Power Crisis, Rising Prices Deprive Lebanese of Suhoor Ambiance

Men fill a private generator, which provides electricity with diesel oil in Beirut, Lebanon January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Men fill a private generator, which provides electricity with diesel oil in Beirut, Lebanon January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Power Crisis, Rising Prices Deprive Lebanese of Suhoor Ambiance

Men fill a private generator, which provides electricity with diesel oil in Beirut, Lebanon January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Men fill a private generator, which provides electricity with diesel oil in Beirut, Lebanon January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Ramadan is known for its special Suhoor time, during which friends and family gather for fun. It’s also an unmissable time for prayer and rest after a long day for many fasters. But today, with the absence of electricity in Lebanon, Suhoor ambiance and preparations are not the same, as private generators owners cut the power off before midnight, forcing many Lebanese to return home early.

Abu Nabil, a man we met in a supermarket in the Lebanese capital, says he uses candles during Suhoor. “I buy a 500-gram pack of candles for 40,000 LBP (1$=25,000 LBP). Our days and traditions have significantly changed. It’s sad and nobody hears us or tries to understand our struggle,” he adds.

The prices of most ingredients including cheese, grains, and flour have skyrocketed, so the families that can enjoy a decent Suhoor are now far fewer.

These products are Suhoor table essentials, as they are healthy and can be used in making pastries and plates fasters need.

In a quick tour of restaurants and cafes in Lebanon, you would notice they’re fully booked at Iftar time, but empty during Suhoor due to the electricity crisis controlled by private generator owners in the capital’s neighborhoods.

“Streets of Beirut are empty as of 10:30 pm. People return home before the generators go off, and the state-run power grid rarely provides us with one or two hours of power during Suhoor time. We have decided to close early, because visitors who come after 10:00 are few,” Ismail, who works in a restaurant in the Sodeko region, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The power crisis in Lebanon has heavily affected the holy month, causing people to skip many traditions and compromise much of their daily lifestyle.

Jana, a mother of three who lives in the Beirut Mazraa area, states that the power crisis prevented her from freezing food like she used to do. “In the past, we used to find whatever we wanted to cook for Iftar and Suhoor in our freezers. Today, however, our freezers have turned into empty cupboards that we rarely open. The lack of power and the increase of meat and vegetable prices have turned our refrigerators into an obsolete accessory,” she explains.

“The generators’ owners are manipulating our life. I struggle to deliver many orders everyday because the power hours differ from one region to another,” Mohammed, a delivery driver, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“When I finish my work, I take a hookah break and a light Suhoor with my friends, then I prepare myself to climb the stairs to my house on the sixth floor because the generator owner in Mar Elias, where I live, turns it off at 10:00 pm,” he adds.

Suhoor plates include cooked beans, chickpeas, pastries like cheese rolls and vegetable pies.

Samira Hammoud, who works as a salesperson, says she’s unable to prepare beans with some chickpeas for Suhoor like she used to do because she cannot afford to buy vegetables, grains, and cheese anymore. “It’s a main course on the Suhoor table. To enjoy it, it should be served with veggies like parsley, radish, spring onion, and tomatoes,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“But today, I eat it without veggies. I can barely eat a cucumber; one kilogram of cucumber costs 40,000 LBP. I totally forgot the cheese rolls, the frozen packs of those are unattainable,” she added.

In some Beirut neighborhoods, some coffeeshop owners insist on opening their doors for Suhoor, serving thyme, cheese, and Kishik manakish, and meat pies alongside some juices and Ramadan desserts like Kallaj and cheese kunefe.

Samer, who works in a coffee shop, says most of their customers come after Iftar and right before Suhoor to enjoy a cup of tea with a ‘kaake’ or a thyme mankoushe because that’s what they can afford.

“The Lebanese used to celebrate Suhoor, enjoying a hookah and chit chatting around a table full of local popular plates including meat, cheese, and veggies. However, today, we miss this scene due to the power crisis and the skyrocketing prices,” he added.



Australia Moves to Ban Children Under 16 from Social Media

Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
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Australia Moves to Ban Children Under 16 from Social Media

Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File

Australia's prime minister on Thursday vowed to ban children under 16 from social media, saying the pervasive influence of platforms like Facebook and TikTok was "doing real harm to our kids".
The tech giants would be held responsible for enforcing the age limit and face hefty fines if regulators notice young users slipping through the cracks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Australia is among the vanguard of nations trying to clean up social media, and the proposed age limit would be among the world's strictest measures aimed at children, AFP said.
"This one is for the mums and dads. Social media is doing real harm to kids and I'm calling time on it," Albanese told reporters outside parliament.
The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament in late November.
Once passed, the tech platforms would be given a one-year grace period to figure out how to implement and enforce the ban.
"The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access," Albanese said, explaining what he dubbed a "world-leading" reform.
"The onus won't be on parents or young people."
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it would "respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce".
But Antigone Davis, Meta's head of safety, said Australia should think carefully about how these restrictions were implemented.
She said poorly drafted laws "risk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place".
Snapchat pointed to a statement from industry body DIGI, which warned that a ban could stop teenagers from accessing "mental health support".
"Swimming has risks, but we don't ban young people from the beach, we teach them to swim between the flags," a DIGI spokeswoman said.
TikTok said it had nothing to add at this stage.
'Falling short'
Once celebrated as a means of staying connected and informed, social media platforms have been tarnished by cyberbullying, the spread of illegal content, and election-meddling claims.
"I get things popping up on my system that I don't want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old," Albanese said.
"Young women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact."
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said social media companies were repeatedly "falling short" in their obligations.
"Social media companies have been put on notice. They need to ensure their practices are made safer," she told reporters at a press briefing alongside Albanese.
Rowland said companies like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Elon Musk's X would face financial penalties if they flouted the laws.
While Rowland did not detail how big these would be, she suggested fines of US$600,000 (Aus $1 million) were well below the mark for companies boasting yearly revenues in the tens of billions of dollars.
Analysts have expressed doubt it would be technically feasible to enforce a strict age ban.
"We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy," University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year.
A series of exemptions would be hashed out for platforms such as YouTube that teenagers may need to use for school work or other reasons.
Australia has in recent years ramped up efforts to regulate the tech giants, with mixed success.
A "combating misinformation" bill was introduced earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to fine tech companies for breaching online safety obligations.
It has also moved to outlaw the sharing of so-called "deepfake" pornography without consent.
But attempts to regulate content on Musk's X -- previously known as Twitter -- have become bogged down in a long-running courtroom battle.
The tech mogul likened the Australian government to "fascists" earlier this year after they announced they would crack down on fake news.
Several other countries have been tightening children's access to social media platforms.
Spain passed a law in June banning social media access to under-16s.
But in both cases the age verification method has yet to be determined.
France passed laws in 2023 that require social media platforms to verify users' ages -- and obtain parental consent if they are younger than 15.
China has restricted access for minors since 2021, with under-14s not allowed to spend more than 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Online gaming time for children is also limited in China.