What began as preparations for a modest protest in London – in solidarity with the March 8 protest in Beirut for Lebanon’s Parliament to pass the Law Protecting Women from Family Violence – ended as an invaluable lesson in law enforcement, civics and the rule of law. Continue reading “When in London, Join the Protest: On Lebanese Women and the Police Force”
لبنان: التسمية و التشهير هو واجب
Note: this piece is a translation of Eye on the East’s previous post “Lebanon: ‘Naming and Shaming’ as a Duty.” The below Arabic version was published in the March 1-6 2014 issue of Zahle weekly Al Rawaby.
يتعذر علي ان اتذكر عدد المرات التي سمعت فيها المقولة السائدة في لبنان “دون ذكر الاسماء” عبارة قصدها تجهيل الفاعل والتعامي عن قول الحقيقة ورفض تسمية الاشياء باسمائها, فنشعر بالاسى لغياب الوضوح و الشفافية في كيفية عمل النظام اللبناني. Continue reading “لبنان: التسمية و التشهير هو واجب”
A Warm Welcome to Lebanon’s New Cabinet
After 11 long months of political deadlock and childish bickering, Lebanon finally has a cabinet. Although some are satisfied just by having a cabinet and with it some illusion of normalcy, not many are happy with its composition. And in true Lebanese fashion, “what difference does it make anyway,” some will say: if it’s not the same faces on the cabinet table, then it is the same faces behind the scenes that brought them, and if there has been some alternation in portfolios (based on political affiliation and sect), it all remains part of the same game of sectarian and power politics that has brought so much misery to the majority of the Lebanese throughout the years, and will continue to do so in the years to come… Continue reading “A Warm Welcome to Lebanon’s New Cabinet”
Lebanon: ‘Naming and Shaming’ as a Duty
I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve heard the “let’s not name names” or “دون ذكر أسماء” refrain in Lebanon and feeling at a complete loss for words and hopeless, yet again, about the way this country works. Continue reading “Lebanon: ‘Naming and Shaming’ as a Duty”
Even in Lebanon, Some Deaths are Preventable
Death is not something that is under our control, but sometimes it is… Continue reading “Even in Lebanon, Some Deaths are Preventable”
“I never imagined that Libya would follow Lebanon”
“I think your readers are probably more interested in other countries in the Middle East than my dysfunctional lawless homeland..!” is one of the first things he said when I offered the pages of Eye on the East for a guest post on Libya. But when was dysfunctional and lawless exclusive to only one country in the Arab World? Continue reading ““I never imagined that Libya would follow Lebanon””
Tunisia: Back to Where it All Started
Perhaps the Arab Revolutions weren’t such a dream after all…if only in the country where this now long-forgotten dream first started. Continue reading “Tunisia: Back to Where it All Started”
The Time for Justice has Come…
…or so some would say.
Nine years after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, the court proceedings of the ‘Special Tribunal for Lebanon‘ (STL) have finally begun. Created for the purpose of bringing those responsible for this crime (and many others that followed it) to justice, the tribunal is considered unprecedented on many levels. While it is the first time that an international court will be trying a case based on terrorism charges, it is also the first time in contemporary Lebanese history, if ever at all, that so much effort and resources have been allocated to bringing criminals to justice. Lebanon may have become used to wars and politically motivated crimes, but it has become even more accustomed to never knowing the truth behind those crimes and taking for granted that nobody in Lebanon is ever brought to account. Continue reading “The Time for Justice has Come…”
“Only Christians can save Lebanon”: A Quick Response
I’m quite sure not even a Maronite Patriarch could have pulled off such a gem. Technically, they do have a right to, given that the “glory of Lebanon has been bestowed upon him” (“مجد لبنان أعطي له”). Then again, some Christians could have come up with this too, because as some of them have told me (half serious, half jokingly): Christians (read Maronites) created Lebanon, they have the right to destroy it, and if we extrapolate, they could be the only ones to save it as well… Continue reading ““Only Christians can save Lebanon”: A Quick Response”
Burying the Butcher, not Burying the Hatchet
In my part of the world, Ariel Sharon was known as the “Butcher of Beirut.” Even though his bloody legacy began to be built decades before he led the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 – through years of killing Palestinians in British-controlled Palestine prior to the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 – he will still be primarily remembered for the responsibility he bore for Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila Massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of the same name. Continue reading “Burying the Butcher, not Burying the Hatchet”
Eye on the East 