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.
