Tag: Arab world

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ՀԱՅՈՑ ՑԵՂԱՍՊԱՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ 100-րդ ՏԱՐԵԼԻՑ

Armenian Genocide Centennial

“In the implementation of its scheme to settle the Armenian Question through annihilation of the Armenian race, the Turkish government did not allow itself to be distracted.” – Paul Wolff-Metternich, German [Turkey’s ally at the time] Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1915–1916).

“Unfortunately, our wartime leaders, imbued with a spirit of brigandage, carried out the law of deportation in a manner that could surpass the proclivities of the most bloodthirsty bandits. They decided to exterminate the Armenians, and they did exterminate them.” – Mustafa Arif Bey, Interior Minister of the Ottoman Empire (1917–1918).

Continue reading “ՀԱՅՈՑ ՑԵՂԱՍՊԱՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ 100-րդ ՏԱՐԵԼԻՑ”

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40 Years Later…

Today is the day we remember our war (1975-1990), the one we swore not to forget so that it would never happen again (تنذكر وما تنعاد). But just like everything else in Lebanon, the more things change the more they stay the same. Whatever we said about the war, the lessons learned and chances of it happening again, still stand today, as they stood yesterday and will stand for the decade to come. I read through what I wrote last year – April 13: How can we not forget?  – (which you are welcome to read today too) and I would not change a single word of it now. Continue reading “40 Years Later…”

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…أنا كإمرأة

Note: This is the Arabic translation of As a Woman, posted on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2015. The translation also appeared in Al Rawaby newspaper. The celebration ended, but the need to keep on fighting for our rights remains throughout the year…

ملاحظة : هذه هي الترجمة العربية لمقالة As a Woman  التي نشرت في يوم المرأة العالمي. هذه المقالة قد نشرت في جريدة الروابي في زحلة في 26-03-2015. الاحتفال انتهى ولكن الحاجة إلى النضال من أجل حقوقنا تبقى كل السنة…   Continue reading “…أنا كإمرأة”

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As a Woman…

As a woman, I’ve always been unsure as to what I am required to do on International Women’s Day. Take to the streets in song and dance, post a series of pictures displaying the best of my ‘womanness’ (however that may be) or perhaps wear a quaint little dress to receive well-wishers over a cup of coffee and sweets of my own making. Continue reading “As a Woman…”

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Love in the Time of Politics

In one of his most acclaimed novels “Love in the Time of Cholera,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez explores the meaning of love through the follies of the heart and the lucidity of the mind. As he recounts, love and its symptoms at the turn of the 19th century could be very well mistaken with those of cholera, which had been spreading across the Caribbean at the time. When there is fever, uncontrollable emotions and madness, followed by either sanity or delusion…can one really differentiate between love and cholera? Continue reading “Love in the Time of Politics”

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Time to Re-Evaluate the War against Daesh

We all knew that Daesh was capable of horrible things. However, the death by burning to which Jordanian pilot Moaz al Kasasbeh was subjected to broke through a morbid threshold I believe very few of us, if any, thought would happen. This isn’t to say that the other killing methods (decapitation, execution, drowning, etc..) used by the so-called Islamic State are any less brutal. But we dealt with them by exercising a degree of denial,  if only because of the sheer number of times they have and continue to occur and more importantly, as a coping mechanism to deal with the horrors of Daesh at our doorsteps. Continue reading “Time to Re-Evaluate the War against Daesh”

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Je suis, Je ne suis pas, Je ne sais plus…

What happened at the offices and surroundings of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on January 7 in Paris was cold-blooded murder. This tragic incident unleashed a somewhat unprecedented reaction on world news and social media, or maybe it’s just the news junkie and social media addict in me that felt bombarded by all of it at once. Some have been targeted reactions and commentaries, while others were ‘all over the place,’ which goes to show the mixed feelings that were triggered. Continue reading “Je suis, Je ne suis pas, Je ne sais plus…”