The authorities explain that this postponement should allow people doing Ramadan to be able to break the fast earlier. But it faces opposition from some universities or the aviation sector. And to the misunderstanding of the population.
What time is it in Beirut? The Lebanese woke up on Sunday March 26 without knowing what time it is. Mariam, in her fifties, admits being a little lost: “I was talking to my husband and he told me ‘It’s half past 11. I told him, ‘No, it’s half past 10.’ says this resident of Beirut, still in uncertainty. In question: the government, which decided to delay the transition to summer time for a month, without any consultation. Officially, it is so that Muslims in the country who celebrate Ramadan can eat an hour earlier.
>>> The time change: “It started at the time of the 14th war, until 1945. Then in 2002, we decided to have the same time in the EU”, recalls Jean Viard
According to the Lebanese authorities, it is therefore the same time at the moment in Paris and Beirut. But no one in charge of IT tools was notified and the telephones and computers still changed their time automatically. And many refuse to comply: some universities have announced that they will not change the schedule of their courses. On the aviation side, the ticket sales sites all announce different schedules
“I don’t see what the point is”
A confusion of clocks in the midst of an economic crisis… The Lebanese, like Nadine, do not understand this decision: “Instead of doing something good for the country, we manipulate the clock so that people don’t think about the dollar anymore.”
Diverting attention to make up for the total absence of reform as Lebanon sinks into an endless crisis is also Mariam’s analysis: “I don’t see what it’s for, and how it’s going to help us economically. It doesn’t matter. Lebanon needs a lot of things and changing the time, I don’t think that’s the priority”denounces the young woman of 25 years.
Beirut airport website shows daylight saving time, but the time displayed at the airport is winter bravo @Najib_Mikati ! CC @mtvlebanon @LBCILebanon
— Nadim-Joseph Bayeh (@NadimBayeh) March 26, 2023
Even the website of the Lebanese news agency ANI, which depends on the Ministry of Information, does not seem to know what time it is. On its homepage, the government’s decision to postpone the time change is mentioned, but the clock on the website has automatically changed to daylight saving time.