Democratisation & Human Rights

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.

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!

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.

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!

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."

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.

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 - 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.