Lebanon
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The Assad regime and the civil war in Syria
Clash of barbarisms
Over the past four years, Assad has razed Syria to the ground. According to Lebanese intellectual Elias Khoury, Assad's regime has reached the end of the line, and the region finds itself in a situation similar to that at the end of the Ottoman Empire
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Crowdfunding for translations of Arabic literature
A new way to reach a wider readership
The "A Bird is not a Stone" crowdfunding campaign may not have gotten as much press as British scientists seeking to fund a moon landing through online donations, but it certainly made a ripple among Arabic literary translators. The success of this campaign showed that crowdfunding can be an important tool in bringing Arabic literature into European languages. By Marcia Lynx Qualey
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Book review: "What Makes a Man? Sex Talk in Beirut and Berlin"
An honest and painful cultural exchange
In 2003, two authors – one from Germany, one from Lebanon – spent time in each other's company and countries as part of a cultural exchange programme. Twelve years on, a book resulting from this encounter has been published: one section of the book details the Lebanese author's reaction to meeting a homosexual; another is devoted to the German author's rebuttal of this account. According to Nahrain Al-Mousawi, it is an unsettling read on many levels
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The economic impact of the Syrian war
Escaping the Middle East's violence trap
The Syrian civil war is having a devastating effect on the region. The economic ties that had been strengthened before the war have now been severed, and border closures have impeded trade. This is even more catastrophic as economic stability is essential for long-term political stability. By Adeel Malik and Bassem Awadallah
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Preventing terrorism in Lebanon
Dialogue behind bars
The world is horrified by the brutality of Islamic State (IS). Two young sisters are now doing what they can to prevent young Lebanese people from joining radical Islamist groups. By doing so, they are risking their lives. Juliane Metzker reports from Beirut
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Book review: Etel Adnan's "Conversations with My Soul"
Illuminating the obscure
In 1980, the Lebanese artist and writer Etel Adnan published the book-length poem "The Arab Apocalypse", which to this day is still regarded as one of the most important works on the civil war in Lebanon. A selection of some of Adnan's works has been translated into German and published under the title "Gespräche mit meiner Seele" (Conversations with My Soul). A review by Claudia Kramatschek
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Amjad Nasser on the role of Arab writers in Arab society
Speaking out in societies without words
In the last four years, Arab public intellectuals have come in for much close scrutiny and criticism. Some people complain that Arab thinkers and writers have disappeared from political life, while others argue that most of them are too much in the public eye, having allied themselves with one dictator or another. Marcia Lynx Qualey spoke to Jordanian poet and journalist Amjad Nasser about the role of Arab writers in contemporary Arab society
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Interview with Rami G. Khouri
Fragmentation of the Arab world
The Palestinian-Jordanian political scientist and writer Rami G. Khouri sees links between increasing religious fanaticism and the reinvigoration of the old elites after the Arabellion. In an interview with Juliane Metzker, he looks back at four years of transformation, stagnation and instability in the Arab states.
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Book review: Jabbour Douaihy's "June Rain"
A "whodunit" without the "who"
A "whodunit" without the "who"? What sounds like a recipe for disappointment for the reader is, according to Marcia Lynx Qualey, an important and a delightful book and certainly not the first contemporary Lebanese novel to take this approach
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Iran's foreign policy
All options are open
Is Iran part of the problem or part of the solution to the conflicts in the Near and Middle East? There are actually good arguments for both points of view. By Bahman Nirumand
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Women and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction
How many women does it take to win the IPAF?
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) was launched in 2007. Since then, only one woman has won the prize. Over the course of the past eight years, there has been much debate about the appearance (or not) of women on the long- and shortlists for the prize. Marcia Lynx Qualey looks back on the history of women and the IPAF
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The Lebanese singer Tania Saleh
Beirut's window on Rio
Even though the 45-year-old singer Tania Saleh never led the life of an underground artist, she hasn't trodden the comfortable and straightforward path of pop music either. As a young woman, she explored her talent and gained valuable experience in Beirut's rock scene. By Stefan Franzen