Rita Al-Hajj The unprecedented economic crisis affecting Lebanon has exacerbated the suffering of many elderly artists who, due to the decrease in their income, are unable to cover the costs of treatment if they fall ill, similar to what happened recently with Fadi Ibrahim, one of the most important faces of the small screen.
The health of Lebanese actor Fadi Ibrahim has worried artistic circles and social media after his leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes, and a wide wave of popular and artistic sympathy has been created for him, manifested in a great request to contribute to a fundraising campaign launched by the Union of Actors of Theatre, Cinema, Radio and Television of Lebanon to complete his expensive treatment. .
Captain Nima Badawi noted in an interview with Agence France-Presse that “the actors’ solidarity was remarkable” with Ibrahim, who starred in dozens of local series, the most famous of which was “The Storm Blows Two times” about three decades ago. until “For Death 2” recently. He said that “artists, producers and TV station owners have stood by” the actor, who periodically undergoes dialysis sessions.
Badawi announced he would stop receiving donations after “the Ministry of Health sponsored the dialysis treatment,” explaining that contributions “from institutions and friends” will fund any additional treatments the 60-year-old actor may need once exceeded the cost of his hospitalization. the limit of the insurance contract.
“Crisis of dignity”
The case of Fadi Ibrahim pushed the union council to make the decision to set up a health support fund, “which colleagues will fund by donating according to their ability”, said Badawi.
Badawi’s office in Beirut recently became a clinic “where a group of doctors from different specialties take turns providing free exams to artists”, and also guarantees lost drugs.
While several voices have been raised to criticize the government’s failure to provide support to actors in covering their health expenses, the Lebanese Minister of Culture, Muhammad Wissam Al-Murtada, told Agence France-Presse that the legislation “does not assign this role at the Ministry of Culture.” Stressing that the ministry “has organized something” for Fadi Ibrahim, he added: “We worry about this aspect from a moral, not a functional point of view.”
He noted that “those who cannot provide the necessary healthcare are experiencing a crisis of dignity,” stressing that “the Ministry of Culture is trying, in these difficult circumstances, to play a role in preserving the dignity of the artist.”
The situation of Fadi Ibrahim and his inability to guarantee health expenses is the case of many other actors who suffer from poverty because they do not get roles that allow them to earn a living, either due to the decline in productions due to the economic crisis, or the lack of demand for them due to their advanced age, at a time when Lebanese deposits are still held in banks.
Among the approximately 700 artists affiliated with the Actors Syndicate, there are “between 15 and 20 percent without work, and between 100 and 150 aging actors whose services have been abandoned by producers and who are left without resources,” Badawi revealed.
The “Takreem” Foundation recently organized a party, the proceeds of which went to “about a hundred Lebanese actors living below the poverty line” as their fame declines and they age, according to the head of the organization non-governmental, Lebanese journalist Ricardo Karam told Agence France-Presse. He explained that this reality is due to “a significant decline in the television industry and production”.
The “icon” in a chalet
Badawi regretted that “production is almost absent in Lebanese television stations”, which are the eighth, even though they are “obliged according to the law on audiovisual media to produce one or two local series per year”. He stressed the need to “enforce the law so that no actor stays at home.”
He said: “Whoever watches some Lebanese stations feels like they are in Istanbul”, commenting on the predominance of dubbed Turkish works on these screens, instead of focusing on local production.
Badawi was surprised by the “exclusion of senior actors” from existing local productions, calling on producers to provide “job opportunities” to union members that would ensure “continuity”.
Among these, for example, is the octogenarian director and actor Fouad Sharaf al-Din, recently awarded the coat of arms of “Icon of Lebanese cinema”, currently “unemployed” and in “worse living conditions”. he lives “in a small chalet” and has not renewed his contract with the insurance company for years, he explained to AFP.
In a tone mixed with sorrow, Sharaf El-Din, famous for his roles in action films in the 1970s and 1980s, noted that those who have no source of livelihood other than art “will end up not being able to cover the costs of the treatment. and wait for donations. Also “sometimes the actor cannot pay the union membership fee.”
The Unified Common Fund for Artists, created with a 2008 law and whose operation was regulated by a 2012 decree, should have constituted a solution to support artists, including actors, as it is similar to a “cooperative for employees,” according to Badawi, and provides an old-age pension, death and marriage benefits, social assistance and undertakes to cover half the price of the health insurance policy for the artist and his family.
This fund includes members of eight artistic unions and is financed by collecting a tax on contracts with foreign artists who perform concerts in Lebanon and another on the value of tickets sold for concerts and performances of artistic works.
However, the series of difficult circumstances that Lebanon has witnessed since the 2019 protest movements, including the collapse in the value of the Lebanese pound, the economic crisis and the Covid pandemic, “have negatively affected the festival movement ” and subsequently limited the nutrition of the fund.
Badawi said: “The fund provided social assistance to over-80s worth 300,000 Lebanese pounds, which before the crisis was equivalent to 200 US dollars, but now its value is three dollars.”
With improved collection and increased subscription allowance, the value of the aid has been increased to two million Lebanese pounds, as the union seeks to provide greater support to actors who are unable to cover the costs of health insurance.
2024-01-08 16:19:43
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