Why not an "Emergency State" in Lebanon?

What happens when a society no longer knows the meaning of an Emergency State?A�It seems that this is what we have come to. Another news about an explosion blasting a certain area and the usual happens: we spend the first 10 minutes in disbelief and panic, we shift from one local TV channel to the […]

Pity our Nation ? (II)

I published ‘Pity our Nation?’ in August 2013 and this is the second part… Yesterday’s suicide bombings resulted in one of the many massacres occurring in the land of what was once called ‘The Switzerland of the East’. Another physical and psychological wound… Another brick in the wall of hatred – the Lebanese Wall of Shame… Another […]

All it takes for evil to succeed is for a few good human beings to do nothing…

As I was watching TV the other night, I came across the trailer of “Fifth Estate”, the movie based on the sequence of events lived by the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange. The trailer ends with “you want the truth; you should seek it out yourself. That’s what they fear the most, YOU”. Right after […]

Lebanese Youth needs to receive specific attention: the generation that inherits the experience of violence as still living memory!

“You cannot erase everything and start again … We need to continue (…). Suffering is everywhere here, there, everywhere. Life is everywhere here, there, everywhere. Ignorance kills it (…). We must not drown. Dig in and come out alive. Write while I am still alive”.[i] The war in Lebanon, especially since the 1970s, had – and still has – an impact on individuals and communities. It inflicted psychological and physical harm, and undermined social relationships, […]

Libanaise qu'à moitié…

Dans un pays où l’opinion publique semble croire à une égalité établie entre hommes et femmes  et où quelques citoyens comparent notre situation à celles des pays européens (comme le montre entre autre la vidéo publiée par l’Orient-le-Jour intitulée « CONDITIONS DE LA FEMME AU LIBAN : MYTHE ET REALITES»), le Liban vient d’acquérir en 2013  la très « HONORABLE » 123 […]

IDLE NO MORE in Lebanon!

University classrooms are known to be the root of knowledge. University classrooms stimulate the mind, stretch the limits and allow young people to think outside the box, to simply think for themselves. How true is this? During a class led by Dr. Pamela Chrabieh I occupied an observer’s seat. It was a session of movie […]

Pourquoi s'exprimer? Why express oneself?

Question on ne peut plus pertinente que je souhaite poser : pourquoi s’exprimer ? Est-ce pour revendiquer ? Alors au nom de qui ou de quoi ? L’expression doit-elle se réduire à une colère ? A un cri de détresse ? Ou doit-elle aller bien plus loin ? Pour qu’une expression puisse prétendre à une […]

La jeunesse libanaise, entre cultures de la guerre et de la paix

Alain Moussallem, Graffiti en direct, USEK – Liban, 12-09-2013 (‘Anti-mentalité de guerre’) Y aurait-il UNE jeunesse libanaise? UNE culture que celle-ci véhiculerait? Les recherches quantitatives et qualitatives que j’entreprends auprès de jeunes universitaires et d’activistes en ligne et-ou dans des ONGs, notamment depuis 2004, révèlent une diversité d’identités, de conceptions et de pratiques. Parmi les […]

باميلا شرابيه: ما لا يقتلك يجعلك أقوى

My interview (El Nashra Finance) about Red Lips High Heels and Women’s Rights.  Excerpts:  – هل واجهت صعوبات خلال مسيرتك المهنية؟   واجهت الكراهية نحو النساء، الضمنية والواضحة، اضافة الى التمييز على أساس الجنس، وليس فقط كناشطة، ولكن أيضا باعتباري أكاديمية في المجال الديني والذي يعتبر، في بلدنا، ومنطقة الشرق الأوسط،  حكرا على “رجال” الدين. […]

Calling out the Trivialization of Death before it’s too late!

Explosions, massacres, sectarian and political conflicts, WAR … Men, women and children, being mowed down without a thought of remorse… Counting dead and wounded people on a daily basis… No stories, no names, just numbers… Forgotten… Do we (most of us living in Southern Western Asia i.e. the Middle East) have a dysfunctional view of […]