The Lebanese Middle Class: Gone and Out

Many countries have marked their stability by the size of their middle class. American democracy and power was spurred by growth in the middle class. Even in Communist China the new burgeoning middle class of 200 million wants more stability and rule of law. To quote Ayn Rand, "upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future." However, in Lebanon a middle class is almost nonexistent. Beirut is a have or have not world; if Rand was correct, the Lebanese are definitely retrogressing.

Lebanese people are like peacocks, they love to display their tail feathers. Only, in Lebanon they usually cannot afford the plumage they have bought.Everyday I see at least 3 high end Mercedes or BMWs, and that's just in Hamra. While I've been in Lebanon, I've seen everything from Hummer H2s, $90,000 BMWs and Maybachs, to Armani shirts, designer jeans, and $400 Gucci sunglasses. Regardless of the fact that 28% of the population lives below the poverty line (remember Lebanon has a population of almost 4 million).

I asked one of my Lebanese friends why so many Lebanese find it necessary to get cars and clothing they can't afford, the answer, "to get girls." Attracting the opposite sex aside, there is an underlying cultural current that makes Lebanese go and get extravagant things and live far beyond their means. Because the culture is one of "haves and have nots", all in this country, even the poorest Shi'ite from Dahiyia finds the need to live beyond his means.

Before the Lebanese War (1976-1990) Downtown Beirut was a place for the middle class. Neighborhoods thrived, and so did small shops. Following the war and Rafik Hariri's Solidere project the new downtown is one of high end boutiques, million dollar apartments, and one devoid of Lebanese. Who has moved into downtown? Arabs from the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait. All of the Gulf's oil oligarchs (I call them oilgarchs) who need a place to pass through, own property and cruise around in their BMWs in the downtown. Beirut has passed from being "Paris of the Middle East" to "Grand Central Station of the Levant." The oilgarchs use Beirut as a little resting stop before they head to Geneve, or go back to their own countries.

I wondered where the money came from for Lebanese to buy all of these luxury goods, some have bank loans up to their ears, others turn to a different source of cash: expatriates (in Africa, South America, Europe, and the US) or the Lebanese "mafia". I use the term mafia to describe thugs in Lebanon that peddle drugs and knock people off. expatriates returning to Lebanon aren't the doctors, lawyers, or the educated middle class, they are the super rich who want a house in their ancestral village. The others who return are the thugs who see Lebanon as a new place to peddle his goods.

Recalling history, the first people to leave the British Mandate of Palestine in 1947-1948 were the Arab middle class followed by the extremely wealthy. Without the leadership of an intellectual community that wanted and needed stability, the remaining Arabs in the Mandate were put at an extreme disadvantage, and eventual failure. Here in Lebanon the only two groups of (Lebanese) people left are the zuama (sectarian feudal lords) and the poor hard working Lebanese. Everyone wants to be a zuama, only in this place that is impossible. The next best thing is to try to put on a facade. Just remember, no matter how beautiful a facade is, if its covering something that is disintegrating, it too will eventually be destroyed.

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Downtown Silence & The Hariri Effect

A skinny black and white cat ran by, the only souls within a 100 yard radius were a security guard, a Lebanese Army soldier, and a group of about three gussied up girls waiting to enter White, a club on top of the An Nahar building. Beirut is officially dead. Its only Thursday, but there should have been hundreds of people lining the walkways of downtown.

I had originally gone to downtown to see a friend and look around the Virgin Mega Store. After my friend left I was about to take yet another poorly maintained 1980s Mercedes taxi back to LAU. It was getting dark, and I was tired. Nonetheless, my more adventurous side got the best of me, so I decided to wonder around the downtown, talk to people where I could, and just see the city at night.

I headed towards the famous statue to the Martyrs in Martyr's Square, no one was there, earlier I spotted a French tourist snapping pictures of the bullet holes in the statue, but that was it. I was the only one to go into the Rafik Hariri memorial, I was told by another friend that the memorial got a shipment of new flowers every single day. I had originally ruled this out as impossible, to replace sets of flowers like the ones in the Hariri memorial, it would take hours of labor and thousands of dollars a day. That was until I saw 7 flower arrangers putting together wreaths and other decorations made completely of red and/or white flowers.

The memorial was made to commemorate the assassinated former Prime Minister of Lebanon, but I noticed something a bit more interesting in the photos that lined the tombs and walls inside. The memorial really highlighted what a zaim is. Zaim (or plural Zuama) is Lebanese for a leader, but it has a broader and more political meaning, referring to feudalistic sectarian leaders. Hariri could easily be characterized as one of those leaders. His sectarian group were Sunni Muslims. The mountains of cash he made from lucrative construction deals and his party, The Future Movement were all his brainchildren. In some respects he was the modern equivalent of a Japanese Shogun.

The pictures looked a bit like something out of Socialist Realism. One picture or painting would show Hariri praying or meeting with a dignitary, another would show him as the builder of the great mosque that is downtown. One must also remember the memorial isn't supposed to just be about Hariri, it also had an area where his guards are entombed. In the US many leaders (if they were killed in such a horrific manner) who characterize themselves as populists would be buried right next to their slain guards, not in Lebanon, egalitarianism is not a concern. Hariri, in true zuama fashion is buried out in front with a huge tomb, his guards are entombed behind him. All of the guards have their pictures next to their graves, but in each of those photos there is a superimposed Hariri in a semi-heroic stance behind them.

Construction in the downtown is booming, all thanks to Hariri. As part of the rebuilding effort Hariri launched his Solidere company, a plan to largely reshape downtown Beirut, bring in high end shops, and clear away many of the shell ravaged buildings. I always imagined Beirut as an interesting dichotomy of Orthodox/Byzantine style Christian buildings and a number of Ottoman style mosques. The real Beirut is a mix of cranes, in some cases poorly built high rises, an odd war scared building or two, all obscuring historical Beirut. Roman ruins are dug up and left out, during the March 14th protests my friend told me that some people urinated into a Roman ruin opposite the Martyrs' Statue because there weren't enough (correction: any) bathrooms.

I walked to the famous clock tower, I counted about 25 people (not including the countless private security and Lebanese Army soldiers) and 6 cats in the whole area. Cafes were empty, many stores were closed. The smell of shisha (Arab water pipe) was in the air, and ice cream was slowly melting in the Haagan Das near the clock tower. Soldiers would gawk at me, I was probably the only American within 5 miles. I continued to walk through downtown towards the Phonecia Hotel, location of Hariri's assassination. I walked more, passing an Ottoman era mosque, 3 people were inside praying.

I could see the shell ravaged Holiday Inn Hotel. The hotel used to be one of the highest and most strategicly placed buildings in Beirut. It achieved a legendary status amoungst many Christians after a Phalangist militia man threw himself off the top floor of the building, so he wouldn't be captured by Palestinian gunmen. After passing the hotel and buying myself a diet coke I flagged down a cab, and was back at LAU.

My movie of Beirut as seen from Martyrs' Square:



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* I will try to post, but will be out in Northern Lebanon in Batroun, Bcharre, and Duma until Sunday, the 8th of July