Beirut
Jasad & the Queen of Contradictions
By Charlene Rodrigues Popularly known as the Paris of the Middle East, Lebanon is said to be culturally liberal compared to most Arab countries in the Middle East. However, such is not the belief of Joumana Haddad, a Lebanese journalist and poet based in Beirut. She says, "I feel liberated but I wear a […]
Former captive warns of reporting risks on return to Beirut
Terry Anderson, former hostage and AP bureau chief in Beirut, returned to Lebanon this week to give a talk on the ‘global hazards of reporting’ at the Issam Fares Centre. Anderson, who was kidnapped in 1985 and held for six years and nine months, spoke eloquently for over an hour about his kidnapping, the dangers […]
Celebratory Gunfire
Some audio from my recent trip to Beirut. This is what celebratory gunfire from within a densely-populated urban centre sounds like – the Lebanese ‘government’ reversed two decisions that had provoked Hezbollah to take over much of Beirut, and people were pretty happy. As always, there were casualties from the large amounts of falling lead […]
Crossroads
“Abu Skandar, who always drives by the university when he comes to Cairo from Heliopolis, has made this passegiata into his personal polling sample to measure the progress or regression of Islamic veiling. I secretly suspect him of privileging the qualitative aspect of the investigation over its strictly quantitative dimensions. In his defense, it is […]
Lebanon is Not the Issue
Discussion on Al-Jazeera regarding the various ways Lebanon’s problems – as being played out in armed conflict today – are not Lebanese problems, but rather offshoots (“90%” in the words of one contributor to the discussion) of international and regional conflicts. Travelling to Beirut today (circuitously via Jordan and Syria on account of the airport […]