The Beirut Banyan

Reflections on Mohamad Chatah with Malek Mrowa, member of the Democratic Renewal Movement (Tajaddod).

Make sure to watch 'TEN YEARS' that includes conversations with family, friends and colleagues that reflect on Mohamad Chatah's life and career, a decade after his assassination:

https://youtu.be/_jAM77Vz7bk?si=69WFPNc6MDKIY-yT

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:02 Nassib Lahoud

2:45 Common cause

5:00 Civil society

13:40 Mathematical equation

15:08 Shared history

Reflections on Mohamad Chatah with former President Michel Sleiman.

Make sure to watch 'TEN YEARS' that includes conversations with family, friends and colleagues that reflect on Mohamad Chatah's life and career, a decade after his assassination:

https://youtu.be/_jAM77Vz7bk?si=69WFPNc6MDKIY-yT

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:02 Looking back

3:53 Problem-solving

9:04 Buildup to Baabda Declaration

12:24 Pursuing neutrality

15:35 On his own?

17:49 Characterization

21:00 Months leading up to assassination

24:11 How would you describe his loss?

26:16 Any comparison in history?

Reflections on Mohamad Chatah with Kataeb Party leader Samy Gemayel.

Make sure to watch 'TEN YEARS' that includes conversations with family, friends and colleagues that reflect on Mohamad Chatah's life and career, a decade after his assassination:

https://youtu.be/_jAM77Vz7bk?si=69WFPNc6MDKIY-yT

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:02 Looking back

3:26 Role within March 14

5:48 Problem-solving

8:24 Aligned positions

11:04 His thought process

13:49 Seeing through the problem

15:57 Any comparison?

20:13 Characterization

Reflections on Mohamad Chatah with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

Make sure to watch 'TEN YEARS' that includes conversations with family, friends and colleagues that reflect on Mohamad Chatah's life and career, a decade after his assassination:

https://youtu.be/_jAM77Vz7bk?si=69WFPNc6MDKIY-yT

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:09 Looking back

7:12 Friendship

8:55 Shared interpretation

10:55 His role in March 14

14:42 International relations

17:00 Mountain, valley & coast

21:28 Letter to Rouhani

24:16 Any comparison?

27:25 Last words

A conversation with co-founders of Poppin’ Pollen Randy Chartouni & Hoda Rizk, taped live at Aaliya's Books.

Click to watch: https://youtu.be/mvWP85c-ZAc

About bee-hiving tradition, energy boosting & wider benefits of pollen, bringing health awareness through digital marketing, & the difficulties of managing a startup business & relationship at once.

Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:53 Beekeeping tradition & nature

5:55 Organic

8:49 Benefits of pollen

13:06 Marketing

19:51 Awareness

23:24 Bee hive

30:02 Propolis

35:14 Queen bee

39:05 Be(e) with Each Other

46:08 Pressure

50:16 Successful startups

55:12 A Lebanese product

59:51 Sexual advantages of pollen

1:03:29 Q&A

A conversation with Wissam Kamal - stand-up comedian and filmmaker.

Discussing his journey in to stand-up comedy, vulnerability on stage, the power of satire and his upcoming special 'Ashtaf Zoom'.

We also talk about state attempts at censorship, battling stage freight, the writing and testing process at hand and encouraging more female comics on stage.

Taped live at Aaliya's Books.

Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:48 A scene

7:32 Completely exposed

16:21 Strength in laughter

29:00 Awk.word

36:16 Everything changes

43:37 Censorship

1:06:26 'Cancel culture'

1:19:43 Act in sign language

1:27:20 Stage freight

1:30:58 Honesty in storytelling

1:35:15 Writing process

1:45:02 Male dominated

A conversation with Naila Al Hares - sign language interpreter, instructor and founder of Sign With Naila.

Click to watch: https://youtu.be/SqYN2kS-jAM

Discussing the passion and pursuit behind Naila's sign language instruction, her mission to bridge communication between the hearing impaired and hearing communities and the personal journey that shaped her career and interpreter profession.

We also talk about different sign 'languages', lip reading along with several basic exercises shared with the audience.

Taped live at Aaliya's Books and released on International Day of Disabled Persons.

Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

4:41 Personal journey

9:55 Day to day activities

18:06 Sign language exercise

22:11 Access

30:20 Different types

36:19 Lip reading

41:59 Expressive

46:33 Another example

52:48 The basics

57:07 Coping

1:03:14 Perceived disadvantage

1:13:22 Rights of deaf community

1:19:14 Stigma

1:23:27 NGOs

1:30:43 Hearing impaired parents raising hearing children

1:45:04 In this country

1:47:42 Hearing impaired relative

1:59:47 Writing to communicate

A conversation with Simon Kachar - lecturer in political science at the American University of Beirut, fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs and author of 'Fouad Chehab and the Political Change in a Pluralistic Society'.

Click to watch: https://youtu.be/ntj65MQA9tM

Discussing the buildup to cross-communal power sharing and the national pact, 1958, the legacy of Fouad Chehab and a wider look at institutional building and foreign policy during the 1960s.

We also talk about the 1969 Cairo Agreement's long term implications, trying to replicate 'Chehabism' under those circumstances and 80 years of independence in retrospect.

Taped live at Aaliya's Books on Lebanon's Independence Day.

Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:04 Birth pangs of this country

8:20 Sectarian model

14:18 Reflective of Lebanese society

19:36 1958

27:16 Fouad Chehab's career

45:00 The system, itself

49:02 Deuxième bureau

53:51 Relations to political families

1:00:19 Post-Fouad Chehab

1:07:34 Who we are & where we are

1:11:39 The same position

1:19:19 Religious family laws

1:21:06 Palestine

1:22:47 Successors

1:25:32 'Chehabism'

1:28:14 Alternative narrative

1:30:28 Other political figures

1:40:45 Foreign policy

1:45:37 Sarkis & Frangieh dispute

1:50:21 Political reform

1:51:57 Forming a political party

A conversation with Wael Taleb - journalist at L'Orient Today.

Click to watch: https://youtu.be/FyJbW5P4z9M

Discussing the journalist's role in news reporting and features writing, built-in differences within fact-based coverage and opinion analysis, a wider meaning of 'Palestine' and sometimes separating a political cause from its people, feelings of liberation over time and how to transition from sub-state subjugation to a sovereign state.

Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:53 The journalist's job

8:18 Palestine

18:58 Narrative at stake

31:47 Expression

36:38 Feeling of liberation

47:39 A seat at the table

55:15 Domination to a state

1:10:07 Fallen in popularity

1:20:15 Not really involved

A conversation with Bashshar Haydar - professor of philosophy and the Mohammad Atallah chair of ethics at the American University of Beirut.

Click to watch: https://youtu.be/kBFTpM-J3QY

Discussing the wider topic of war ethics in philosophy, difficulties of academic/scholarly debate in times of ongoing and harrowing strife & his views on last week’s canceled AUB event, including the fallout that ensued.

Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

4:05 Ethics

26:58 'Unprovoked'

29:55 Context

39:25 Guest in question

58:32 Academia

1:15:27 'Cancel culture'

1:31:29 A life worth living