Local Journalism in the Public Interest
In the Interlude

Composite of images provided by Zoukak of their performance of the Rave Empire in France. Photos taken on January 27, 2022. (The Public Source)
Zoukak’s Political Theater: A Space for Collective Reflection Amid Crisis

A composite image of Fodda El Youssef (left) and her mother Aziza Sattouf (right) manually sorting wheat to be sent to a mill in Saadnayel, Lebanon, against the backdrop of Seed in a Box's vegetable seedling greenhouse in Beddawi, Lebanon. Photos taken on May 10, 2022, and May 18, 2022 by Chris Trinh. (The Public Source)
From the Ground Up: Seed Saving and Food Sovereignty in Lebanon
The (Dis)order Report

Composite of images taken of Lebanese passports and of the Beirut International Airport. Photos taken on August 1, 2020 and April 8, 2022, by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
“Like a Prison”: Lebanon’s General Security Makes Passport Renewal a Nightmare

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 archival images provided by Assafir of the offices of Intra Investment Company and the inauguration of Finance Bank, one of Intra’s most secretive holdings, on December 7, 1999. Cutting the cake are Mahfouz Skaineh, Hassan Farran, Yaacoub Sarraf, and Salah Harake. (The Public Source)
Intra Investment Company: The “Lebanese State’s Best Kept Secret”

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

The sea of Sur by night. Tyre, Lebanon. June 18, 2021. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Surrounding Sur: Liberation Day Poetics

“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
Editorials
New Year’s Omen
“Lebanon First:” On the Politics of Neutrality on a Moving Train
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)