The Names & Faces of The Victims of The Beirut Explosion

Look at their faces. Say their names. Think of their grieving mothers and fathers, their fatherless or motherless sons and daughters, their partner-less wives and husbands. And be angry. These are victims. These are people whose only fault was to be in a country whose criminals are in charge, whose politicians are so evil...

Aug 2020

The Lebanese Government Is Blocking International Aid, Rescue Teams, & Arresting Journalists. Pass It On

I don’t know where to even start. I wanted to write about how Joe Akiki’s mom broke my heart. How Sahar Fares’ funeral tore me to pieces. How little Alexandra’s face, next to her glass, as they announced that she passed was so full of life, gone too soon. But I am still angry. And right now, I’m even angrier. The blog may have...

Aug 2020

The Beirut Explosion Wasn’t An Attack, And That Makes It So Much Worse

I was at my office, having just seen a couple patients in clinic, when my friend Elia texts me: “there’s been an explosion at the Beirut port, check on your family.” I had seen pictures of it on Twitter, affixed to the speculation that it was fireworks related. I didn’t think much of it until I saw a video in which a mushroom cloud ballooned...

Aug 2020

Lebanon Protests: The Need For Change Doesn’t End With Hariri Resigning

Via Art Of ThawraIt took 13 days of the entire country being paralyzed for Lebanon’s politician to budge. In a statement in which he decried that “no one is above their country,” Saad Hariri – our now (former?) prime minister issued his resignation. His resignation comes today to the background of plenty of Hezbollah and Amal thugs storming the downtown...

Oct 2019

Lebanon Protests: It’s Too Late To Believe Any of These Politicians’ Promises

(Picture via Anis Tabet). Nata2 badri, as my mom would say. 72 hours have come and gone. Aoun, Berri and Hariri have finally come out of their weekend long slumber to unveil their country saving plan… and they think we’re actually going to believe them this time. The plan that Hariri unveiled today is offensive to every single Lebanese who had to...

Oct 2019

The Weekend When Tripoli Was The Icon of Lebanon’s Protests

I’ve been writing about Tripoli so frequently on this blog, not only because I loved that city, but because the preconceptions that many Lebanese had of it – mostly out of biased media whose job was to alienate fellow Lebanese from the Northern capital. Those preconceptions varied from “tripoli is where ISIS is” to “there’s nothing to do there anyway.”...

Oct 2019

Lebanon Burned. And Now It May Rise

My heart broke two days ago when I saw my home country burn, quite literally, in front of our eyes. As firefighters and regular people alike risked their lives to save our forests and homes from turning to ashes, it seemed fitting that a country whose course was scorching earth culminated that way. The fire was literal and figurative. The trees burned,...

Oct 2019

Byblos Festival Cancels Mashrou3 Leila’s Concert

There you have it folks, the Byblos Festival has succumbed to the pressure from Christian extremist bigots and canceled the concert of Lebanon’s top band Mashrou3 Leila, in a statement issued today. I have no words for how terrible this is for Lebanese freedoms, for Lebanese youth, music and our well being as a nation. As the lines of sensibilities...

Jul 2019

Lebanon Slipping To The Dark Ages: Charbel Khalil Wants To Start a Gay Conversion Therapy Group In The Name of St. Charbel

With each passing day, news transpiring out of Lebanon get more and more disheartening as the latest seems to be a wannabe “comedian” deciding it’s time for him to start a “conversion therapy group” for gay people in the country. The comedian in question is Charbel Khalil. I forget when the last time this man dabbled with relevance, but he wants to...

Jul 2019

From Mashrou3 Leila To Our Freedoms: Religious Censorship in Lebanon Is Killing The Country

Picture this, a song released over 3 years ago is suddenly noticed by the collective praying masses, and crucifixes are drawn. Picture this, a meme posted on a Facebook page lands you in court. It’s not a meme you even did. This is what is happening with Mashrou3 Leila, the top Lebanese band that has been the prime representation of Lebanese indie...

Jul 2019