I’m following a Coursera course entitled “Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World” and just received a rather odd email. All students from Syria, Sudan, Iran and Cuba will no longer be able to access Coursera. As some of you may know, Coursera is an online website that offers free courses from many of the world’s […]

Human Rights Watch’s 2014 Global Report was just released. As usual, I’m re-copying the Lebanon section below.

Rima Najdi, aka Madame Bomba, recently gained attention by walking around Beirut with a mock TNT strapped around her. Based in Berlin, she got tired of Lebanon’s volatile situation and decided to take things into her own hands. She walked around Manara, Down Town, Gemayzeh, Spinneys, Ashrafieh, Ras el Nabe3 and Hamra. I ‘sat down’ […]

We’re starting off 2014 with sad news. We’re going through a period that is confusing, terrifying and shocking. Much can be said about Lebanon’s obstacles, and I’ll surely dedicate a few posts to discuss them. But for now, I’ll just share this. Our beloved George Khabbaz wrote a poem called “Rfi’i El Chahid” (My friend […]

“You have your Lebanon and its dilemma. I have my Lebanon and its beauty. Your Lebanon is an arena for men from the West and men from the East. My Lebanon is a flock of birds fluttering in the early morning as shepherds lead their sheep into the meadow and rising in the evening as farmers […]

I just came back from the movie screening of “I am Breathing” which was presented by the Lebanese Association for Neuromuscular Diseases or “LAND” in partnership with the British Council at Metropolis Empire Sofil. My mind has been occupied with countless imagined scenarios of what it might have felt like to be in Neil Platt’s place. […]

Compassion in World Farming UK has launched a petition aimed directly at the Lebanese Agriculture Minister asking him to shut down the notorious Karantina Slaughterhouse. And who can blame them? Last year, my class and I visited the Karantina Slaughterhouse and what we found was disturbing to say the least: tortured animals being beaten to […]

Adonis, one of Lebanon’s greatest bands of our generation, will be performing this December the 12th at a fundraiser concert aimed at helping people living with AIDS/HIV. 

It cannot be easy. To know that you’ve participated in something which you would never be able to justify can rip one’s conscience apart. Many fall into self-medication to treat for mental illnesses of the likes of depression and PTSD; others isolate themselves and become socially dysfunctional; others kill themselves. But every once in a […]

We seculars don’t often get our voice heard, but when we do we sure know how to make a point.

AUB’s secular club, of which I’m a proud former member, has just released this interesting 3 minutes video of how the AUB election system work. It is a must for all those considering voting for an actual change.

Layla was the first women’s magazine to be published in Iraq. Launched in 1923, the magazine dealt with