Essays and Features

Multiple Pressures From State Repression, Fundamentalist Retribution, Cultural Critiques and Competition From Global Media Choking Off The Voice Of The Arab Intellectual

By

Elie Chalala

Many definitions of Arab intellectuals are rooted in the idealistic tradition that glorifies them as guardians of values and ethics, as figures closer to “angels” and “faqihs,” who stand above politics and power struggles and enjoy a monopoly over the authority of knowledge. These notions reflect social illusions and popular perceptions of the time when intellectuals were considered part of a sacred class. A recurrent list of names often cited and idealized as intellectuals include Mahmoud Abbas al-Akkad, Taha Hussein, and Naguib Mahfouz. These perceptions clearly distinguish the intellectual from the politician.

Letter from Beirut: Corruption, War Denials, and Distorted History Lessons

Etel Adnan

These are days when many Lebanese and non-Lebanese remember the Lebanese Civil War (April 13, 1975). Sadly, the same generation of rulers who had led the bloody battles leaving over 150,000 dead still hold the reins over Lebanon. That is not all — these same warlords continue to wreak destruction through their corrupt and sectarian politics. Even those who were not born during the Lebanese Civil War are witnessing the old elite's evil deeds upon Lebanon. It is no wonder the letter the late Etel Adnan, the renowned Lebanese-American poet, novelist, and painter sent me in 1999 still hits hard today. Even 21 years later, her words capture the ills of Lebanon, its "Corruption, War Denials, and Distorted History Lessons." The artwork accompanying this letter is by the famous Lebanese-American Seta Manoukian, a work — as its title reveals — inspired by the Lebanese Civil War, parts of which Manoukian lived through.

A Book Fair Writes an Old Story: How a Poster — And Regional Politics — Sank Effort to Invigorate Lebanon’s Publishing Industry

By

Elie Chalala

Book publishers, journalists, authors, and cultural activists received a large blow earlier this month. The anticipated return of the Beirut International and Arab Book Fair was met with disappointment and anger as violence broke out over Hezbollah’s presence through some publishing houses, which many argued overshadowed the spirit of the event. For over half a century, the book fair has held a celebrated place in Lebanon’s culture. Considered the oldest Arab fair, the tradition began in April 1956 at the American University of Beirut, becoming a prestigious event showcasing thousands of titles and visited by tens of thousands for decades since its launch. Not even ceasing during the Lebanese civil war, the only time the book fair was previously canceled was in December 2006 during the anti-government sit-ins in downtown Beirut. The outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, the explosion of Beirut’s port later that year, and the worsening economic crisis forced it to once again close its doors until the surprise announcement of its return, marking its 63rd session, running from March 3 to March 13.

Islamic Scholar Hashem Saleh Shocks with Critique of Venerated 10th Century Scholar, Ibn Khaldun

By Elie Chalala and Naomi Pham

Syrian author Hashem Saleh has established himself as a critic, known for his searing criticisms of Amin Maalouf and other influential writers (his complaints of Maalouf’s “The Sinking of Civilizations” were covered in Al Jadid, Vol. 24, No.78, 2020). He levels his latest claim against an Arab giant, the Enlightenment thinker Ibn Khaldun, calling on scholars to examine the celebrated Arab historian, whom Saleh calls a fundamentalist. According to Saleh, we should not consider Ibn Khaldun a pioneer of free, enlightened, and tolerant thinking in the Arab Islamic heritage. Rather, Ibn Khaldun’s rejection of pluralism and support of jihad sets a tone of intolerance that offers little in today’s turbulent climate of religious wars, unrest, and the rise of Islamic extremism and Daesh.

Essays and Features

Lebanon, Land of Loss and Farewells, Looks Back And Forward as the New Year Begins

By Elie Chalala

Christmas and the New Year offer little to celebrate in Lebanon — not this past year, and not for some time. The streets, once vibrantly decorated with holiday lights and filled with crowds, remain a shadow of their former glory. Beirut’s legendary nightlife seems to be gasping for air in a country where people have lost their life savings and can no longer afford bread, much less traditional gift-giving and feasts. In somber silence does another year-end and the new year arrive, met with hopelessness and despair rather than good tidings and cheer.

Essays and Features

Beating Up the Already Battered: Modern Arab Media’s Role in Bullying and Harassment

By

Naomi Pham

Harming, intimidating, or mocking the vulnerable are familiar behaviors; some have witnessed the abuse from afar, while others have experienced it. We used to think of bullying as something that children do in the schoolyard, and ideally something they learn to stop after reflection and normal maturation. But beyond the playground, bullying and harassment serve as standard practice in fields like modern media. Arab media and television promote harmful and offensive depictions to impressionable audiences for higher ratings and money. Media networks also give platforms to regressive messages that cause both emotional and sometimes physical harm.

Honesty is Honored in Selection of Judge Tarek Bittar as Lebanon’s Person of the Year

By Elie Chalala

Swallowed by crisis after crisis, Lebanon has struggled to stand beneath an economic meltdown, the Beirut Port explosion in 2020, and the worsening pandemic under a government that has failed to serve its people. With mounting fears that the country will continue to sink into despair, the people of Lebanon are in dire need of hope. Hope, as it turns out, comes in the form of one judge’s determined pursuit of the perpetrators of the August port explosion. In December, the Arabic online journal Daraj, along with other columnists, named judge Tarek Bittar the “Person of the Year” to wide public approval, marking the first time Lebanon has selected an individual for the achievement.

Essays and Features

Sabah Fakhri: Loss of the Last Giant

By Sami Asmar

On 2 November 2021, the world lost a legendary singer at the age of 88 years. A Syrian who sang specifically the repertoire of his hometown of Aleppo and became popular worldwide in a rare occurrence due to his exceptional talent, charisma, perseverance, and specialization in a genre suiting his tenor voice and cultural background.

Born Sabahudine (or Sabah al-Din) Abu Qaws in 1933, when he committed to a career in the arts as a teenager, his family and teachers felt Abu Qaws did not have a musical ring to it. In honor of Fakhri al-Barudi, a Syrian national figure who also founded the conservatory of Damascus and was one of his earliest sponsors, he adopted the stage name Sabah Fakhri.

Essays and Features

Poet, Publisher, Painter, and Patron of the Arts: Remembering the Extraordinary Etel Adnan (1925-2021)

By

Elie Chalala

Lebanese-American writer Etel Adnan, beloved by many for her ‘meditative’ voice and colorful language in writing, passed away on November 14 in Paris at 96, leaving behind an evocative legacy of poetry, novels, and art that vividly depicted war, history, and nature.

Arab Publishing Industry Drowning in Tsunami of Economic, Social Crises

By Naomi Pham with Elie Chalala

There is an old saying: Cairo writes, Beirut prints, and Baghdad reads. Books have played essential roles in the Arab world’s intellectual scene, and bookshops in Syria and Lebanon flourished in the 1960s and 70s. However, readers’ relationships with books have changed in modern times; scholars and intellectuals no longer flock to bookstores as they did in the past. Instead, book publishing worldwide — particularly their physical print and sale — appear to be a dying trade in the digital age.

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