October 21, 2020
by Brent Hamoud 2020 has been a most perplexing year, and even passports are feeling it. To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 nations have implemented unprecedented measures restricting the entry of select passports. This has added intrigue to an already dynamic historic moment, and no doubt some were slightly amused […]
May 7, 2020
by Brent Hamoud Humanity is spending a lot of time at home these days. Stay-at-home orders have largely limited us to private confines resulting in some staggering consequences: half the world’s population was under lockdown at one point, 9 out of 10 students have been left out of school and […]
February 27, 2020
By Brent Hamoud People are intuitively innovative, but religion is a realm where innovation can easily lag. Faith convictions have a history of taking lines in the sand and turning them into crevasses in concrete, especially regarding Christian-Muslim relations. Over the years many ideas have been inspired but not enough […]
November 20, 2019
by Brent Hamoud Tomorrow is November 22, Lebanese Independence Day, and it is bound to be another interesting day. Then again, every day of independence is interesting to me. Most of the world observes this modern phenomenon,[i] and surveying the list of when and from whom independence days were achieved […]
February 28, 2019
By Brent Hamoud The global elevation of human rights and individual liberties may be a historical trend but religious persecution remains an immense challenge in our times. Millions are suffering threats to their lives and wellbeing simply because they desire to embrace a particular religious identity and exercise faith convictions. […]
December 13, 2018
By Brent Hamoud How do we share a world with over 68 million victims of displacement? This is a defining question of the 21st century as unprecedented numbers of individuals have been uprooted from their homes and thrust into precarious existences on the fringes of our global systems. The phenomenon […]
May 17, 2018
By Brent Hamoud We tend to put faces on unfortunate things. It is not a good practice but we do it anyways. Famine has African faces, terrorism Muslim faces, the drug trade Latino faces, and on it goes. So it is with human displacement where the faces of Syrians, Palestinians […]
November 30, 2017
By Brent Hamoud Landscapes throughout the MENA region have been transformed by unfolding crises of forced migration. This is especially the case in Lebanon. An estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees reside within its borders adding layers of dimension to long-existing populations of displacement.[i] Many Syrian refugees reside in informal tented settlements. […]