On Sunday Aprol 5th 2020 a Syrian refugee named Basem Al Halaq who was in the Lebanese city of Taalbaya (47 km south of Beirut, the capital) set himself on fire in despair, as he had not a single dollar or a single lira to be able to buy food and pay for the rent. He miraculously survived and is now in a very serious condition, as his life continues to be in danger, not only by the burns suffered but by the dire medical attention received by Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which notwithstanding that, they have to pay.
Basem is a 52-year-old man, originally from Daraya (outskirts of Damascus), who has lived in Lebanon with his family these last years, after being forced to leave as a refugee when Bashar al-Assad reduced that city to ashes. The despair made him set on fire to let everyone know about the situation of his family and all the refugees.
We must bear in mind that, in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, Lebanon has declared the quarantine, so many refugees were dismissed from their work, and in the camps there are no longer charity organizations, the UN or the Red Cross or the Lebanese state.
The wage of refugees is less than half of the average wage, which is $ 600. In addition, refugees are often dismissed without cause or severance pay. At the moment they delay paying the rent (around 200 dollars), the owner usually turns them out, as happened with Basem. Medical care is not only paid, but every refugee risks to be executed if he were suspected of been infected by Coronavirus and presented its typical symptoms, as it happened in China.
Under these conditions, it is a daily constant fight to be able to survive in Lebanon, but not only for the Syrian refugees (who are estimated in more than one and a half million in that country), but also for the Lebanese, and the Palestinians who live there. The reason is that Lebanon is broken, plundered by the IMF and the payment of the foreign debt. That's why only 8 hours of daily electricity can be guaranteed, while the lira is continuously devalued at accelerated rhythms and inflation increases. The prices are dollarized. For example, a liter of milk costs $ 2, and the prevention kit to avoid the contagion of the Coronavirus is even more expensive: 2 dollars a facemask, 5 dollars a pair of gloves and the disinfectant a small fortune.
The Lebanese Government, including the Hezbollah billionaires in it, is still burdening the blunt of the brutal crisis on the masses and putting their armed guards to repress in Lebanon and massacre the Syrian masses.
Syrian and Palestinian refugees revolted in the camps 10 months ago. The Lebanese masses have made a great uprising since October last year, where they achieved the fall of the prime minister and left the government hanging from a thread. In order to have a decent life, with housing, work and health, it is necessary to follow that path. This revolution must succeed, in a single and same fight alongside the Iraqi masses that are kept in the streets (taking all due care against the coronavirus), the Syrian resistance and all the exploited of the Middle East!