The Beirut Banyan

0:00 Intro

4:12 Migration Complications & Covid-19

7:01 "How Covid-19 Halted NGO Migrant Rescues in the Mediterranean"

13:20 Geopolitical Threats

19:25 Legal Requirements & Maritime Law

34:27 The Power of Storytelling & Beirut

42:22 How Eric & I Met

52:31 Hopes for Lebanon

We're with Eric Reidy for Episode 148 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/G_rpqhIsjVo

We discuss his recent reporting on migration and Covid-19, and the security / political dimensions facing refugees fleeing the Middle East into Europe via the Mediterranean.

We also talk about his career in investigative journalism, and how he found his passion in storytelling while living in Beirut.

Check out his recent 'The New Humanitarian' pieces on migration by clicking below:

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/authors/eric-reidy

And read his obituary to Anthony Bourdain (mentioned in the episode) via the following link:

https://www.aljumhuriya.net/en/content/beirut-and-making-anthony-bourdain

Eric is a freelance journalist focusing on migration. Check out his wider reporting via his website:

https://ericreidy.com

And follow him on Twitter via the handle @eric_reidy

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

0:00 Intro

1:52 Decades-Long Rivalry & The Middle East

3:41 Youth & Collective Memory

12:04 Storytelling, the Wider Narrative Story & Local Details that Matter

16:17 Lebanon & the Protest Movement

22:30 Struggle & Initial Targets Following Revolution, Now & Then

29:24 The Way Forward for Lebanon

38:17 "Dancing into the Abyss"

We're with Kim Ghattas for Episode 147 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/EWPsSWtAtwQ

We discuss her recent book "Black Wave" and the wider struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for military dominance, political / economic influence and regime survivability in the Middle East. We also discuss "collective memory" within the Lebanese context, and why the youth matter most when it comes to translating just demands of demonstrators into lasting change.

Purchase “Black Wave” via the following link:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250131218

Kim is a non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She worked as a BBC journalist for two decades, and is the author of "The Secretary" about Hillary Clinton's tenure as US Secretary of State. She also wrote an obituary of Anthony Bourdain for The Atlantic, mentioned in this episode and linked below:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/how-lebanon-transformed-anthony-bourdain/562484/

Her BBC World Service piece, "Lebanon: Dancing into the Abyss" that included the aftermath of my father's assassination is accessible via the following link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s60ww

And the BBC Radio 4 piece that includes my WalkBeirut tour with John McCarthy can be heard by clicking here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j2bml

Check out Kim's personal website:

https://www.kimghattas.com:

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

We're with Lina Khatib for Episode 146 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/RhTAtG2ZJMM

We discuss the economic crisis in Lebanon and prospects for accountability and political reform given the complexities in tackling rampant corruption and sub-state weaponry. We also get into the distinction between the governing regime and the Lebanese state.

Lina leads the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, and is a co-founder of the World Metal Congress:

https://www.worldmetalcongress.org

She previously directed the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, and was the co-founding head of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.

Photo embedded from the World Metal Congress website.

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

I read one of my father's previous blog posts, "True or False?" for Episode 145 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/ZOSF5O5dpxs

And I reflect on what political reform should look like in light of economic decisions underway.

The previous interview I shared of my father in March 2013 can be viewed in full below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iChW3GUpqIY&t=2137s

My father's blogspot page is:

http://mohamadchatah.blogspot.com

VIDEO INTERVIEW FOOTAGE USED WITH PERMISSION BY © MTV Lebanon, ‘Beirut Al Yawm’, 2 March 2013

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

0:00 Intro

6:30 Trash River (2015)

10:32 Downtown Protests (2015)

15:23 Riad El Solh Water Cannons (2015)

16:00 Tear Gas (2019)

21:54 Running from Undercover Security

25:38 Protest & Counter-Protest (2019)

34:38 Baabda (2019)

41:25 Tires Burning (2019)

46:46 Security & Bank Machine (2019)

49:48 Attacks Against Journalists (2019)

52:17 Women & Young Protesters (2019)

54:54 Flare Shots (2019)

58:49 Martyrs Square (2019)

1:01:12 Empty Roads (2020)

1:04:58 Full Supermarket Shelves (2020)

1:07:40 Graffiti (2020)

1:10:19 Bank Attack (2020)

We're with Hasan Shaaban for Episode 144 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/uZ-XS9u7uIw

Hasan is a photojournalist for The Daily Star - Lebanon.

We discuss photographs taken during the 2015 'You Stink' protests, the ongoing '17 October 2019' uprising, and Covid-19's impact as demonstrators took a brief hiatus from the streets before returning en masse over the past few days.

Photographs embedded used with permission from Hasan Shaaban.

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

VIDEO INTERVIEW FOOTAGE © MTV Lebanon, Beirut Al Yawm, 2 March 2013

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/6SSP6a42xPQ

I share an interview with my father on MTV Lebanon / ‘Beirut Al Yawm’, including one of his last tweets posted five days before his assassination.

The full interview video can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iChW3GUpqIY&t=2137s

My father's twitter handle is:

@mohamad_chatah

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

I read one of my father's previous blog posts, "Déjà vu" for Episode 143 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/OOVyJCG0eaU

And I share reflections on the Lira's rapid devaluation and the 'broken record' that matters most.

My father's blogspot page is:

http://mohamadchatah.blogspot.com

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

We're with Mohamad Bazzi for Episode 142 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/HXElWWX-iy0

Mohamad is an award-winning journalist and journalism professor at New York University.

We discuss our shared experience living in New York during the Covid-19 pandemic and precautions taken as New York became the epicenter of the virus. We also reflect on growing up in Beirut and our familiarity with ongoing crises, and how we're handling a regular - and at times demanding - online routine.

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

We're with Josie Ensor for Episode 141 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/4YBSHtzvsik

Josie is the previous Middle East and current US correspondent for The Telegraph.

We discuss her piece "My memories of Syria, where the world collectively lost its humanity" released earlier this year:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/02/24/syria-world-collectively-lost-humanity/

And we reflect on her years living in Lebanon and reporting on the Syrian war.

Josie also shares her immediate experience contracting and recovering from Covid-19.

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

We're with Adham Sahloul and Shadi Hamid for Episode 140 of The Beirut Banyan.

Watch the video:

https://youtu.be/n_stQt1cAYY

Adham is a foreign policy analyst and former advisor to the Pete Buttigieg campaign. Shadi is a senior fellow at Brookings Institution.

We discuss their recent piece: "How Foreign Policy Factors for American Muslims in 2020":

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/04/03/how-foreign-policy-factors-for-american-muslims-in-2020/

And reflect on the Bernie Sanders campaign's willingness to strongly support Palestinian rights and engage American-Muslims' on wider concerns related to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

We examine the recent shift in American-Muslim attitudes towards homosexuality and the LGBTQ community, and why the center-left (largely personified by the Bernie Sanders campaign) resonated with many American-Muslim primary voters. Our discussion also reflects on recent protests in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, and whether protestor demands line up with current American policy vis-a-vis longstanding preference to stability and security.

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

Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.