A fight for light in Lebanon

A fight for light in Lebanon

Life in Lebanon is a daily battle to beat the power cuts caused by the country's chronic electricity shortage. If you live in a block of flats, you have to time when you go in and out to avoid getting trapped in the lift. Food goes bad because fridges don't work, families must often choose between air-conditioning and watching TV, and those on life-support machines live in constant fear of a switch-off. But if it's hell for citizens, it's heaven for operators of illegal private generators who profit by filling the gap left by the failures of the national grid. Some are former warlords who led militias in Lebanon's civil war. They're given an unofficial licence to operate, often in return for favours to the authorities in Lebanon's chaotic and often corrupt sectarian system.

Now a huge protest movement is demanding change in Lebanon - and a constant power supply is one of the demonstrators' main demands. They want to break the power of the "fuel mafia" that imports diesel for the generators and has close links to the country's leading politicians. For them, the fight for light is a fight against corruption. But can Lebanon's feeble state ever manage to turn all the lights on?

Reporter: Tim Whewell Producer: Anna Meisel

(Image: Protesters block the main entrance of the Lebanese electricity company headquarters in Beirut. Credit: European Photopress Agency)

Jaksot(2000)

Living in Greenland

Living in Greenland

Described by Donald Trump as “a giant piece of ice,” the world’s largest island has found itself at the centre of global attention. The president’s demands to take over the self-governing Danish terri...

24 Tammi 23min

Daughters of thunder

Daughters of thunder

In small towns and rural areas across the south of the United States traditional family churches have long been key guardians of black culture, memory and community spirit. Until very recently women c...

23 Tammi 26min

Bonus: Introducing: The History Bureau

Bonus: Introducing: The History Bureau

If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft turns out to be flawed? The History Bureau revisits the defining stories of our times with the reporters who first covered them....

21 Tammi 28min

Greece: Rescuers on trial

Greece: Rescuers on trial

In a case with profound implications for European migration policy, two dozen former volunteer humanitarian workers have been on trial on the Greek island of Lesbos. Seven years ago, they were arreste...

20 Tammi 28min

Black girlhood in photos and writing

Black girlhood in photos and writing

Black girls performing in a parade on the streets of Chicago and playing in the surf at Martha's Vineyard offer a glimpse of what it is like, growing up in the United States today. Sisters Salamishah ...

19 Tammi 26min

New elements

New elements

What does it take to make something which has never existed on Earth before? The search for element 120 on the periodic table has begun at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Cosm...

18 Tammi 26min

Kenyans lured to Russia's frontline

Kenyans lured to Russia's frontline

Kenyan authorities recently reported that 200 of their citizens are fighting for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Many of them have reported that they travelled to Russia after replying to job adverts fo...

17 Tammi 26min

Surviving an avalanche

Surviving an avalanche

In the past few days there have been a number of deaths on ski slopes in the Alps and, in recent months, hikers in Greece, climbers in Italy’s Dolomite mountains, and guides in the Himalayas have all ...

17 Tammi 23min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
i-dont-like-mondays
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
kolme-kaannekohtaa
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
aikalisa
kaksi-aitia
sita
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-nikotellen
loukussa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
lahko