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Anyone lived/worked in Lebanon?

A

AnnO'Neemus

Is so vanilla
I have a virtual interview next week for a role there.

I know you can't really extrapolate/stereotype really, but I've had several Lebanese colleagues at a job in a different country, and they were all super lovely, warm, friendly, and multilingual.

Any questions I should be asking about working there? Won't be in Beirut, more of a touristy area.

How long does it take to get a work visa for UK nationals? Anyone know from experience?
 
pbsmooth said:
pretty terrible human rights

www.amnesty.org

Human rights in Lebanon

Stay up to date on the state of human rights in Lebanon with the latest research, campaigns and education material from Amnesty International.
www.amnesty.org www.amnesty.org
Click to expand...
I mean...

"During the ongoing economic crisis, the Lebanese government failed to adequately protect people’s rights to health, social security and housing, which had particularly devastating impacts on marginalized groups. Impunity remained widespread, including for those responsible for the fatal 2020 Beirut port explosion. The authorities escalated the use of criminal defamation and insult laws to stifle freedom of expression and retaliate against critics, particularly targeting journalists, trade unionists and activists. Authorities systematically attacked the rights of LGBTI people. Some authorities stoked hostility towards refugees.

Background
The impacts of the economic crisis that erupted in 2019 deepened. The authorities’ failure to address the crisis left millions of people unable to access their rights, including to food, water, education and health. According to UNICEF, 86% of households were unable to afford essentials..."

I don't have rose tinted glasses about the state of the UK. You could say much the same for the UK government, it's a matter of scale.

The UK government has failed to protect people's right to health - during the pandemic, DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) was put in the medical records of many elderly and/or disabled people without their knowledge or consent or that of their families.

In terms of social security, we've had 15 years of austerity, which is ongoing, got the worst levels of child poverty in decades, record use of food banks - yet the incoming Labour government voted to maintain the two child cap on benefits, and recently announced cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment, which will result in the deaths of old people.
 
" Right to health
The government failed to alleviate the impacts of the economic crisis on people’s right to health. After it lifted subsidies on most medications in 2021 and 2022, prices rocketed. As a result, demand for free or low-cost medication provided by public primary healthcare centres increased drastically, while government funding of the centres decreased, denying people access to vital medication. Marginalized groups suffered disproportionately.

An Amnesty International investigation published in June found that a rapid rise in the number of deaths in custody between 2019 and 2022 was partly due to a lack of adequate healthcare.3 Prisons had too few medical staff and lacked basic medication, and the government failed to pay private and public hospitals to treat prisoners, sometimes leading hospitals to turn away prisoners even when emergency treatment was required..."

People in the UK are going without medication due to shortages... there have been widely reported shortages of HRT and ADHD medication, perhaps others.

And there are shortages of access to medical assessments and treatment. It takes around eight years for a woman to get a diagnosis of endometriosis. The waiting lists for ADHD and autism assessments in adults are about... I think it's about five years now.

Need counselling/therapy for depression/suicidal ideation/other severe mental health conditions ? Catch 22.

ETA: The UK's also got a problem with deaths in custody and lack of access to proper medical care and treatment and medication in prisons. Treatment of pregnant women historically appalling. Treatment of inmates who have substance abuse problems is appalling, often have no treatment at all. Treatment of prisoners with mental health issues is problematic, they often don't get any treatment or support. Suicides in prison is a problem. Etc etc etc.
 
The Israelis keep on shelling the South. I get regular reports of the shtuation from a colleague who is building a home for their retirement a couple of miles from the border.
 
tim said:
The Israelis keep on shelling the South. I get regular reports of the shtuation from a colleague who is building a home for their retirement a couple of miles from the border.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I did check the map before working up my CV and submitting my job application!

I'd be north east of Beirut so in the top half of the country, so not overly worried about being shelled.

And sorry to hear about your colleague's predicament, the uncertainty must be awful, with that threat hanging over them and threatening to derail their retirement plans.
 
Silas Loom said:
Are there any countries that don’t warn their citizens against travel to Lebanon? If the job is renting deckchairs or selling donkey rides you’ll have to hustle quite hard.
Click to expand...
Hahaha! Yeah, there's an FCO warning for the whole country, but the job will be near a ski resort in the north. I'm guessing lots of Lebanese and Middle Easterners will still be holidaying there.

I live in Manchester, which has been bombed badly by terrorists, twice, in my lifetime, so nowhere's completely safe... 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
In case it isn't already clear, I don't subscribe to the kind of Western cultural superiority where everywhere else is worse than the UK, like:

It's dangerous! (I've witnessed someone getting shot in the street outside my flat in Manchester.)

The healthcare system is lacking! (I've successfully sued the NHS for negligence and don't get me started on waiting lists and how hard it is to get a GP appointment nowadays.)

The locals are inferior to us Brits! (I mean, Brits can also be racist, homophobic, ableist, sexist shits too, y'know.)

There's lots of political corruption! (£Billions given to politician's mates for PPE that was faulty; politicians buddies/party donors given seats in the Lord's, etc)
 
maomao said:
Handy for WW3.
Click to expand...
Good point. Let me check those blast map overlays.

I did that when I moved to Qatar, wondering and working out how far away is Iran exactly and will I be in the blast zone if Dubya decides to bomb Iran?

Although he'd previously threatened to bomb the building in Qatar where I subsequently worked too, so I wasn't necessarily any safer in Qatar.

Or then again, I could get run over by a bus on my way to the local shop tomorrow. 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
AnnO'Neemus said:
Good point. Let me check those blast map overlays.

I did that when I moved to Qatar, wondering and working out how far away is Iran exactly and will I be in the blast zone if Dubya decides to bomb Iran?

Although he'd previously threatened to bomb the building in Qatar where I subsequently worked too, so I wasn't necessarily any safer in Qatar.

Or then again, I could get run over by a bus on my way to the local shop tomorrow. 🤷🏼‍♀️
Click to expand...

I've nearly been totalled by trams in Manchester more than once, place is positively dangerous.
 
AnnO'Neemus said:
I have a virtual interview next week for a role there.

I know you can't really extrapolate/stereotype really, but I've had several Lebanese colleagues at a job in a different country, and they were all super lovely, warm, friendly, and multilingual.

Any questions I should be asking about working there? Won't be in Beirut, more of a touristy area.

How long does it take to get a work visa for UK nationals? Anyone know from experience?
Click to expand...

In answer to your actual question, I think getting a visa isn't too hard for us. On the other hand it's very tough for Lebanese people to get visas for anywhere except I think three countries, Sudan might be one. It's a fucking mission, because of hezbollah. So you have all these highly educated, liberal young people cooped up there. It's quite sad.
 
Petcha said:
In answer to your actual question, I think getting a visa isn't too hard for us. On the other hand it's very tough for Lebanese people to get visas for anywhere except I think three countries, Sudan might be one. It's a fucking mission, because of hezbollah. So you have all these highly educated, liberal young people cooped up there. It's quite sad.
Click to expand...
I did have quite a few Lebanese colleagues in Qatar, and yeah, highly educated, liberal, incredibly talented, multilingual - usually at least trilingual, spoke Arabic, English and French.
 
Petcha said:
Beirut is an amazing city. Some of the best drugs I've ever done, very liberal. Was quite surprised.

I did get a fatwa issued against me from the guys across the road for a misunderstanding about noise levels and general things being lost in translation but that's par for the course. I'd still go back.
Click to expand...
You haven’t really lived until your coming down off ketamine whilst trying to navigate your way out of Fatwa on a busy Beirut street.
 
BigMoaner said:
You haven’t really lived until your coming down off ketamine whilst trying to navigate your way out of Fatwa on a busy Beirut street.
Click to expand...
Hahaha! Don't think anything like that's on my agenda. I've always been too scared to take ket, after hearing how it wrecks people's bladders. I've already got a weak bladder. :oops: Although having also read stuff about ket (and MDMA) as experimental treatment for depression, I'm curious about that side of things.
 
AnnO'Neemus said:
In case it isn't already clear, I don't subscribe to the kind of Western cultural superiority where everywhere else is worse than the UK, like:

It's dangerous! (I've witnessed someone getting shot in the street outside my flat in Manchester.)

The healthcare system is lacking! (I've successfully sued the NHS for negligence and don't get me started on waiting lists and how hard it is to get a GP appointment nowadays.)

The locals are inferior to us Brits! (I mean, Brits can also be racist, homophobic, ableist, sexist shits too, y'know.)

There's lots of political corruption! (£Billions given to politician's mates for PPE that was faulty; politicians buddies/party donors given seats in the Lord's, etc)
Click to expand...
This is a most excellent post and on the basis of that alone, I wish you the best of luck in a new an exciting chapter in your life.
 
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