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13.06.25 — Michelle Eid Beyond the capital: Revival of cultural production and local identity in Tripoli

Beirut For decades, particularly after the Lebanese Civil War, Beirut has dominated Lebanon’s cultural imagination. Home to the country’s largest theaters, music venues, publishing houses, and festivals, the capital has been positioned as the heart of cultural life—not just for Lebanon, but for much of the region. This centralization, however, has come at a cost. It […] Read more

13.06.25 — Independent Media Network on the Arab World Culture in a time of shrinking political space

Uncategorized It’s difficult to think about cultural production in the Arab world without considering the political context in which it unfolds. Culture is not merely a mirror of reality—it is part of reality’s very structure, shaped by its movements and transformations. Over the past decade, as political life and public space have steadily contracted across many […] Read more

28.06.24 — Layla Yammine The struggle for mental health in Lebanon’s multiple crises

Beirut The tremendous pressure since the start of Lebanon's financial collapse has left millions of people unable to afford mental health services. Read more

27.06.24 — Léonard Sompairac Mental health, a political issue in the Arab world

Uncategorized Dossier on mental health in the Arab world produced as part of the activities of the Independent Media Network on the Arab World. Read more

12.11.21 — Amro Ali Where couscous ends

Alexandria Casablanca Alexandria’s connection to the Maghreb is often overlooked. But the cosmopolitan port city developed through centuries of migration and influence from the western side of the Mediterranean, up until the colonial era and the building of self-centered nation states. Read more

10.11.21 — Habib Battah Unavailable and unsanitary

Beirut A sign at the entrance of Kamed El Loz refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa valley promises to solve water issues but residents say they have been abandoned. Read more

02.11.21 — Myriam Amri The red gold of Tabarka Tunis In northern Tunisia, seaside Tabarka has played a central role in coral fishing and cross-Mediterranean trade since at least the 15th century. Today, red coral continues to be traded across the sea, despite reef degradation and the informal workings of coral trade networks. Read more

30.10.21 — Kaya Genç Neo-Ottoman cruise Tripoli LB In 2010, with great fanfare, Turkey inaugurated a ferry route between Mersin and Lebanon’s Tripoli, a first between the two countries. It was hailed as an important milestone in Turkey’s strategy of renewed engagement with former Ottoman territories. The latter failed but the ferry line managed to survive. Read more

26.10.21 — Clément Girardot Phoenix canariensis Mashallah region A native of the Canary Islands, the Phoenix canariensis was planted en masse on the Riviera in the 19th century. For vacationers and locals alike, this palm has come to embody the Mediterranean ideal of leisure and rest. But 150 years later, it is facing a deadly threat. Read more

22.10.21 — Jenny Gustafsson Quarantining whom?

Beirut Mashallah region The word quarantine made an unexpected comeback in 2020, after having been out of mind for as long as most of us can remember. But only as far back as the early 20th century, crossing the Mediterranean often meant spending weeks in isolation. Then and now, something remains true. Not all travellers are equal. Read more

Beyond the capital: Revival of cultural production and local identity in Tripoli 13.06.25 — Michelle Eid

Beirut

For decades, particularly after the Lebanese Civil War, Beirut has dominated Lebanon’s cultural imagination. Home to the country’s largest theaters, music venues, publishing houses, and festivals, the capital has been positioned as the heart of cultural life—not just for Lebanon, but for much of the region. This centralization, however, has come at a cost. It […]

Culture in a time of shrinking political space 13.06.25 — Independent Media Network on the Arab World

Uncategorized

It’s difficult to think about cultural production in the Arab world without considering the political context in which it unfolds. Culture is not merely a mirror of reality—it is part of reality’s very structure, shaped by its movements and transformations. Over the past decade, as political life and public space have steadily contracted across many […]

The struggle for mental health in Lebanon’s multiple crises 28.06.24 — Layla Yammine

Beirut

The tremendous pressure since the start of Lebanon’s financial collapse has left millions of people unable to afford mental health services.

Series

The Mediterranean is more than a water body. Its shores and inhabitants are interlinked by centuries of exchange.
What happens to the mind and soul when we move places? In times of global immobility and isolation, what does the word migration mean beyond movement?
ماذا يحدث للعقل والروح عندما ننتقل من مكان إلى آخر؟ وفي زمن الجمود والعزلة حول العالم، ما الذي قد تعنيه كلمة الهجرة خارج حدود الحركة والتنقل؟
A neighbour, a person living by our side. We may differ in manners and ideas of how things should be done, but we will always stay closely connected.
More than a tool for reflecting what is, language is also a means of producing the real. It also has subversive potential – the ability to speak new kinds of selves, communities and solidarities into being, to resurrect mute narratives and resuscitate those that are running out of breath.

Visual Stories

Perhaps one spring 16.10.11 — Ismaël Abdallah

Beirut

Through the idea of civil marriage, photographer Florent Meng focuses on secularism in a country where the only recognised marriage is religious.

The cyber art of Burak Arıkan 11.10.11 — Clément Girardot

Istanbul

Burak Arıkan is a pioneer on Turkey’s contemporary art scene. His works, which span software programming, electronics, networks and maps, are at the crossroads of the digital and the real world.

Rafah divided 02.10.11 — Pauline Beugnies

Gaza

The Keshta family, originally from Rafah, lives on both sides of the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Tarlabaşı: the dusk 14.04.13 — Svetlana Eremina

Istanbul

Tarlabaşı has long been a neighbourhood where Turkey’s most marginalised communities live. Close to the prosperous heart of the city, the area represents the world of ‘the other’.