imperialism

Picture of Beirut city and Raoushe coastal line

A World Gone Cold, Un Coin de Paradis

~Zulfikar~

A world Gone Cold
By: -Reem Youssef-

In shadows deep where silence reigns,
The cries of many drown in chains,
What once was right now wears a mask,
As apathy becomes our daily task.

Evil walks with a casual grace,
While kindness fades without a trace,
We turn away, our hears grown numb,
As suffering echoes, a distant drum.

Children laugh in sheltered light,
Unaware of the endless night.
Yet guild creeps in like a thief at dawn,
For every joy, a sorrow drawn.

How can we feast while others starve?
Injustice thrives where we should carve
A path of hope, a hand to lend,
But instead, we watch as shadows blend., read more

Reflections on James Bond: Skyfall and the Propaganda of Destruction

~Zulfikar~

My partner and I decided to rewatch all the James Bond movies, starting with the Daniel Craig series and working our way backward.

I know if you’re reading this then you’re probably thinking “why tho…?”

And I can’t really say much besides that we’ve been together for 23 years, and we do stuff like this. I should probably also mention that neither of us are huge James Bond fans. I watched a couple of the Sean Conary ones as a kid, and then the Pierce Brosnan ones with my friends when I was a teenager. I mean…they’re movies, they passed the time and I chilled with friends, can’t really say more than that. read more

One Year

~Zulfikar~

By -Sarah B-

Mornings become mournings,
witnessing new worst worsts.
Group chats flood with news
forwards and check-ins,
still alive,
for now.
I watch my neighbour pace,
el wad3 sa3b.
Fridge filled with Tupperware from
a coping mother cooking.
Every sentence ends with a prayer,
Hamdillah.
Another Halloween, I am haunted
by bones and blood, because in
Falastine,
there’s no pretend.

We watch our skies light up,
with weapons custom designed for
us.
People become landmines in
Lebanon.
Detonate. Decimate.
Desecrate. Des/create. create from
desecreation:
ovens out of oil cans,
wind powered electricity from
plastic fans,
sewing machines run by bicycle
wheels,
life from destruction,
hope from telling,
truth. read more

Bodies Fall but Ideas Endure

~Zulfikar~

The great Ghassan Kanafani said this. The 36 year old author, and politician, was assassinated along with his 17 year old niece in a car bomb planted by the Israeli Mossad. Yet his ideas, values and virtues, that empowered his will to resist, reverberate decades later. To this day he stands as an insurmountable symbol of strength, sumud (steadfastness), and uncompromising integrity.

On Friday, September 27, 2024, Israel assassinated another powerful figure of the Lebanese Arab resistance and secretary general of Hezb’Allah, Sayed Hasan Nasrallah. Israel’s weapon of choice for murdering Nasrallah was infinitely more barbaric and monstrous than that of any other Arab resistance leader that I can recall; carpet bombing six residential buildings in the Dahiyeh, a small suburb in Beirut Lebanon. read more

Thoughts on the U.S. and Israel’s Settler Colonialist Project in the Levant

~Zulfikar~

I’m Lebanese-Syrian. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1980. My mother is Syrian and my father is Lebanese. My family and I have lived through and survived Israel’s war on Lebanon, and the Lebanese civil war, not to mention the wars on and in Syria. I would like to say that I’m no stranger to the politics in my two countries and that whole region, but with how much history there is I always felt like I didn’t know enough.

I grew up in Burj-al-Barajneh, a refugee camp that was set up for Palestinians who were driven out of Palestine by Israel. Palestinians are like family to me, there isn’t much distinction, we lived and grew up together. And though I have never been to Palestine, my love for it is born from the love for my Palestinian friends and family. I unequivocally stand in solidarity with them. read more