Barbara Walters chats with Forward Syria
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Where the earth screams in horror
0 - Issue 38
Smoke-free Syria
A sweeping smoke ban in public places – to start on April 21 – throws a damp towel on restaurants and cafésby Jennifer Mackenzie
Syrians were expecting a new smoke-ban law to come into effect on April 1, however a grace period of three weeks has been granted to café and restaurant owners. That’s when smoke-free workplaces and public spaces will become the norm.
“Nargileh is part of the heritage of the East,” says Majd Merza between contented puffs of apple smoke. An economic analyst and regular at Bab Touma’s Morning and Evening Cafe, he feels that such cafes, “give a warmth in relationships between friends and visitors, and a flavor to life,” particular to the Middle East. Smoking cigarettes is another popular Syrian habit, with at least five million Syrians consuming around ten million cigarettes daily. And while two-thirds of cigarette smokers are men, women are now making up an increasing number. In the last few years, more women are also smoking nargileh, particularly in newer cafes catering to twenty- and thirty-somethings.
But as it gives flavor to Syria’s close-knit social fabric, smoking also exacts a huge toll on its population. Ninety-eight percent of Syrians are affected by second-hand smoke. In the Middle East, half of all smokers will be affected by cancer before the age of fifty-five, and in Syria, 70 % of cancer cases are fatal.
To combat these health costs, the Syrian government has been at the forefront of research and legislation in the region. The newest anti-smoking law mandates a sweeping ban on smoking in public places. After April 21st, it will be illegal to smoke cigarettes, cigars, or water pipes in public unless the smoking area is well-ventilated or entirely separated from the rest of the space. The ban will have the greatest impact on restaurants and cafes where a majority of the customers smoke. Its exact cost to businesses remains to be seen; meanwhile, corporate reaction runs the gamut from whole-hearted celebration to hopeless resignation, with a good deal of ambivalence and speculation in between.
For restaurants that are already well-ventilated, the law poses no threat. “We can make this place more open,” explains the manager of a prominent Bab Touma cafe, gesturing to a glassed-in porch that can be opened to accommodate the 70% of his customers who smoke nargileh. Restaurants situated in old Damascene houses centered around open courtyards also have fresh air built into them.
“We’re lucky here, because we have open spaces in these houses,” says Amjad Alrez, architect and director of the Old City of Damascus. Khaled, manager of Qamel al-Sham, a restaurant in the Old City, agrees. “For closed places, [the law] is a very big problem. But here, with the roof open, nargileh will continue.”
And though Khaled is a smoker, he voices a common hope: that the ban will help raise Syrian public health standards to those perceived in the West. “I notice in Arabic places there’s more [cigarette] smoking and more nargileh,” he explains. “But when I go to other places, there’s a clean lifestyle, without smoking. We’re missing places like that here. We want to make our spaces better than in old times, so Damascus becomes more like Europe.” The manager of a hip – and unventilated – Bab Sharqi nightspot echoes this wish. “I have no problem having a non-smoking bar,” he says. “It should be done sooner or later, like any other place in the world.”
Others express greater trepidation. Basem, manager of Pit Stop Cafe in Shalaan, estimates the cafe may lose up to 60% of its profits. “We want to help people be healthier, but it’s difficult for the restaurant,” he explains. Yasser, a waiter at neighboring Q-Deez Cafe, guesses its losses will be similar. But personally, as a non-smoker, he is happy not to have to breathe smoke at his workplace. And smoking and non-smoking employees alike find themselves torn between economic and health concerns. The owner of a tearoom downtown points out his waiter Mahmud, who quit smoking two months ago, as an example. “He used to smoke three packs a day. Now his energy is better, he’s eating better, he’s relaxed, he saves money and he sleeps well. But he’s not thinking about the law from personal feelings, but about his income.”
The owner is bleak about his own prospects. “I’m sure I’ll lose my business,” he says flatly. “I’ll lose 50% of my customers, if not more. So of course it will affect us, because everyone who comes here wants to smoke. And if we don’t let him, he goes away.” He used to sell nargileh but stopped, “because as a tearoom we’re not allowed to have it. It cut profits by 15%.” Now, he says, 90% of his customers smoke cigarettes. “And when my restaurant loses money, I will not pay enough taxes or wages for the workers, and this affects the economy.”
Another manager echoes his frustration. “As long as we’re a cafe we can’t sell food. And now they’re talking about forbidding nargileh, then there’s nothing left to sell.” Above all, he’s uncertain. “We don’t know what will happen. Either people will understand and come back just for coffee, or we’ll lose 60% of our business. So far it’s just rumors.” But, he says, “if nargileh, cigarettes and food are forbidden, I think they should consider letting us raise the prices to cover the shortage.”
Merza, the economic analyst, predicts the scarcity of smoking licenses will increase overall demand, creating, “a kind of monopoly on public smoking. Prices will rise and the number of customers will increase, not decrease. People will come to show off that they’re rich, that they can afford to smoke in front of girls and their friends.”
At Nofara Cafe, which has sat at the foot of the Ummayyid Mosque for a quarter of a millennium, the management takes a similarly long view. As long as the Hamidiyeh and Bab Touma Souqs exist, one waiter explains, shoppers will rest between them by smoking and drinking tea. “There is no problem with this law,” he explains. “Smoking won’t go down. Maybe it will go up.” After all, he adds, smiling, “we have a saying: everything forbidden is desired.”
Cachecho Farid:
BRAVO this is an excellent initiative.