Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Charline Bou Mansour
-
6 months from the Beirut blast, there’s still no hope of justice
It’s been six months since an explosion in Beirut tore apart the entire city and the Lebanese authorities have failed to deliver any justice for those affected. After the blast, people were forced to wake up every day and pick up the pieces in order to rebuild what was left…
-
MEMO in conversation with Zahra Hankir
The aftermath of the Beirut blast in August has shown the world how destitute Lebanon has become. People with nowhere to go, living in what’s left of their homes, in the rubble and debris with no help or aid. The blast was caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate which…
-
‘My life’s work is destroyed,’ laments artist after Beirut explosion
Maya Husseini, the first established Lebanese female stained glass artist, lost 30 years’ worth of work in the Beirut blast, the largest explosion in Lebanon’s history which devastated the capital on 4 August. “I couldn’t bring myself to look at the damage. For 4 or 5 days, I didn’t go…
-
Lebanese are no longer begging for change. Instead, they are begging to leave.
“Our lives have become very hard. They burned Lebanon. They burned its economy. They burned their own people.” Merched Bou Mansour reflected aloud, disgusted with what has so quickly become of his country in the space of a year. All three of his sons left the country between 2019 and…
-
Lebanese-British man cycles to Lebanon to raise funds for blast victims
A British-Lebanese man has cycled 4,200 kilometres from London to Beirut to raise money to support victims of the devastating blast that rocked the capital city. Nearly 200 people were killed and 300,000 were left homeless after the 4 August explosion which could be felt as far away as Cyprus. Horrified at images from…
-
Young Lebanese are tired of the bloodshed and want to escape Beirut
Lebanon has seen waves of emigration as a consequence of uncertainty and war throughout its history, leaving more of its nationals living outside the country than within it. The current crisis, which is widely seen as the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the civil war (1975 – 1990), has…
-
In Lebanon, women are being killed in their homes because of the lockdown
As the world experiences its largest and most restrictive lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus, gender-based violence has been on the rise with victims stuck at home with their abusers. Since quarantine began, more women have been reporting abuse in the Middle East and North Africa. According…