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Maya Mikdashi
Why Secularism is Not the Answer; Gays in the Lebanese Khutba
In the past 48 hours, a debate has erupted on the facebook page of the movement to “overthrow the political sectarian regime in Lebanon.” This debate was not about how to accomplish this lofty goal, or how to better strategize for more effective and powerful street demonstrations, or even what the actual demands of the movement are, should be, and how these demands can be enacted. Rather, the debate is about homosexuals and homosexuality in Lebanon. What does homosexuality ...
Keep Reading »What is Political Sectarianism?
*Note: This analysis refers to political sectarianism in Lebanon, it cannot be “applied” to the workings of sectarianism in other contexts, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Bahrain or Bosnia Herzigovina. There is an ongoing spasm of activism in Lebanon directed towards changing the sectarian structure and ethos of the state. For the past five weeks, growing numbers of people have taken to the streets stating their refusal of both the March 14 and March 8 coalitions and ...
Keep Reading »It's Official: In 2006, The Lebanese Government Was Hoping Israel Would Disarm Hezbollah For them
![[Lebanon, August 2006. Moments after an Israeli air strike destroyed buildings in Dahieh: Image by Paolo Pellegrin]](/content_images/3/sm_PellegrinNYC60974Lebanon2006-700.jpg "[Lebanon, August 2006. Moments after an Israeli air strike destroyed buildings in Dahieh: Image by Paolo Pellegrin]")
So now we know. In 2006, as Israel was bombing Lebanese highways, power supplies, the airport, and oil reservoirs, the Lebanese Prime Minister was hoping that Israel would finish “the job” quickly and successfully. Now we know. As over a quarter of the population was displaced from their homes under the threat of missiles, tank fire and artillery, the then commander of the army and now president of Lebanon, was letting the Israeli government know that the Lebanese army would ...
Keep Reading »The Marriage of Sexism and Islamophobia; Re-Making the News on Egypt
![[Online Real Time Sexual Harassment Map of Egypt; Image by Harassmap.org]](/content_images/3/sm_Screenshot2011-02-20at6.43.52PM.png "[Online Real Time Sexual Harassment Map of Egypt; Image by Harassmap.org]")
I find myself intermittently infuriated and nauseated by the news coverage of the sexual assault on a female CBS reporter in Tahrir Square during the celebrations the day that Husni Mubarak resigned. This coverage has ranged from the disappointing silence of Al-Jazeera to the blatant racism of Fox News. What actually happened that day to Lara Logan, chief foreign correspondent for 60 Minutes, is not yet known and I have no interest in speculating over the lurid details ...
Keep Reading »Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon?
![[Lebanese Army: Image from Now Lebanon]](/content_images/3/sm_m08107111056-arminside.jpg "[Lebanese Army: Image from Now Lebanon]")
We are living in extraordinary times. 2011 Egypt, in hindsight, will be seen as just as, if not more, “historic” as the 1952 coup. This precedent and others illustrate that this revolution is not the instantiation of the political awakening of a “stagnant” part of the world, and nor was it brought to you (only) by Facebook or twitter. For now, the 2011 people’s uprisings in Egypt and in Tunisia resist categorization, and cannot be contained or explained by adjectives that ...
Keep Reading »Looking to Egypt, Again
![[Anti-Mubarak Protests in Cairo: Image from AP]](/content_images/3/sm_mideast-egypt-protest-2010-4-13-14-48-46.jpg "[Anti-Mubarak Protests in Cairo: Image from AP]")
I grew up hearing about Egypt. The Egypt of those stories, woven inextricably into the memories of my father and his brothers and sisters, was always one of strength, inspiration, beauty and steadfastness. It was the Egypt of Nasser and Um Kulthoum, of Arab Nationalism and of the Bandung Conference. It was the Egypt of solidarity with Palestine. As a child in Beirut, that place seemed as close as the catch in my father’s voice when he would talk about hearing Nasser on ...
Keep Reading »The Other Coup?
![[Flag of Lebanon]](/content_images/3/sm_le-lgflag.gif "[Flag of Lebanon]")
Lebanon has not had a government since January 12th , when ministers allied to the March 8 opposition movement withdrew from Cabinet, precipitating the collapse of the Sa`ad al Hariri led majority government. For months prior to the collapse of the Hariri-led government, the cabinet had been at a stalemate and had not been performing its constitutionally defined duties towards Lebanese citizens. The reason for that stalemate was the inability of the majority and the ...
Keep Reading »Boutros Harb For President
![[Boutros Harb: Image From Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_images-1.jpg "[Boutros Harb: Image From Unknown Archive]")
In my capacity as a founding editor of Jadaliyya, I hereby endorse Boutros Harb, current Lebanese Minister of Labor, for the office of President of the republic. If Lebanon were a country where presidential candidates actually stood for elections and citizens actually voted to choose who would occupy the office of the President[1], I would certainly vote for him. I would even campaign for him. Throughout a long career of public service to his country, Mr. Harb has ...
Keep Reading »Lebanese Ideology and Boutros Harb: Separate, But [ Kind of] Equal
![[Boutros Harb: Image From Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_16bios.harb.190.jpg "[Boutros Harb: Image From Unknown Archive]")
For over a week now, the debate on a draft law proposed by Lebanese Minister of Labor and former presidential candidate Boutros Harb has been heating up. If passed by the Lebanese state, this law would make it illegal for a period of 15 years for Christians to sell land, apartments, houses or commercial property to Muslims, and vice versa. The draft law has won the support of the Maronite Patriarch, Samir Geagea, Amin Gemeyal, and Future party MP Ahmad Fatfat. Harb has ...
Keep Reading »A Legal Guide to Being a Lebanese Woman, Part 2
![[wedding rings. Image from unknown archive]](/content_images/3/sm_gods_design_for_marriage_umjr.jpg "[wedding rings. Image from unknown archive]")
In Part 1 of A Legal Guide to Being a Lebanese Woman, I represented graphically a number of the laws that constitute Lebanese male and female citizens differently. I meant to show how the Lebanese legal system as a whole is built to produce categories of citizenship that are differentiated according to sex. In this post I build on this argument and question why religious personal status is often posited as the “problem” for women in countries where the secular state is just ...
Keep Reading »Bio
Maya Mikdashi is a PhD candidate at Columbia University's Department of Anthropology and Co-Director of the documentary film About Baghdad. Maya is currently a Faculty Fellow and Director of Graduate Studies at the NYU Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies. She is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine.
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