Paying respect to Lebanon’s Ayatollah
From The Electronic Intifada: There is a lot to say about Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the Lebanese Shia Muslim cleric who passed away on 4 July 2010 at the age of 75. Unfortunately, much of what there is to say is being left unsaid for more of the same sensationalist reporting on this region [...]
Beirut protests Israel’s attack on Gaza aid convoy
Thousands take to streets of Beirut to protest Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla
The long march for secularism
Images from yesterday’s march for secularism in Beirut. This is a good opinion piece in the Guardian on Lebanon’s struggle for secularism, and an article on the march in the LA Times. The impression that I got from most Lebanese friends when I asked what they thought of the march was something like, “it was [...]
Teddy Afro came to Lebanon
Before yesterday, many Ethiopian friends who I’ve come to know recently through a photography project I’m working on documenting the lives of foreign domestic workers in Lebanon found it hard to believe that their country’s top musical icon would perform in Beirut. One male Ethiopian friend who manages a shop and is savvy about Lebanese [...]
Plane crashes off Beirut coast
An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed into the Mediterranean Sea just minutes after taking off in Beirut early this morning. Ninety people (including seven crew) were aboard the flight bound for Addis Ababa that included 54 Lebanese and 22 Ethiopians as well as passengers of other nationalities. Early reports indicate that most of the Lebanese passengers [...]
Suicide in Lebanon
Theresa Seda fell to her death from a 7th floor balcony across the street from my home.
Book review: "A World I Loved"
This is my review of Wadad Makdisi Cortas’ memoir, A World I Loved. I highly recommend this book for people outside the Middle East who wish to better understand this region’s recent history. Book review: “A World I Loved” http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10869.shtml “This is my story, the story of an Arab woman,” Wadad Makdisi Cortas states in [...]
Beirut rains
The rains have begun in Beirut. Summer is over and in a matter of minutes the city has taken on a completely different feel. The air is fresher and the water is giving life to the dehydrated vegetation on my balcony and in the park below. I feel like this dude after a hot day [...]
Lebanon's communists remember
Last night, hundreds of supporters of the Lebanese Communist Party and other leftist groups gathered just around the corner from my house near Sanayeh in Beirut. They celebrated the 27th anniversary of their first resistance operation in Beirut against the Israeli army after the latter’s brutal invasion of the Lebanese capital in 1982. The attack [...]
Paris Hilton in Beirut?
It’s always so nice to leave the US and see Paris Hilton’s picture all over the place. I don’t even know what these posters are for exactly, but tickets are $50 for “regular” $100 for “VIP” and get this $150 for “prestige”!
Nadim Gemayel
Nadim Gemayel won last night. He is two months younger than me and an MP in Lebanon. Nadim is the son of the Bashir Gemayel, former Phalange party leader who was assassinated in 1982. Days after his death, the Phalangists committed the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. A gallery of last night’s celebrations where Nadim [...]
East Beirut
Many in Beirut will jump on one for referring to the two sides of Beirut as “East” and “West.” These were terms during the civil war when the PLO and its Lebanese allies in West Beirut battled the Phalangists and other groups who controlled the East. Currently, the boundaries are still clear. West Beirut has [...]
