Author: Mona Naggar

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Georges Gerges, 90, nicknamed "Captain' feeds his cats at the corner of a street in the industrial zone of Dora on the northern outskirts of Beirut on 8 November 2017 (photo: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid)

Social inequality in the Arab world

There is no state in Lebanon

Poverty is more than a lack of money, as the World Bank definition confirms. Moreover, it is harder to bear in countries where social inequality is more marked and individuals have less chance of social advancement. Mona Naggar recounts her observations from living in BeirutMore

Syrian refugee children: Urgent action requiredHistory of the Lebanese civil war: Coming to blows over a school textbookLebanon′s education system: The problem with political IslamInterview with Nadine Labaki: Thinking outside the box
Lebanese army troops fighting radical sheikh al-Assir in Sidon (photo: Reuters)

Tension between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon

New Lines of Demarcation

The effects of the war in Syria are being felt in Lebanon. Violent confrontations are flaring up between the Sunnis and the Shiites in a country in which several religious groups have to coexist. And there is no reason to assume that the situation will improve. Mona Naggar reports from BeirutMore

Assassination of Lebanese Intelligence Chief al-Hassan: Lebanon in Syrian CaptivityTension in Lebanon: In the Shadow of the Syrian RevolutionHezbollah and the Uprising in Syria: Can the ''Party of God'' Weather the Arab Spring?
Martyrs' Square in Beirut during Wissam Al-Hassan's funeral service (photo: DW/Mona Naggar)

Protests against Assad in Beirut

Unrest and Political Uncertainty in Lebanon

Lebanon remains in shock after the country's domestic intelligence chief was killed in a bomb attack. For the Lebanese opposition it was clear right away that those who planned the assassination were to be found in the Syrian capital Damascus. Mona Naggar reports from BeirutMore

Assassination of Lebanese Intelligence Chief al-Hassan: Lebanon in Syrian CaptivityTension in Lebanon: In the Shadow of the Syrian RevolutionChristians in Lebanon: Caught between the Frontlines
pope Benedict XVI. and preachers in Lebanon (photo: Reuters)

Christians in Lebanon

Caught between the Frontlines

The Pope visited Lebanon at a precarious time. The destabilisation of Syria may have given Christians more room to manoeuvre, but they are also being dragged into the conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Mona Naggar reports from BeirutMore

Christian Minorities in the Islamic World: No Arab Spring for ChristiansThe Palestinian Pastor Mitri Raheb: ''A closed off Islam is dangerous for Muslims''Interview with the Lebanese Christian politician Tarek Mitri on Christians and the Arab Spring
Still from Nadine Labaki's latest film 'Where do we go now?' (source: dpa/TOBIS films)

Interview with Nadine Labaki

Thinking Outside the Box

The film Where Do We Go Now? will open in cinemas across Germany this week. It is set in a remote Lebanese village where Christians and Muslims live peacefully side by side and tells the story of how the women of the village use cunning and imagination to prevent war from breaking out among their menfolk. Mona Naggar met director Nadine Labaki in BeirutMore

Nadine Labaki's Film "Caramel": Rules of the Game beyond the Civil WarArab Cinema: Focus on WomenDocumentary: "One Man Village": Living in a Lebanese Ghost TownThe Road Movie ''Father Is Doing Fine'': In a White Van to Ramallah
Tarek Mitri addressing the UN Security Council in 2006 (photo: AP)

Interview with Tarek Mitri

The Fruits of Pent-Up Fear

The Lebanese Christian politician and university lecturer Tarek Mitri is critical of the withdrawal of many Arab Christians from the societies in which they live. In this interview with Mona Naggar he calls for a revival of "Arab Renaissance" idealsMore

Relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt: Civil Society Instead of ConfessionalismSyria: The Opposition and the Church: A Slap in the Face for the Pro-Democracy MovementEgypt's Christian Minority: Copts Fear for the FutureChristians in Aleppo: Rumblings beneath the Surface
Women protesting in Cairo against the Mubarak regime (photo: dpa)

Interview with Sami Kilani

''The Symbol of Resistance Is Not the Bullet!''

The Deacon of the Faculty for Education at the An Najah University in Nablus, Sami Kilani, is among the most influential advocates of non-violence in the Arab world. He is optimistic that the peaceful form of protest conducted in Tunisia and Egypt is an example that will be followed in other Arab countriesMore

Dossiers: Uprisings in the Arab WorldPro-Palestinian Peace Activists in Germany: Against Political Pigeonholing
Adonis (photo: dpa)

Arab Intellectuals and the Arab Spring

The Silence of the Thinkers

Many intellectuals in the Arab world had already made their peace with the autocrats and dictators. Few of them made an active contribution to the Arab Spring movements. A commentary by Mona NaggarMore

Sadiq Al-Azm on Arab Intellectuals and the Arab SpringHans Magnus Enzensberger: "Europe Has No Copyright on the Enlightenment"Qantara-Dossier: Arabsiche Literatur
Newspapers in Damascus, Syria (photo: Mona Naggar)

The Press in Syria

Independent Media as Enemies of the System

Syria always ranks close to the bottom of the Press Freedom Index published annually by the organisation "Reporters Without Borders". And as Mona Naggar reports, the Ba'ath regime has stepped up censorship and persecution in response to recent protests in the countryMore

Uprisings in Syria: Assad Shows His True ColoursIn the Protests in Syria: In the Clutches of the Assad Clan
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm (photo: Wikipedia)

Interview with Sadiq Jalal al-Azm

A New Spirit of Revolution

Al-Azm is among the most critical of Arab thinkers. In an interview with Mona Naggar he sheds light on the role of intellectuals during the Arab Spring and the current state of protest movements in the regionMore