Six fighters of the Lebanese Force (LF) drink coffee during a break in the battle | Source: JOSEPH BARRAK/AFP/GettyImages It all started with one simple question the taxi driver picking me up from Beirut airport asked me. “That’s a nice keffiyeh you’re wearing; do you know what it represents?” It was a typical humid evening in Beirut. The breeze right outside the airport was warm and thick, and my taxi driver had been waiting for a while as I cleared customs coming in from Amman. Wrapped around my neck was a red keffiyeh – one I had purchased in Jordan’s Wadi Rum. I had spent a few nights ther ..read more

In recent weeks, two seemingly contradictory studies were presented to the public concerning the state of Lebanon’s beaches: One, by LARI, warning that the country had “passed the threshold of pollution and that no sea is pollution free,” and the other, by CNRS, casting doubt on the results of the former. LARI, the Lebanese Agriculture Research Institute’s findings triggered a wave of public outrage and panic. And news headlines in the days that followed (like al-Akhbar’s “No region in Lebanon is free of pollution: Farewell to swimming” and The Daily Star’s “Do not swim: Coastal water pol ..read more

Lebanon has lost one of its greatest literary minds this morning: writer, journalist and women’s rights activist, Emily Nasrallah. For those who are unfamiliar, Nasrallah, who was born in Al Kfeir, a village in southern Lebanon, used to help her parents in the field. She went on to graduate from the American University of Beirut with a BA in Education and Literature. She has penned several novels and short stories for both an adult audience and for children. One of her most acclaimed books, the recipient of three prestigious literary prizes, is “Tuyur Aylul” (Birds of September). In the book ..read more

The world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, with massive rallies like those in Turkey and Spain making major headlines. Lebanon, too, celebrated IWD, albeit on Sunday – perhaps to accommodate for working women who can’t leave their jobs in the middle of the week to protest. “Our causes are many, our anger is one,” was the main slogan that brought together thousands of women and over 21 NGOs and organizing fronts. From the Adlieh roundabout through Barbir to its final destination in Sodeco’s Hawd al-Wilaya Park, women, activists, and feminist blocs hoisted banners and chanted an ..read more

It only took a few minutes for my “it’s good to be back” bubble to burst, 20 minutes into the taxi drive back home to be exact. It was around 12:30 am. We had just returned from Abu Dhabi where the Lifehaus team was among many other sustainability-driven projects exhibiting at the World Future Energy Summit. Our morale was high; people had expressed interest in our project, a project that was largely propelled by the 2015 Lebanon waste crisis. “We heard there was a storm,” I told the cab driver. Small talk, I thought, would put me at ease. After all, it was late and I was the sole passenger. T ..read more

A candlelight vigil will be held for four victims of femicide (3 women and 1 child) who lost their lives this week to senseless violence. Organized by independent feminist activists, the vigil will take place on Saturday, December 23rd at 5 p.m. before Beirut’s National Museum. The group invites everyone all over Lebanon to organize vigils in their respective towns and villages on the same day in memory of the women victims of patriarchal violence. Three women and 1 child lost their lives this week. That’s four victims in 1 week. Each had a story. Each had a life to live. Each ended tragi ..read more

This week, the world marked the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, an annual event that aims to educate people about the damaging effects of war and armed conflict on the environment. This week also saw Lebanon’s political scene pulled into the epicenter of a regional crisis. Following the shock resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri from Riyadh, where he currently remains, and amid speculation that he is being held against his will, the focus has shifted on whether war will erupt in the small Mediterranean country once agai ..read more

This article was published at StepFeed on October 16, 2017.  https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ3cj8Mh6Oy/?taken-by=karimghattas1 Last week, the acclaimed Palestinian musical group Le Trio Joubran performed in front of a fascinated crowd of hundreds and the shifting waves of an autumn sea. Their performance in Beirut’s Music Hall theatre was marked by story-telling, sampling the rhymes of Palestine’s renowned poet Mahmoud Darwish. Due to overabundant humidity at the water’s edge, the musicians  – brothers Samir, Adnan, and Wissam Joubran –  w ..read more

This article was published at StepFeed on October 4, 2017.   50 years ago Israel invaded the West Bank and Gaza, and a young English musician named Roger Waters started a career in music with the rock group Pink Floyd. For 50 years the Palestinians have remained prisoners in their own land, while the band played on. Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 to pursue a solo career. It was a thorny path to choose. Twenty years later, in June of 2006, he was booked to perform in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park. As word spread, he was approached by Palestinian civil society activists who told him about ..read more

The last I addressed Article 522 on Newsroom Nomad was back in December 2016, when local media mistakingly reported that said article of the penal code was abolished. Back then, a proposal introduced and approved by the Administration and Justice Committee parliamentary committee to scrap said article was passed to Parliament, awaiting a final vote. On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, that vote finally happened and now awaits the signature of the Lebanese president before it finally becomes effective. Penal Code Article 522, also known as the ‘rape law’ allowed rapists who marry their vic ..read more