Fresh Graduates: Lebanon’s New Poor

A couple, who said they are leaving Lebanon for good, push their luggage at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport March 28, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A couple, who said they are leaving Lebanon for good, push their luggage at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport March 28, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Fresh Graduates: Lebanon’s New Poor

A couple, who said they are leaving Lebanon for good, push their luggage at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport March 28, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A couple, who said they are leaving Lebanon for good, push their luggage at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport March 28, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Engineers, lawyers, school teachers and holders of university degrees, whose parents have paid a fortune for their education, are now facing unemployment.

Available unemployment figures are frightening, while the real numbers are much greater than the declared data.

The latest of these figures indicates that about 36 percent of workers in the private sector have lost their salaries, and it is expected that the number of unemployed will exceed 500,000 due to the worsening financial crisis, which has been further exacerbated by the lockdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Farouk, an activist in a charity group, says that the classification of the poor has changed, as they no longer only constitute the destitute class who cannot educate their children, but also degree holders, who were until recently considered from the middle class.

In a survey on living conditions issued by the General Directorate of the Central Statistics Department for the period between April 2018 and March 2019, the unemployment rate among young people with university degrees reached 37%. This rate is expected to rise this year, given that 32,000 students graduate from Lebanese universities annually.

Saiid, who refuses to disclose his real name spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on a more painful experience. He is married, the father of two children and holds a degree in business administration. He was working for a commercial establishment with a salary that allowed him to obtain a housing loan years ago. However, he was surprised by his dismissal three months ago.

“When I was informed of my lay-off, I felt like the earth was shaking under my feet. Were it not for my family’s support and my faith in God, I would have committed suicide,” he bitterly says. “I cannot plan for the future, nor do I know how I will continue to pay my house loan or the education fees of my children.”

Hisham, 28, who holds a graduate degree in biochemical sciences, writes on his Facebook page: “After obtaining a respectable diploma… you start planning for your future and you get a decent job within your major. Overnight, you wake up to find that everything has disappeared.”

Hisham was dismissed from his job six months ago. He says that the small company he worked for has closed. He is trying to find work abroad, but the circumstances thwarted his efforts, and today, as other young Lebanese, he is waiting for an opportunity to emigrate.



Marzouki’s Case Referred to Anti-Terrorism Unit, Former Tunisian President Faces 20 New Charges

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)
Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)
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Marzouki’s Case Referred to Anti-Terrorism Unit, Former Tunisian President Faces 20 New Charges

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)
Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced on Tuesday that he had been informed his case had been transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Unit. He now faces 20 charges, including inciting internal unrest and spreading false information.
Marzouki wrote on X that his brother, Mokhles, was summoned on Monday to the police station of El Kantaoui (governorate of Sousse) to sign a document stating that Moncef Marzouki’s case had been referred to the Anti-Terrorist Judicial Unit.
Marzouki wrote that he had already been convicted to four and eight years in prison in two separate cases.
He concluded his post with a famous quote borrowed from Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi, “Night will no doubt dissipate.”
Last February, a Tunisian court sentenced former president Moncef Marzouki to eight years in prison in absentia.
The charges against Marzouki, who lives in Paris, stemmed from remarks he made that authorities said violated laws and triggered incitement to overthrow the government.
Marzouki served as the first democratically elected president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014.
This is the second time Moncef Marzouki has been sentenced for comments made at demonstrations and on social media. In December 2021, he received a four-year sentence for undermining state security.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Defence Minister Khaled S'hili announced that Tunisia's national army had dismantled terrorist camps, neutralized 62 landmines, and seized various materials and equipment in 2024, as part of ongoing efforts in the fight against terrorism.
As of October 31, the Tunisian army had conducted 990 anti-terrorist operations in suspected areas, including large-scale operations in the country's mountainous regions. These operations involved over 19,500 military personnel, according to Defense Minister Khaled S'hili, speaking at a joint session of the two chambers of parliament.
He then confirmed that these operations led to the arrest of around 695 smugglers and the seizure of 375,000 drug pills.