November 2011
8 posts
No to Marital Rape: One Day and An ongoing... →
Article part of a broader campaign aiming at criminalising marital rape in Lebanon
Nov 11th
1 note
8 tags
Portrait: Lola and Rita
Lola and Rita could make you think of Farha and Marha: always together, the one doesn’t go anywhere without the other. Don’t be fooled: unlike the proverbial pair, Lola and Rita are classic frenemies. Frenemy: your worst enemy, decked out in her finest BFF attire. Frenemies are not friends to each other: they only wear this label so they can tell you the worst things and possibly get away with...
Nov 3rd
99 notes
2 tags
Nov 1st
11 notes
14 tags
Look in the Mirror, Tell Me What You See
Ahem, have you gained weight? Is a question I’ve been hearing more than I care to mention since I’ve been back to Lebanon. Mind you, it’s the kind of question I hear EVERY time I come back to Lebanon, so much so that if it were actually true, if I HAD gained aforementioned weight, I wouldn’t be able to go through doors now. And last time I checked, I was well able to. Talking about weight is at...
Nov 1st
4 notes
October 2011
6 posts
Engagement between women key to rights’ campaigns... →
navigatethestream: Paola Salwan Daher, a member and trainer at Nasawiya feminist collective in Lebanon, highlights unique initiatives in Lebanon and Turkey that are helping end discrimination against women. Stumbled upon my article reposted hihihihi
Oct 25th
4 notes
7 tags
Portrait: GiGi
Gigi’s short for Ginette, the horrendous name her parents gave her, after her grandmother. Ginette, I ask you, her parents must have really hated her.  No, Gigi, was much better. It suited her long fake acrylic nails (Gigi had a very strict policy about her nails, as she repeatedly told her beautician, her cousin Roro (after Roro’s grandmother, Rindala): the longer, the better, with...
Oct 19th
8 notes
8 tags
Oct 17th
31 notes
Café Thawra: Blog Action Day 2011: On the Right to... →
Article posted on Café Thawra for Blog Action 2011 on Food. For more info, follow #BAD11 on Twitter
Oct 16th
9 tags
Lebanese Chronicles: Two
Sexual harassment in Lebanon is a reality. The fact is simply enunciated, yet I’ve heard the exasperated “oooohhh you’re exaggerating again!” more than I care to mention.  And yet it’s right there, looking at my breasts on a Gemmayzeh afternoon, going “smallah”, it’s right there, shouting “Shou hal 7elo!” on Hamra Street, it’s...
Oct 15th
Café Thawra: Where does Al Jazeera stands? The... →
Oct 3rd
September 2011
11 posts
9 tags
Troisième Roman, Première Page
“Ceci est une histoire vraie et fausse à la fois. C’est Beyrouth qui brûle, mais pour une fois pas de la manière dont vous l’imaginez. Je vous parle de la Beyrouth qui brûle la vie par les deux bouts, qui se brûle les doigts sur les joints qu’elle allume et les désirs qu’elle suscite. Nous sommes aisés ou pauvres,torturés parfois, bouleversés, souvent, paumés,...
Sep 30th
1 note
11 tags
Portrait: Abou Georges
Abou Georges is a “Chauffeur Taxi”, and by this, please understand “Client’s Worst Nightmare Extraordinaire”.  You see, people need him and his brotherhood of drivers linked by their ever powerful radio, so they have to put up with whatever he decides.  And if that means making his (rusty old ‘72 Merc) engine roar at 120km/h on the Ashrafieh/Hazmieh...
Sep 21st
3 notes
Chapter 5 of the Revolutionary on iLoubnan! (With... →
Sep 18th
10 tags
Portrait: Carole
Elle danse, Carole.  Elle danse et ses pieds marquent la cadence du temps, de la fuite inébranlable d’un temps qui meurtrit.  Elle danse, Carole.  Elle danse pour un peuple que l’on oublie et que l’on égorge, elle tend sa main vers ceux qui tombent et elle s’étire, s’étire pour apporter un semblant de dernière grâce à ceux à qui l’on ferme les yeux.  Elle...
Sep 16th
9 notes
7 tags
Beirut
Sticky heat, heavy with the smells of frangipani tree flowers, jasmin, gardenia, diesel and something very akin to sulphur.  Hustle and Bustle of a city that knows no rest, of people dancing to political and pop songs with equal mirth, laughing and drinking in a hidden garden, sharing slivers of their lives between two mouthfuls of mezza.  Families living on their cramped balconies, arguing...
Sep 11th
30 notes
3 tags
How to Live With A Revolutionary Without Losing... →
Meet me and Maya Zankoul every Friday for your healthy dose of revolutionary stories!
Sep 10th
4 tags
Girl Geek Camp in Lebanon: Turning Women into... →
Sep 7th
3 notes
5 tags
Sep 6th
17 notes
9 tags
Portrait: John-Rabih
Sometimes, when John-Rabih looks at himself in the mirror, he can’t help but feel a twinge of pride. Such charisma! Such good looks! Such composure, posture, class!  John-Rabih is a “social-entrepreneur” you see, something very akin to a regular entrepreneur, except that a social twist gives it a revolutionary cachet that’s proving to be very trendy and marketable....
Sep 6th
32 notes
7 tags
PURPLE HAZE - Short Story
This short story has been written for the exhibition Good Sex/Bad Sex/No Sex/Your Sex for World Health Sexual Day organised by AltCity in Lebanon. Pics available on Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paola-Salwan-Lebanese-Author/194530360576882  Schizophrenic. This is how I felt, drawing the lines of my lips a shocking red in Tara’s overflowing bathroom. The things that girl...
Sep 5th
3 notes