Beirut
Losing the Plot
Incredibly, parts of Beirut’s Roman walls have survived all the intervening upheavals, human and natural, of the past two millennia. But these remnants, and the ancient tombstones the walls were lined with, are under threat — not from earthquakes or war, but the construction of a parking lot.
Beirut’s Vanishing Bookshops
Lebanon’s bookshops once thrived as hubs of debate and dissent, but economic collapse, censorship and war have gutted Beirut’s literary scene. Still, readers, publishers and book cafes find inventive ways to resist and revive the culture of reading.
From Belfast to Beirut, A Tale of Elusive Peace
Power-sharing arrangements have attempted to bridge the divisions in the two societies. The Good Friday Agreement and the Lebanese Constitution both aim to provide a form of democracy that protects the minority community from the majority — or, in the case of Lebanon, any of the 18 religious groups from each other.
The Archivists of Lebanon’s Amnesia
The work of Khamissy, Hadla, and others fills a huge gap and is crucial for any form of genuine reconciliation and sustainable state-building in Lebanon, a fragmented country constantly on the brink. However, the country’s ruling class — its warlords and businessmen-turned-politicians and their cronies — aren’t too pleased.
Nasrallah’s Gallows Humor Comes Back to Haunt Lebanon
Hezbollah’s leader is a master of ceremonies and narrative. The head of arguably the world’s most powerful nonstate militant group is blessed with an auteur’s sense of theatrics and spectacle. He exemplified the tenaciousness of the Lebanese and their exceptionalism, capable of achieving what the world bet they could not.
‘I Will Kill Myself’: The Enduring Nightmare of Lebanon’s Kafala System
The hours felt endless. Hours “where you wonder why they took your documents, kept your mobile phone, and then you realize, only a few weeks later, that it is their way of controlling you. They got you, they can blackmail you, you are their merchandise.”
Parting the Seas
With Lebanon’s political class promising that untold riches were right around the corner, Hezbollah, apparently, did not wish to be the proverbial skunk at the garden party.