0:00 Intro

1:30 Catching up with Carmen

7:42 Day to Day Life in Beirut

19:20 Cancer

23:39 Neoliberal Capitalism

25:23 Structural Racism

29:20 Politics of Fear

33:47 Day by Day Mode

40:26 IMF Negotiations

47:36 Confessional Power Sharing

59:28 Lecturing in time of Covid

We're back with Carmen Geha for Episode 197 of The Beirut Banyan.

We discuss her recent 'The New Arab' pieces tackling the Lebanese government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and wider issues that link the pandemic to rampant corruption and the ongoing economic crisis.

Carmen reflects on her personal 'politics of hope' and overcoming political fear. We talk about a potential silver lining in failed IMF negotiations and how issues of structural racism tie in to a dysfunctional state's inability to implement laws that protect vulnerable groups including domestic workers.

Carmen Geha is an Associate Professor with Tenure at the American University of Beirut.

The pieces referred to in this episode are accessible below:

Corruption, not coronavirus, is ravaging Lebanon:

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2020/4/30/corruption-not-coronavirus-is-ravaging-lebanon

Beirut under quarantine: Why decades of unshackled neoliberalism left Lebanon in extreme danger from coronavirus:

Beirut under quarantine: Why decades of unshackled neoliberalism left Lebanon in extreme danger from coronavirus

https://medium.com/@levantophile/on-the-arab-identity-and-its-discontents-a-personal-reflection-and-a-survey-of-christian-163ed3bafd72

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Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.