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- For the first time in history, millions of people in one small country suddenly use two different time zones due to disagreements between Lebanese political and religious authorities.
- This has caused chaos and chaos in airports, businesses and people across Lebanon.
- “This is all a silly movie,” said one Lebanese economist.
Aerial view of the seaside Manara district near downtown Beirut.
Bill Wonder | Getty Images
No one knows what time it is in Lebanon.
On Sunday, the Mediterranean nation of about 6 million people, as well as much of the wider region and Europe, planned to turn their clocks back one hour for daylight saving time, as they do every year.
But this time there was a last minute objection.
The holy months of Ramadan, when most of Lebanon’s population practices and when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, fall in March and April of this year. Daylight saving time means that the sun sets around 7pm instead of 6pm, which means Muslim practitioners will have an extra hour to break their fast before eating and drinking again.
Days before the clocks were turned back, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri announced that daylight saving time would end on April 21, in a move widely seen as an act of support for Muslims observing Ramadan. decided to postpone. The country’s leaders are split between Sunni and Shia Muslims and Christians.
Lebanon’s largest Christian group, the powerful Maronite Church of Lebanon, objected, saying they had not been consulted and that such last-minute changes would cause chaos in the country and would be contrary to international standards. Stated.
result? For the first time in history, millions of people in one small country suddenly moved to two different time zones.
But the point is, people’s clocks didn’t change automatically. The government expects people to manually change their clocks. Since Lebanon does not have a unified authority to dictate the current time, Lebanese are confused and say everyone uses different time zones.
This has caused chaos and chaos in airports, businesses and people across Lebanon.
Even Apple and Google seem to disagree about Lebanese time. On iPhones and iPads, Apple has not changed the Lebanese time zone and adjusted for daylight saving time. But if you ask Google what time it is in Lebanon, it’s an hour behind.
This whole thing is a stupid, stupid movie… although the decision was ridiculous, the sectarian response was even more ridiculous (and more dangerous).
and horse mackerel
Lebanese economist
At Beirut International Airport, the departure flight schedule board shows the exact same flight at two different times. For example, flight A3 947 to Athens appears twice for him, showing departures on Sundays at 3:30pm and 4:30pm.
“I go to Beirut airport four hours before my flight so I don’t miss my flight because of this nonsense,” Peter Suleiman, manager of the start-up media company, told CNBC.
“Personally, I follow international time (daylight savings time),” Sleiman said. “We have no way to manage meetings and schedules in their time zone. [the prime minister] I wanted. ”
While memes making fun of the situation are erupting on social media, too much focus on the religious aspects of the decision could escalate sectarian tensions in a country that has long been home to many different religious groups. Some people are concerned that they are sexually active.
“A very sad and common meme right now is: ‘Hello, see you at 5pm’ ‘What time zone are you in? Which time zone is Christian or Muslim?'” explains Sleiman.
Some in Lebanon have suggested that Mikati’s move is a conspiracy to further divide the country and threaten the Christian population.
Lebanese writer and blogger Mustafa Hamuy said: “The issue of daylight saving time is not a trivial issue, but a symptom of a deep crisis of Christian political representation in Lebanon that deserves serious attention.” Tweeted.
“By ignoring or downplaying this issue, we risk further alienating and marginalizing the Christian community, which backfires on everyone,” he said. For Christians, it was a grave insult to watch Berri and Mikati decide on issues that affect everyone’s lives without even asking for their opinion.”
On the other hand, some refuse to frame the issue in terms of sectarianism.
“In my view, this is all a silly movie,” wrote Dan Azzi, a Lebanese economist and former CEO of Standard Chartered Bank’s Lebanese subsidiary.
“The decision was silly, but the sectarian response was even more silly (and more dangerous). It should have been to ask for support,” he wrote.
It remains to be seen if the Lebanese government will fix and unify its time zones, or if Lebanese people will continue to have to deal with soaring inflation, a collapsing currency, daily blackouts and a dysfunctional state. . Next month’s time zone.
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