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)

Eternal horizons

Eternal horizons

*** This programme contains graphic descriptions of body mutilation *** In the Nepalese Himalaya, one of the world’s rarest and most spiritually profound funeral rites is still practised: the Sky Buri...

16 Tammi 26min

Stories from the New Silk Road: The Bering Sea

Stories from the New Silk Road: The Bering Sea

In 1867, the US government bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. At the time, critics questioned the value of purchasing such an inhospitable and remote territory. Yet today, due to its ...

15 Tammi 26min

Putin's foreign fighters

Putin's foreign fighters

*** This programme contains very strong language *** Over the past year, BBC Eye has followed the journeys of young men from Syria, Egypt, and Yemen who travelled to Russia in search of work, only to ...

13 Tammi 29min

The Netherlands: 10 new cities?

The Netherlands: 10 new cities?

'Start by lighting a candle every morning.’ In other words, pray. That’s the advice on one social media platform to those looking for a rented property in the Netherlands. The pressure on housing is i...

12 Tammi 27min

Bianca Raffaella: A world of blurred vision

Bianca Raffaella: A world of blurred vision

Bianca Raffaella is a partially sighted painter based in Margate. Working entirely by touch and memory, her flower and figure paintings emerge from a world of blurred vision, visual static, and sensor...

12 Tammi 26min

Looking for No Man's Land

Looking for No Man's Land

Humans have spread to every corner of the globe, transforming ecosystems and reshaping landscapes. Is there anywhere left on Earth that is unaffected by humans? Anywhere we haven’t changed – at all? P...

11 Tammi 49min

Taraneh: Iran's defiant actress

Taraneh: Iran's defiant actress

A recent BBC Persian documentary, Taraneh, has recieved millions of views online. It features an Iranian actress who is considered an icon in the country and has been starring in films for nearly 30 y...

10 Tammi 26min

Life in Venezuela

Life in Venezuela

After the dramatic US military operation that saw Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife taken from the country and placed in a New York prison, what, if anything, has changed for Venezuelan...

10 Tammi 24min

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