After months of searching and saving a sum of dollars over two years, Rana finally found the suitable car she had been looking for at a used car dealership. However, she was unable to register it in her name due to a strike at the car registration office amid a general and open strike in public institutions and administrations executed by public sector employees. Eli Qazzi, head of the Used Car Importers Syndicate in Lebanon, confirmed that "the sector can no longer endure; it is receiving blow after blow. We were waiting for the summer season and the arrival of expatriates who stimulate activity in this sector by buying new cars for their families. The public sector strike hit us hard and halted our work completely." He pointed out in a conversation with MTV that "we are heading towards worse conditions in the coming months, especially since those who govern us are a group of 'thugs,' thieves, and indifferent to the fate of the people."
Qazzi revealed that there is "a trend of migration in this sector; importers are migrating to Gulf countries and even to Europe and the United States to import and sell cars there. This has a significant impact on all businesses working in the car sector in Lebanon, which have also been greatly affected by the crisis and the ongoing strike." He remarked that "we no longer import and sell either 'wholesale' or 'retail.' Additionally, the strike at the Port of Beirut has caused us substantial losses, and shipping companies do not show us mercy, accumulating bills in dollars against us. The customs dollar that will be imposed will increase the burden and will act as a form of execution not only for us but also for the public sector, as happened when the salary scale was approved."
Qazzi concluded by stating: "The state is systematically forcing the private sector into emigration as part of a plan to bankrupt the country to control all its aspects, and everyone is paying the price." A new sector joins the list facing execution in a country where even a revolution has not been effective... so will the strike make a difference?
