Beirut-based Fiction & Other Writings
If acts of defiance are what spark a revolution, then words of defiance are the fuel that keep it going.
For it was the words of the Arab Revolutions, expressions long-buried under the heaviness of oppression and the cloak of fear, that triggered the unthinkable. These words of defiance that have made heroes of the unknown, armed with nothing but hope and newly-found courage. And so they chanted: Continue reading “Words of Defiance: The Courage to Say Them, The Challenge to See them Through”
If we can rarely enjoy a day in Lebanon without countless and extensive electricity cuts, can we ever expect to see the light at the end of the tunnel?
A day in a life of a Lebanese is a dichotomy between everything that is wrong in our small little world and every way to make it better. The light at the end of the tunnel is our hope for the better life we aspire, our dream of the better place we deserve, our faith in the good will of everyone else to make it happen. Continue reading “Living Like There’s a Tomorrow”
During the past year, the Arab Revolutions have seized our news headlines and captured our imaginations. We have been taken aback by the unprecedented tempo of change, entangled with the human toll that paved the way for the downfall of dictators. Continue reading “No River to Put Out the Flames”
You would think that the definition of an Arab political blogger was simply the sum of its parts; someone who keeps a blog, hails from the Arab world and is more than willing to express a political opinion. Yet as the Arab blogosphere slowly took shape in the past couple of years, each part slowly took a life of its own, for Continue reading “Anatomy of an Arab Political Blogger”
I have been meaning to talk to you. Oh, if I could only talk to you. If you could only see what is happening. I am sure you can, wherever you are. See how everything seems to be falling apart. Everything that you built, everything that you gave me, what you asked me to take care of before you left, what belongs to us. Nothing seems to be like it used to… Continue reading “Father, Where Art Thou?”
While political scientists rush to give predictions on the effects of the Arab Revolution on the future of the region, and sociologists determine the most effective ways for the revolutionaries to deal with their newfound freedom, economists have now jumped on board with their calculations, equations and cost analyses of the recent developments. Continue reading “Cost Analysis of Change”
I could say that the highlight of the past weeks was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Yemeni political and human rights activist Tawakul Karman, the first Arab woman to receive the honor. I could also say the highlight were the worldwide demonstrations against government corruption and corporate greed, spearheaded by the Occupy Wall Street movement, as a testament to the success of the “Arab Spring tactics” they claim to follow. We witnessed the Israeli-Palestinian prisoner exchange, which despite its broader political implications, released many who were imprisoned merely for being Palestinian. Then again, how could I not mention Libya, whose people, with NATO support, did not relent in chasing their lunatic Colonel until the very last “zenga,” hiding like the rat he called his people to be. Continue reading “This Revolution Continues”
Sir Isaac Newton once noted that “every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed.” Also known as the first of his three Laws of Motion, Newton’s basic idea is that an object that is not moving or moving in a constant speed in a straight line will stay like that until something pushes it or blocks its path. And for as much as I have been observing, reading about and analyzing Arab uprisings these days, I haven’t found a more simple explanation for them as this. Continue reading “Laws of Motion”
The years have not been able to erase one of the first and most valuable lessons in politics and on the dynamics of international relations that I learned, only reinforce it. Continue reading “No Permanent Friends, No Permanent Enemies”
“In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end.”
– Alexis de Tocqueville
In a revolution, the beginning should not be marked by the first calls to mobilize against the existing order, but as the fruits of mobilization translate into concrete action to transform given the defeated order. The end, therefore, is the culmination of implemented change with a clear vision for the new, and hopefully better, order. Continue reading “The End of a Revolution”
Eye on the East 