Local Journalism in the Public Interest
Editorials
New Year’s Omen
“Lebanon First:” On the Politics of Neutrality on a Moving Train
The (Dis)order Report
Composite of images taken at a hospital in Lebanon and of protests organized by Lebanese University students. Photos taken on October 19, 2021 and October 25, 2011, by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
Students or Workers? Lebanese University Medical Students on the Frontline of a Crumbling Healthcare System
Private security guards stand in front of a barricaded branch of BLOM Bank. Beirut, Lebanon. July 2020. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
While We Try to Survive Its Last Scheme, Lebanon's Banking Sector Plots Another Grand Theft
Composite of an elderly resident of Mar Mikhael standing on her balcony, construction workers, and a sign that reads, "We are Staying." Beirut, Lebanon. Photos taken between August and October 2020 by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
What Does Justice Look Like for the Affected Neighborhoods and Their Residents?
Anonymized missing person flyer that circulated online in the aftermath of the explosion. The man was found alive and well. August 2020. (The Public Source)
Life and Death on the Margins: On the Double Trauma of Migrant Workers
A child stands in a narrow opening between concrete blocks. The Lebanese army limits the passage of cars into a number of Palestinian camps through checkpoints and closes other entrances with concrete walls, leaving only pedestrian pathways. Burj al-Shemali camp, Tyre. January 21, 2017. (Nadia Ahmad/The Public Source)
Palestinian Camps in Lebanon: Reflecting on Patterns of Marginalization, Isolation and Control
Chronicles of the Crisis
Composite of images taken at different National Social Security Fund (NSSF) offices across Lebanon. Photos taken on October 8, 2021, by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
The Full Story Behind the Looming Collapse of the National Social Security Fund
Composite of images taken at a protest organized by the Beirut Port Explosion Victims' Families and the Lebanese Union for People with Physical Disabilities to demand justice for people killed and injured by the blast. Sylvana Lakkis, president of the union, is the center of the image. Photos taken on July 4, 2021, by Hussein Baydoun. (The Public Source)
"And What Would You Like Me to Do About It?”: How the Lebanese Government Disabled Hundreds of People — and Then Left Them to Pay for Its Crime
Image overlay of a shopper carrying grocery bags over a deserted city street at night. Beirut, Lebanon. 2021. (The Public Source)
“We Didn’t Even Try”: How Lebanon's Chaotic COVID-19 Strategy Let Thousands Die
The Long Read
“Tomorrow: Lebanon Unites to Face Those Starving It.” Assafir, November 4, 1987.
Digging Through the Archives for the 1987 Strike That Braved the Barricades
Composite of images taken at archeological sites-turned-constructions sites around Beirut. Photos taken on June 26, 2012 and February 17, 2022, by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
Searching for Lebanon’s Ancient Ruins Amid Capitalist Ruination
A delivery driver on the go in the late evening, bringing customers their orders, rain or shine. Beirut, Lebanon. March 17, 2021. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Always on the Move, Yet Trapped in Precarity: On the Buried Dreams of Gig Economy Drivers
Beirut’s sea wall at the height of Lebanon’s “Golden Age.” May 1, 1965. (Indiana University Archives, Charles Cushman Collection)
Paradise Lost? The Myth of Lebanon’s Golden Era
PS Visuals
Beirut’s Feminist Library: A Home to Writings from the Struggle
The Lebanese Red Cross reports six people were killed and dozens injured in the hours-long street battles. One of the victims, Mariam Farhat, a mother of five children, was killed by a stray bullet to her head inside her home. Another victim, 32-year-old Ali Ibrahim, who worked at a local gym and fitness diner, was killed while delivering food to a customer nearby. He was described as “an innocent soul” whose “smile never hides.” Tayouneh, Lebanon. October 14, 2021. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Obstruction of Justice Turns Deadly
Photo by Marwan Tahtah
The Day That Never Ended: One Year Into August 4
Brutal Interruption: Life in the Aftermath of Disaster
الملحق
تركيب صور من فترة ازمة المحروقات في لبنان خلال صيف ٢٠٢١ التقطت على محطّات المحروقات وعلى الطريق السريع. التقط الصور مروان طحطح بتاريخ 14 حزيران ٢٠٢١. (مصدر عام)
كيف دُمِّر نظام النقل المُشترك في لبنان ولصالح من؟
Dispatches from the October Revolution
Protesters engage in a discussion during the early days of the October uprising in "The Egg," an iconic abandoned opera house in central Beirut. October 24, 2019. (Gloria Tawk/Fawra)
Lebanon’s Global Conundrum: Which Strategy for Political Change?
Young women in factory uniforms hold a banner that reads, “our identity is to die for our bread.” Date unknown. Source: Al-Anwar newspaper.
The Power of Withholding Labor: The General Strike as Cultural Work
Protesters rest beside graffiti depicting the hanging of an authority figure. Downtown Beirut, Lebanon. December 15, 2019. (Rita Kabalan/The Public Source)