A pencil drawing by Palestinian revolutionary leader, thinker, writer, and political prisoner, Walid Daqqa, shared from within an Israeli prison. April 2016. (Basel Ghattas/Facebook)
“Victory Over My Jailer”: The Afterlife of Revolutionary Walid Daqqa’s Steadfast Love
An old, badly maintained, and infrastructurally fragile building collapses in Achrafieh folllowing a storm, killing 27 people and injuring many more. Beirut, Lebanon. January 15, 2012. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Three Years After the Beirut Explosion: Where Does Lebanon’s Disaster Management Stand?
A composite image of women riding a motorcycle through agricultural fields in Central Bekaa and a snowy mountain range. Photos taken by Marwan Tahtah in Saadnayel, Lebanon on April 14, 2023. (The Public Source)
Warm Winter Woes: How Global Warming is Affecting Local Agriculture and Food
A composite of a senior woman protesting during the October 2019 uprising in the foreground (courtesy of Mourane Matar/Fawra Media) against an old Mar Mkhayel barber shop in the background. (The Public Source)
Indefinitely Deferred: Dignified Retirement Inaccessible to Most
Villa owners can afford the cost and space it takes to install good solar systems. Akkar, Lebanon. September 30, 2022. (Rita Kabalan/The Public Source)
Privatizing the Sun: The Dark Side of Lebanon’s “Solar Revolution”
A composite of 13-year-old Jinane in the foreground and a public school classroom in the background. Photos taken on September 19, 2022 by Rita Kabalan.
Public Education: Thousands of Children Left Behind at the Start of the School Year
Agricultural laborers work the field on amiri land, a type of state land that allows for communal use. Most amiri lands are in the Beqaa region, where three quarters of residents live off agricultural work. Beqaa, Lebanon. 2021. (Photo courtesy of Public Works Studio)
A composite image of hands cupping grains of wheat against the backdrop of a mill worker loading bags of flour onto a truck in Beirut, Lebanon. Photos taken on June 28, 2022 by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
Grain of Hope and Loaf of Neglect: Lebanon’s Renewed Bread Crisis
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
A self-portrait of the martyr Issam Abdallah, camera in hand, in front of destruction in Elbistan following the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria earlier this year. February 12, 2023. (Retrieved from Issam's Facebook profile)
Israel Killed Issam Abdallah but Cannot Kill the Story
A rare photograph from the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross (Dayr al-Salib), taken in the aftermath of the 1982 Israeli invasion, of two children clad in modest winter dress and bound to a radiator, their faces reflecting distress and dread. Dayr al-Qamar, Lebanon. 1982. (José Nicolas/Corbis via Getty Images)
(Im)Possibilities of Healing Within the Mental Health System
Sudanese children at morning football training on the sand, despite a raging sandstorm. March 29, 2018. (Mohammed Abdelmoneim Hashim Mohammed/Creative Commons)
Lebanon, Radical Hope, and the Natural Economy in the Age of Climate Breakdown
A composite of Lebanese police guarding the Bank of Beirut during the "week of rage" anti-government protests in Hamra on January 14, 2020, (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source) and Greek police guarding the National Bank of Greece during anti-austerity protests on February 25, 2010. (Creative Commons)
What About the “Sovereign Wealth Fund”? Some Lessons From Greece
A composite of migrant domestic workers holding their employers' children and enjoying the view, and a woman chatting with a friend from the balcony of her employer's home. Photos taken by Matthew Cassel between March 31, 2010 and May 13, 2010 in Beirut, Lebanon.
Life and war in South Lebanon are embroidered in the landscape: the border fence, a deadly minefield, an olive grove, a tobacco field and a lovingly-tended backyard garden. Dhaira, Lebanon. 2007. (Photo courtesy of Munira Khayyat)
Seasons of Life and War in South Lebanon: An Interview on Ecologies of Resistance
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
Still from the documentary "Amussu" (2019), directed by Nadir Bouhmouch. It tells the story of the villagers of Imider in southeastern Morocco who "shut down a water pipeline to Africa's biggest silver mine to save their oasis ... [and later] sing while harvesting the fruits of their militancy." (Photo Credit: Mohamed Ed-Daoudy)
Dismantling the Greenwashing Machine: Strategies From Below
Two staff members work at their desks at the Beirut Governmental University Hospital. Beirut, Lebanon. October 19, 2021. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
طلاب أم عمال؟ طلاب الطب في الجامعة اللبنانية على خط المواجهة في نظام صحي متداعٍ
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؟
Months before he embarked on the "death boat," Hashem Methlej drew an ominous sketch of a boat sinking. Tripoli, Lebanon. October 28, 2022. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Intercepted at Sea: The Deadly Reality of Border Control
A composite of archival images from Assafir newspaper of the offices of Intra Investment Company and the opening of the Finance Bank, one of Intra Holdings' most secretive holding companies, on December 7, 1999. Mahfouz Sakina, Hassan Farran, Yacoub Al Sarraf, and Salah Harakat are seen cutting a cake. (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
A makeshift kitchen set up by a single father and his daughters under the Fiat Bridge in Beirut. December 8, 2022. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Life on the Streets of Beirut
Real estate speculation, combined with the absence of state policies to ensure housing as a basic right, created housing precarity well before the economic crisis.
After security forces stormed the American University of Beirut, revenge demonstrations erupted, sparking violent confrontations with the ruling class and its guards. In the photograph, dated February 26, 1975, is a scene from one of the confrontations on Hamra Main Street, where tens of students charge, amid tear gas, some of them armed with stones.
The Student Movement in Lebanon, a Struggle Through Time
Next to a large bluish kale plant, forager Rianna Tassabehji holds a cluster of stinging nettles in her hand while she picks more, despite getting mildly stung. The leaves, she dries, powders, or grinds, incorporating them into her baked cookies or infusing them in her teas. Nettles can replace any leafy greens, in soups, with eggs or noodles. They can also be made into a tincture for an iron and vitamin boost. Forager Nayla Kahwaji explains that nettles are used for detoxing kidneys and that, unlike other detoxifying herbs, they nourish the body with vitamins and minerals without ridding it of the things it needs. Batloun, Lebanon. September 14, 2022. (Chris Trinh/The Public Source)
On the left, two old men chat before a mural by Tripoli’s visual artist Ali El Rafei, close to Al Shiraa Square in El Mina. At the top right corner, a picture of politician Ashraf Rifi covers part of the mural. El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)
If These Walls Could Speak
If Tripoli's walls could speak, what would they say?
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)
Photojournalist Marwan Tahtah had heard about this photograph taken by his relative Kamel Lamaa before he saw it for the first time hung on a wall in his uncle’s apartment. Lamaa worked as a photojournalist for the AFP and owned “Play Boy,” a photography studio he ran with his siblings and cousins in the southern suburb of Beirut. In the mid-80s, as heavy shelling was falling on the city, Lamaa was driving with his colleagues near al-Sahel Hospital when their car was hit. After hiding under a bridge, they found this terrified family taking refuge. Beirut, Lebanon. August 25, 1985. (Kamal Lamaa/AFP, courtesy of Marwan Tahtah)
Capturing the End Times: The Unseen Realities of Photojournalists in Lebanon
Rianna Tassabehji makes her way amid rocky outcrops on a trail that twists at the bottom of a hill. Batloun, Lebanon. September 14, 2022. (Chris Trinh/The Public Source)
Returning to the Land and Our Oral Plantcestral History
A composite image of Khaled Al Mahmoud inspecting a frame amid colorful wooden hives with bees and flowers in the foreground in Mazra'at Jemjim, Lebanon. Photos taken on June 11, 2022 by Marwan Tahtah. (The Public Source)
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
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?
A sanitation worker employed by Lebanese company Ramco pauses for a picture while working a shift at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. April 6, 2020. (Marwan Tahtah/The Public Source)
Labor in Lebanon: Between Racism and Capitalist Exploitation
Protesters rest beside graffiti depicting the hanging of an authority figure. Downtown Beirut, Lebanon. December 15, 2019. (Rita Kabalan/The Public Source)
Lebanese expatriates in New York City express support for injured and killed anti-establishment protesters in their home country. November 19, 2019. (Ahmed Gaaber/The Public Source)
On Belonging to a Country That Cannot Keep Its Children
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