Author: Ghida Ismail
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Justice Denied: The Perpetual Punishment of Palestinians
“Dark is Gaza’s night except for the glow of missiles, silent except for the sound of bombing, frightening except for the comfort of prayers, black except for the light of the martyrs. Good night, #Gaza,” tweeted the poet Hiba Abu Nada, in Arabic, on October 8th, 12 days before Israel killed her in an airstrike.… Read more
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The Forced Disappearance of Street Vendors in Beirut
On a sunny November day last year, a street vendor ran panickily down Beirut’s Corniche, pushing his cart, laden with corn and cotton candy, and crying out in agony. He was being chased by three police officers, who eventually caught and cuffed him. A little more than a year earlier, in June of 2021, a… Read more
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Transport Towards a More Just Lebanon
“There are probably less taxi drivers on the streets, and if the ride fare further increases because of fuel price hikes, I will stop working because I won’t get customers anymore,” said Jamal, who drove a shared taxi car also known as “service,” part of a largely self-organized and unregulated system securing affordable transportation to… Read more
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Lebanon experiences the largest global losses in Human Development amidst its worst-ever financial crisis.
A compounded crisis, consisting of an economic and financial crisis layered by the COVID-19 pandemic and a massive, deadly explosion of the port, has not only assailed Lebanon’s macroeconomy; but has also insidiously trickled down to impede and reverse the country’s progress in Human Development. Lebanon has experienced the greatest global drop in the United… Read more
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Moving in Lebanon is a luxury, only public transport is the solution
On one of the walls in the Gemmayze neighborhood of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, “Retrieving Beirut” is written, and below it is a drawing of a taxi car. The writings on Beirut’s walls call attention to the indispensability of mobility, secured through the network of taxis and buses/vans, in “retrieving” the city back from the grips of an economic and political… Read more
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Public responsibility for public transport in Lebanon
Near the old lighthouse in Beirut stood a barefoot boy, no older than 10 years and in denim pants that were far too short. He was trying to hail a shared taxi, popularly known in Lebanon as a service. When a taxi car finally approached, he ran to it, his feet numb against the ruggedness of… Read more
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Uganda’s street vendors need a working regulatory framework
Irene, a 56-year-old Ugandan, sat on the side of the road in a colourful dress, attempting to sell biscuits and candies to the empty street in Kampala. In efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, people in the Ugandan capital have been confined to their homes since March 2020, rendering streets deserted and street vendors… Read more
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The Pull Out Of The Poverty Trap
One warm afternoon in the historic Chawkbazar neighborhood of old Dhaka in Bangladesh, Shawkat, a 55-years-old rickshaw driver, was resting on the side of a road after hours of pulling his rickshaw in the day’s insufferable heat. On the other side of the road, a ten-year-old girl was standing with a toddler in her arm,… Read more
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Is Lebanon experiencing a revolution of the mind?
Tagged on one of the pillars of the resuscitated Egg in downtown Beirut is “ثورة فكرية” (revolution of the mind), a statement whose hidden artist scrawled to describe the nationwide protests that have commanded the streets of Lebanon since October 17, 2019. The protests attracted millions of Lebanese people from different confessions, regions and socio-economic… Read more