear the running of pumps up the different stories. No doubt there are water trucks that come around and deliver water. And there are diesel generators everywhere, large ones, ensuring constant electricity supply. They roar behind walls and partitions as you walk by. This neighborhood was poor. Lots of stores that were well stocked with imported cheap clothes and plastic goods, some jewelry stores, produce and food stores were abundant. But not much activity. People sitting at their counters waiting for clients, smoking. Some watching TV, many just sitting, staring at the outside, or at nothing. It felt calm but listless, aimless, just living day to day, surviving.
I went to the Bekaa Valley to visit Baalbek, a Roman ruin with a magnificent temple to Bacchus and a giant one to Jupiter, the largest in the Mediterranean. And the Romans were not there long though they thought they would be there forever, like many conquerors. Driving through the lush agricultural valley and villages, there were quite a number of refugee camps. Lebanon accommodates nearly 2 million Syrian refugees and historic Palestinian refugees from 1948 who live now in established places, built up from original camps. It is clear the UN has refugee camps down, the tents-- here at least -- seem tidy and well put together, wrapped in plastic with coal/charcoal stoves and water tanks. Sanitation seemed marginal. Apparently the men work in agriculture and the women tend the tents and children. They wore headscarves, but not burqas. Young women often wore tight jeans, make up and headscarves over what appeared to be a bun, but since the look was so ubiquitous, I thought perhaps there is a device that makes the back of the head have the look of voluminous hair in a bun. . .
The villages we passed through on the bus were all relatively recent, and organized as road oriented strip services with downstairs stores including numbers of automobile repair shops, and upstairs dwelling units in varied states of completion. Lots of cars, lots of old Mercedes covered in mud, hauling people and goods around, some with inscriptions. The cart of the past. No horses to be seen! But there was a fair number of sheep and goats grazing in harvested fields and on the hills. At one point we were within 7 km of the Syrian border, the high mountains separating the two countries. The valley has many fruit orchards too, persimmon, pear, apricot, nut trees and olives. Really the valley is stunning.
But. There is trash everywhere, everywhere you look there is debris, plastic bottles, tarps, bags. Spread across the recently plowed fields, piled in corners, floating down stream, it is suffocating and enormously distressing. It would take many millions of dollars to collect and dispose of, maybe hundreds of millions, and it is polluting the countryside and waterways. There is no trash pickup it seems, unless you can afford it. Consequently, it is simply disposed on the land. Everywhere.
People are unhealthy, fat, car dependent, addicted to tobacco. There is little room in daily life for exercise, and food is an important escape. Sweets abound, breads and also vegetables, fruits, but mostly just a lot. People sit around, smoke, drink espressos and eat, all day long.
Certainly there are beautiful places in Lebanon, but the civil war and burden of refugees, political stalemate among the different parties, have left the country paralyzed and, at least, under the pounding rain, there is deep nostalgia and a feeling of hopeless resignation.
The conference I participated in was fascinating “Oil price dynamics and energy transitions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Economic implications and structure.al reforms” sponsored by the America University of Beirut, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and the UN Economic Commission of Western Asia. There was a great deal of discussion of CO2 capture and the need to advance that technology and suggestions that MENA countries should be investing in that R&D, as well as a call to produce oil without CO2, in order to have a long term life for oil. There seemed to be common agreement that oil demand might peak in 2040, that there was a need for diversification, but still skepticism among the speakers about the competitive viability of renewables, especially if batteries were factored in. One new innovation was hybrid solar/diesel power plants, instead of hybrid with natural gas, diesel generators can ramp up more quickly, I guess. MENA countries are encouraged to invest in refining plants as a new diversification strategy as well. The economic dependence of most MENA countries on oil was apparent, and some of the gulf countries have very little else, North African countries and Lebanon at least have a robust agricultural industry, but others do not have the climate, soil or water resources. How to transition away from oil when that is all there is, or at least it is perceived as such? And deep resistance to solar and wind was obvious. The economic structures are not in place, and the oil companies have not diversified into those industries and control the governments. Renewables, as one panelist commented, do not command high rent. Once installed, solar, wind are free and, well, renewable. There is the crux of the dilemma.
