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Queer Feminisms

Queer Feminisms - Vol. 6 No. 3 - Winter 2020

This issue, in line with Kohl’s trajectory/ies, is a labour of political love. It finds solace, commitment, and determination in the undergrounds and cross-Oceanic rhizomes of friendships that defy conventional borders, visa applications, and our present time.  
Resisting Ableism, Queering Desirability

Resisting Ableism, Queering Desirability - Vol. 6 No. 2 - Fall 2020

This issue on resisting ableism, queering desirability is our attempt at building on and adding to the rich thinking that shapes disability justice, with interconnections between disability, race, gender and sexuality where we center queer disabled people of colour.  

The Lebanese Crisis: Will the Deadlock Continue?

Article
Angry Lebanese crowds took to the streets on the 17th of November after the authorities had failed to contain wildfires in more than a 100 locations in Mechref and Chouf due to the lack of fire-fighting helicopter maintenance. This came on top of the mounting crises that the country had witnessed recently, namely, shortage of dollars in the market, fall in the value of the local currency, disruption in fuel distribution, and –to top it all- the levying of a monthly tax on a supposedly free application, WhatsApp. 
By Noor Baalbaki
Organizing Against the Tide: Alternative Economies and Gendered Labor - Vol. 5 No. 2 - Summer 2019

Organizing Against the Tide: Alternative Economies and Gendered Labor - Vol. 5 No. 2 - Summer 2019

Throughout the issue, patriarchy and capitalism are theorized as the pillars that sustain the status quo. With such a meta-structure, what are formal economies, and whose work is considered more valuable? 

Change in Lebanon: A Far Away Dream!

Article
After the Constitutional Council annulled the parliamentary membership of al-Mustaqbal Movement MP Dima Jamali after an appeal submitted by rival Taha Naji,  Tripoli had to hold bi-elections to reelect a member to fill the Sunni seat.   
By Noor Baalbaki
Feminist Revolutionaries  - Vol. 5 No. 3 -| Winter 2019

Feminist Revolutionaries - Vol. 5 No. 3 -| Winter 2019

• Refuting the Ideology of the Lebanese Rentier Economy: Towards Radical Change • Whose Revolution? A Reflection on The Iranian Uprisings - Iran • Co-optation versus co-creation: Reflections on building a feminist agenda • “Un violador en tu camino:” Lessons from the Feminist Chilean Revolution – Chile and more

Beirut on Bike

Article
Suicidal or practicing for the Tour de France? Sara Stachelhaus is sharing her stories about the underprivileged cyclist minority on their every day adventures through Beirut.
By Sara Stachelhaus

Children’s Games in Tunisia – Happy Memories

Mahdi Abdel Jawad, Professor of Arabic Civilization and Literature, delves into childhood memories and games overcoming social borders.
By Mahdi Abdel Jawad

In the Box

Article
An exchange which occurs whenever I encounter new people goes as follows, ‘But you don’t speak with an Aleppian accent,’ to which I respond, ‘My accent is Christian Aleppian.’ This sums up what I like to term ‘my life in the bubble’ or ‘the box’, a state where sectarian identity takes on specific traits, as particular as the way in which certain letters and words are pronounced. I come from a traditional, middle-class Christian Aleppian family, and for most of my life have lived in the ‘Christian’ neighbourhood of al-Aziziya, where the majority of residents belong to the same sectarian and economic class in Aleppo.
By Marcell Shehwaro

Wigs against the Patriarchy

Article
How the Lebanese Drag Queen scene is fundamentally challenging heteronormative structures and traditional role models despite the legal system and a lacking tolerance of diversity. While social and familial pressures prevent living out one's identity, Drag shows create a platform for individuality, diversity and alternative family structures- because sometimes you have to choose your own family!
By Inga Hofmann
https://kohljournal.press/issue-4-1

On Incarceration, Surveillance, and Policing - Vol. 4 No. 1 - Summer 2018

Understanding systems of criminal justice as massive machines for mental and physical isolation, including incarceration, policing, and surveillance from a feminist lens, and expose the effects of liberal reformist politics when it comes to incarceration, and the ways in which such reforms create a system where punishment is more entrenched..  
“Tampons? That’s nothing for girls!”

“Tampons? That’s nothing for girls!”

Blog
  Leila The Spy ليلى والسرّ - Hasan Mdaghmsh Watch on YouTube This external content requires your consent. Please note our privacy policy.   There's nothing that is not possible and available in Beirut but asking for tampons, the whole city breaks into cold sweat. Mirna El Masri documents her tour through shops and pharmacies of Beirut.
By Mirna El Masri

All you need to know about the Lebanese parliamentary elections

Dossier
It has been nearly a decade since Lebanese citizens last had the opportunity to go to the polls and cast their votes. The current parliament had been extending its mandate on three separate occasions mainly due to several reasons starting from not agreeing on a new electoral law to the ongoing war in neighboring Syria. Finally, in summer of 2017 a proportional law was agreed on and elections finally will be held on May 6 of this year. With elections approaching we have put together this dossier that would help the voter keep track of everything they need to know about the elections.
Protest to Demand Domestic Violence Legislation in Beirut Lebanon

Are the Lebanese Happy? Corruption and Resilience in the Light of the Parliamentary Elections

Article
Lebanon, often described as the Paris or Switzerland of the Middle East, and still considered safer and more stable than most Arab surrounding countries, is constantly under threat of falling apart due to its political instability and corrupt politicians. Although many Lebanese have lost their faith in their political leaders, it seems that the politicians themselves are eager to go through with the parliamentary elections. The only plausible explanation is that the politicians are confident that their supporters will eventually give them their votes, perhaps for lack of better alternatives.
By Noor Baalbaki
Centralizing Reproductive Justice - Vol. 4 No. 2 - Winter 2018

Centralizing Reproductive Justice - Vol. 4 No. 2 - Winter 2018

This issue, rooted in the communities that aliment our social justice movements and plights, attempts to further the understanding of reproductive justice in our regions as not only lens, but praxis, against “single issues” organizing.

Sex, Desire, and Intimacy

Journal
The sixth issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research, "Sex, Desire, and Intimacy," vol. 3, no. 2 is now Online.

Kohl new Issue: Gendering Migration

The Fifth issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research, "Gendering Migration" is out.

Invisible Borders - Beirut, Berlin -Documentation

Video Documentation
  Invisible Borders - Documentary Film - Heinrich Böll Foundation Beirut - Middle East Watch on YouTube This external content requires your consent. Please note our privacy policy. Watch the documentary by photographer and documentary filmmaker Alfonso Moral and visual artist Andrea Monrás Zöller in collaboration with Heinrich Boell Stiftung-Middle East Office. 
Gendering Migration - Vol. 3 No. 1- Summer 2017

Gendering Migration - Vol. 3 No. 1- Summer 2017

Kohl is now an independent platform, one that took part in a different type of migration and sought the shores of queer feminist autonomy. Migration comes in different shapes, some more fragile than others, due to the vulnerabilities exposed and stakes put on the line. It will always find critics shouting that the grass is not always greener on the other side, and others questioning the loyalty to the homeland or to the patriarch. What does migration threaten, and where do we find explanations to the multitude of political and moral panics surrounding bodies trespassing and/or testing the porosity of borders? These are some of the questions we attempted to answer in this volume.  

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Take on Women’s Rights: Reading between the Lines?

As a religion, Islam is often accused of discriminatory practices towards women. Whether this is true or not cannot be easily determined. On the one hand, there are indeed many verses in Qur’an which assert that women are not equal to men in their human and social status , or in matters of inheritance , court testimony , polygamy, and personal cleanliness . According to Qur’an, on many matters women are not permitted to have a voice - this is particularly the case in sexual relationships. On the other hand, there are other verses in Qur’an which suggest the opposite is true. These verses advocate for equality and harmony between men and women in an Islamic society.
By Wael Sawah

Crises Trigger Creativity Exhibition now online

With the development of the Arab Spring across the neighboring Arab nations, such as in Syria and Egypt, and with the inescapable consequences and repercussions on the Lebanese political scene, a new wave of protests against the Lebanese politicians has arisen, particularly following the government’s failure to resolve the mounting garbage crisis. One of the most interesting aspects of these demonstrations is the involvement of numerous Lebanese artists who are using the protests as a space to address their political views. For this purpose, they use  different kinds of artistic expressions, such as music, paintings, graffiti etc. in order to convey messages to a larger public and to attract a bigger number of protestors and activists. 
Sex, Desire and Intimacy - Vol. 3 No. 2 - Winter 2017

Sex, Desire and Intimacy - Vol. 3 No. 2 - Winter 2017

Sex, Desire, and Intimacy has a set of articles on sexual non-conformity, histories of desire and disgust, queer intimacies, trauma and healing, kink, fantasies, and mental health.  

Between Trauma and Resistance: Feminist Engagement with the Arab Spring

These days, to ask what effect the Arab Spring had on women is to pose a question which seems ridiculous, irrelevant almost, given the bloody and brutal outcomes of revolutions in countries such as Syria, Libya and Yemen, and the ongoing repercussions of the uprising in Egypt, which leave no room for doubt that the dreams of the millions who demonstrated in Egypt's Tahrir Square in 2011 chanting ‘Bread, Liberty and Social Justice’ and calling for ‘Dignity and Freedom’ widespread in Syria, Libya and Yemen, have become terrifying nightmares which have touched on the lives of all members of society. But the progressive feminist movement across the Middle East is recovering from a particularly traumatic ride, and are finding they are being forced to fight again on issues which were on the table at the very birth of the movement and were felt by many to have been reconciled.
By Honaida Ghanim

In Order to Be Taken Seriously

Immediately after we’d finished discussing the challenges facing Aleppo in front of a large audience I was asked by a friend of mine, a leading figure in the Syrian civil society movement, how I was able to appear so unmoved, without anger or emotion, even when talking about the most painful experiences of my life and my losses, such as my mother being martyred; the interrogations I had faced, or other similar incidents, experienced by all Syrian activists such as myself. Sometimes, he said, he was afraid he might one day break down on stage and they’d say ‘Those Syrians! Babies. So emotional!’
By Marcell Shehwaro

Skin-Deep Only: Troubling Hypocrisies in the Ba’ath Party’s Approach to Women’s Rights and Secularism in Syria

The Ba’ath regime in Syria has never truly resolved the national debate over how to maintain the secular nature of the state. Constant assertions of its secularism in official and media discourses are at odds with the actions of the state and the manner in which the country is run. The Ba’ath Party itself, which has ruled the country for the past half century, pretends to be proud of its secular constitution; however, the party has never managed to persuade anyone that it is a genuinely secular organisation. In the 1980s, while militiamen loyal to the current president’s uncle, Rifaat al-Assad, were ripping the hijab from the heads of women in the capital, Syrian television continued to broadcast the Friday prayers every week. In the 1990s, even as thousands of Islamists crowded into the regime’s prisons, the number of mosques was on the rise. State security-run al-Assad Institutes for Qur’an Memorization were opening their doors to new students - a large proportion of which are now in 2016 fighting with Islamist groups against the regime in Damascus.
By Yahya Alous

Khadija, do not close the door! - Launch of perspectives #11

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung Middle East has the pleasure to invite you to the launch of the 11th issue of Perspectives: “Khadija, do not close the door!” - Women in Peace, in War and in Between Wednesday, December 14, 2016, 7 pm Dar El-Nimer for Arts & Culture, Clemenceau, Beirut  

Voting irregularities during student elections at universities

Now you can watch a video created by The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) in collaboration with Heinrich Boell Stiftung-Middle East showcasing some common voting irregularities during student elections at universities. The audiovisual was represented through the lens of a college student, who was continuously getting bombarded by campaigners trying to enforce these irregularities on him; namely coercion, intimidation, bribes, harassment, inaccessibility to the polling station, and lack of privacy in the secret ballot.

Civic Charter

Repression of civil society is on the rise all over the world. The charter aims to support civil society organizations as activists throughout the world, to advocate for their rights and freedom of action, and to demand government guarantees.

Bacchus and Bombs

While wandering around in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, Luna Ali reflects in four versatile sections on two important stages of her life. People, flavours and places make Luna look back into her past and different worlds of thought.
By Luna Ali

Jogging – Theatre in progress

Last performances this week 27, 28, 29, 30 October  English subtitles on 27, 29, 30 October French subtitles on the 28th Book your seat on joggingbooking@gmail.com ahead as the space can take in 75 to 80 persons maximum  Or call/WhatsApp 78841310 / 03035298 Looking forward to sharing this experience with you!

Horsh Beirut Festival 2016

After the recent opening of Horsh Beirut to the public, Assabil Friends of Public Libraries and the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Middle East will soon host #Horsh2016!

Naked legs beyond good and evil? Burkini vs. Speedos

On Europe's beaches, women are requested to show more skin, on Lebanese beaches, men are requested to cover up more. What in Germany is considered to be just normal swimming trunks is considered inappropriate in Lebanon.
By Brandie Podlech
Beyond Victims and Savages - Vol. 2 No. 1 - Summer 2016

Beyond Victims and Savages - Vol. 2 No. 1 - Summer 2016

Beyond Victims and Savages: The Complexities of Violence, Resistance, and Pleasure” could not be more timely. Working on the issue for the past six months and delving into accounts, narratives, and politics of resistance that refuse the equation of victim/savage was by itself a collective act of resistance. This collection speaks against the oppressive violence we are experiencing in groups of marginalized and tokenized communities, whether at the hands of sensationalized, violent oppression or those of liberal and right-wing representations and monolithic discourses. Ultimately, writing back, thinking back, and organizing back intersectionally as brown leftist feminists provide a powerful alternative to the mainstreaming of gender and the normalization of suffering.
حملة التضامن مع فلسطين في ديفون الشمالية

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

Roua Seghaier reviews Angela Davis’ "Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement." She highlights the intersections of history, memory, resistance, and movement building in times of violence. "International solidarity is not only possible, it is already showing signs of its emergence. Davis explains that the Ferguson movement has understood that it does not need the traditional charismatic Black male leadership. Without romanticizing the movement, she explains that agency shall not be limited to leaders, centering collectivity at the core of change instead."
By Roua Seghaier
Protest for Virginity Tests 27 Dec Solidarity stand in Egypt

Beyond the Logic of State Protection: Feminist Self-Defense in Cairo after the January 25 Revolution

In the aftermath of the January 25 Revolution, self-defense tactics became popular against the fear of disorder and the increase of public sexual violence in Cairo. In this article, I examine a number of examples of self-defense invoked by public and private actors after the 2011 Revolution, and differentiate between two types of practices. The first, articulated around the right of legitimate self-defense recognized in the Egyptian penal code, aim to maintain or to restore the established order through the identification of an Other that embodies a threat to the self, property or community. In contrast to this, radical modes of self-defense endeavor to subvert the given order by disrupting the gendered logic of masculinist and state protection and promoting horizontal relations of care and solidarity. Drawing on data generated through interviews with members of the initiative OpAntiSH and the collective WenDo, this article explores the importance of strategies and communities of autonomous self-defense in Egypt in relation to legal and policy measures adopted against sexual harassment by El-Sisi’s regime since 2014.
By Susana Galán

Breaking boundaries, biennially

Spring has returned. That is, SHAMS (the Cultural Cooperative Association for Youth in Theater and Cinema), Cultural Resource and partners have announced the program of the 2016 Spring Festival.

The Third Circle by Nancy Naous and Wael Koudaih

  The Third Circle by Nancy Naous and Wael Koudaih - Heinrich Böll Foundation Beirut - Middle East Watch on YouTube This external content requires your consent. Please note our privacy policy. The Third Circle is an installation and a performance, based on interviews made in Lebanon with several Muslim scholars, religious leaders and experts in Islamic law. After showing them the video extract of a dance performance below, the duo questioned them on how this piece might be created so as to conform to Islamic law. The intention was to find out, with regard to both the dance and the music, what would be authorized by the Sharia.
The Geographies of Body and Borders - Vol. 2 No. 2 - Winter 2016

The Geographies of Body and Borders - Vol. 2 No. 2 - Winter 2016

This issue opens with a description and a short excerpt of Dictaphone Group’s video performance Nothing to Declare. Dictaphone Group showed the video installation of their project at Kohl’s launch event on December 8, 2016. Nothing to Declare is a poignant project that follows the journey of three women, Tania El Khoury, Abir Saksouk, and Petra Serhal, along Lebanon’s old railway tracks, narrating their history and reflecting on borders as spaces of crossing, performance, and entrapment.
'Jinsiyati' Campaign

To Be the Daughter of a Lebanese Woman

On the day they removed her name completely from my official papers, my existence was transferred from her “guardianship” to the “guardianship” of my employer, whose name is on my residence card. Struck with fierce bitterness and sadness, I felt as though I had been shattered, like our house. My mother said to me: “It is as though I didn’t give birth to you, or as if I am not Lebanese. It is as though I mean nothing at all.”
By Sahar Mandour
غلاف كحل: مجلّة لأبحاث الجسد والجندر، المجلد الأول، العدد الثاني، شتاء 2015

From Ideology to Dogma? A Discussion About Femen, Aliaa Elmahdy and Nudity in the Arab World

Looking at Aliaa Elmahdy’s act of protest through posting naked photos of herself on her blog, this paper studies the debates that followed. I complicate the juxtaposing between Femen’s tactics and Elmahdy’s act of nudity through engaging in questions of feminism/colonialism and feminism/conservatism. By examining articles that were written about Femen, nudity, Muslim women, and body politics, I show that the debates ran the risk of stabilizing feminism within static dogmatic beliefs. Read the full Article in KOHL: A JOURNAL FOR BODY AND GENDER RESEARCH,VOLUME 1. ISSUE 2, WINTER 2015
By Maya El Helou

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