Cabaret Paulikevitch in Beirut became a flashpoint in 2025, when Lebanese dancer and artivist Alexandre Paulikevitch faced threats and incitement from both Christian and Islamist extremists over his baladi performance. Despite calls to ban the show and online campaigns depicting his work as “perversion”, the September 11 cabaret went ahead to a sold-out audience at Metro Al-Madina, turning the stage into a rare moment of public resistance for queer-coded dance and artistic freedom in Lebanon
Laylat al‑Iḥsās (“Night of Emotion”) in Tripoli on 30 August 2025 became a focal point of debate over concerts during the Gaza war. A day before the show, Hizb al‑Tahrir activists and self‑described “defenders of Gaza and religion” marched against the event, backed by a statement from the Association of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon. Despite pressure, the concert went ahead under heightened security and without reported incidents
Lebanon’s satirical TV series “Marhaba Dawle” has become a key test case for artistic freedom, after the Ministry of Interior sought to ban it, producer Firas Hatoum was interrogated by security forces, and Christian and Muslim institutions filed complaints over alleged insults to religion. The legal setbacks for the state, and rising moral panic, reveal how courts, security bodies and religious authorities are reshaping the space for televised satire.
In April 2025, Lebanese artist Hanane Hajj Ali performed her acclaimed play “Jogging – Theatre in Progress” at the Lebanese International University in Saida, to a calm audience and open discussion. Days later, the university condemned the show under moral and religious pretexts, following an online smear campaign that weaponised decontextualised video clips and threats. Artists and cultural workers mobilised in response, framing the case as a dangerous precedent for artistic freedom in Lebanon
Lebanon's General Security Censorship Bureau delayed the theatrical release of the acclaimed anthology film "Disorder" in July 2025, conditioning its screening license on removal of a 20-second scene depicting security force violence against protesters during the October 2019 uprising. Director Lucien Bourjeily, facing a binary choice between censorship or complete ban, reluctantly complied to protect the work of three other filmmakers. The incident underscores Lebanon's continued suppression of artistic documentation of state violence and exemplifies the extrajudicial nature of the country's film censorship system.
The January 2025 arrest of Lebanese comedian Qassem Jaber over a satirical video has ignited a national debate on freedom of expression. Jaber, known for mocking Hezbollah and its affiliates, was accused of defamation and sectarian incitement after targeting lawyer Bouchra al-Khalil. His case underscores the risks faced by artists challenging political powers in Lebanon, where tensions between satire and censorship remain high.
Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdul Rahman Yusuf Al-Qaradawi was deported from Lebanon to the UAE in early 2025, despite urgent warnings from human rights groups. Known for his politically charged poetry, Al-Qaradawi now faces potential torture and enforced disappearance. His case underscores growing regional threats to artistic freedom and expression, and raises serious questions about Lebanon’s role in enabling cross-border censorship.
Lebanon has banned Captain America: Brave New World due to the inclusion of Israeli actress Shira Haas as Sabra, a controversial character with ties to Israeli identity and history. Despite Marvel altering her background for the film, the move reignited political and cultural tensions. Activists, including the BDS movement, accuse Disney of promoting Israeli narratives, sparking protests and renewed calls for boycott across the Arab world.
Lebanon’s vibrant arts scene, known for its cultural richness and political critique, continues to face significant challenges due to censorship and harassment. Artists, filmmakers, and performers are frequently targeted by authorities, religious groups, and political factions when their work addresses sensitive issues such as politics, religion, or gender, domestically and abroad
Our partner Action for Hope is inviting for their Fa’ael Forum. The 2022 edition aims to present a realistic image of the economic, political, and social challenges facing art and cultural practitioners in the Arab region, specifically those who are on the margins of the central and elitist art circles, and it will also attempt to probe into some of the strategies used to address these challenges.
This forum will bring together over 20 former participants in the Fa’ael programme from several Arab countries, who also proposed the discussion topics in the program. We also added to the program brief focus sessions to shed light on the reality of cultural work in Yemen, Libya and Sudan, since very little information is available to art and culture practitioners beyond these countries’ borders.
We hope that the Forum will provide an opportunity, both for participants and for the general public, to get acquainted with the work of art and culture activists and directors outside of elitist circles. This is the second edition of the Forum, following last years’ first edition which took place online and was streamed on social media platforms. (The invitation text of Action for Hope)
Thursday 1 September to Saturday 3 of September 2022
At Al Madina Theatre, Beirut - Lebanon
Insights into Cultural Policies in Lebanon is a compilation of three studies that offers cultural researchers and workers, as well as others interested in cultural policies, an in-depth look at (1) the Legal Frameworks regulating the Lebanese Cultural Sector, (2) the public financing of culture, and (3) heritage and policymaking in the country. It is groundbreaking in its significant updates on research into cultural legislation, its exploration of essential details needed to understand the operational and budgetary mechanisms of the Ministry of Culture, and its highlight on threatened heritage, especially after the Beirut port explosion of 4 August 2020. The studies are introduced and edited by Hanane Hajj Ali and Nadia von Maltzahn, and were published in February 2021 after a long journey of research, drafting, and updating that began in 2017 by the Lebanese National Cultural Policy Group, with funding from Culture Resource and the Orient Institut.