Vivre à l'Intersection de Deux Identités
“Voici pourquoi j’ai créé cette plateforme nommée The Mazeej Project. Offrir un espace de partage et d’expression pour toutes les personnes qui jonglent douloureusement entre leur africanité et leur arabité”
Living in the Intersection of Two Identities
“This is why I created this platform called “The Mazeej Project”. To offer a space for sharing and expressing for all those people who are painfully juggling their Africanness and Arabness.”
Let’s Talk About Afro Hair
For decades dark skin women like me – with hair that is tightly coiled and grows upward – were told that our hair is not beautiful, not professional, or not presentable.
LevantX Interviews Sid Sidibé
Sid Sidibé's deep interest in the African diaspora and their shared stories led him to travel the world to discover and document their lives. In this interview with LevantX editor Nareeman Dosa, Sid tells us about his background and what drove him to embark on this incredible journey. He also shared some of the struggles that he faced during his travels.
Black Pearl's First Healing Circle
We are so excited to announce that we are holding our first healing circle for Black Women today.
During this virtual event, women from Arabic speaking countries will discuss what self-love means, and how it can be used as a tool to counteract the societal pressures instilled in our minds.
Healing circles are designed to help us create private and safe spaces, to share what we are going through, and allow every voice to be heard and valued. It provides us with tools to open our minds and hearts to discover the best ways to heal our soul.
التجربة الأفرو - سعودية
أنت لست واحداً منا، عبد، أسود" عبارات مؤذية يسمعها العديد من السعوديين السود بشكل دائم. تجعلك تشعر بأنك منبوذ مجتمعيا، تثير فيك أحاسيس بالنقص وتجعلك تبحث في أعماقك عن مشكلة لاتعلم ماهي! وكلما سمعتها تشعر بأنك لاتنتمي الى مجتمعك والسبب لون بشرتك! هذه معضلة يواجهها العديد من السعوديين من أصول أفريقية في مجتمعاتهم
The Afro-Saudi Experience
“You’re not one of us”; This is something black Saudis constantly hear from other non-black Saudis. Can you picture a society where you feel like a complete outcast? Now imagine always being reminded you don’t belong because of the color of your skin, a dilemma many Afro-Saudis face within their own society.
أول وبينار للآلئ سوداء - Black Pearls’ First Webinar!
To kick off Black Pearls, our section editor Nareeman Dosa sat down with Khawla Ksiksi, an activist and Co-founder of “Voices of Tunisian Black Women” and Amna Ali, founder of “Black Arabs Collective”. What was meant to be a 20-minute discussion about anti-Blackness in the SWANA region, quickly bloomed into an hour and a half of heartfelt and moving discussion. Please watch with caution, as this honest discussion may include references to verbal, physical and sexual abuse.
Black is Beautiful: Blackness and Desirability in SWANA
With the conversation pertaining to race issues going global, we’re now finally witnessing a conversation about race in the Arab world.
But what does that really mean?
الجمال والسواد - في منطقة جنوب غرب آسيا وشمال أفريقيا
بعد مضي سنوات على تهميش قضايا المجتمعات العربية الأفريقية من ذوي البشرة السوداء، وظهور حركة "حياة السود مهمة" بعد عملية قتل عدة مواطنين أمريكيين سود مثل، جورج فلويد وأحمد أربري وبريونا تايلور، وجدت الحركة تضامناً عالمياً كبيرا للدفاع عن حقوق السود وإجبار المجتمعات المختلفة على تقبلهم. وأخيراً نرى الحديث عن العنصرية العرقية انتشر على نطاق واسع حول العالم العربي، بعد أن تحول الحديث الى قضية عالمية
Coffee with Lola
As part of our permanent Black Pearls series, we are following African Migrant workers in Lebanon. The Kafala system, the economic crises, and the Beirut Blast have led to extreme conditions for these workers. Under the current system, workers’ migration status is tied to their employer's household. With few protections, they are open to exploitation of earnings but also subject to physical and mental abuse.
إنكار العنصرية في العالم العربي
في محاولة لإظهار تضامنهم مع الأمريكيين السود ضد عنف الشرطة في الولايات المتحدة، نشر العديد من المشاهير العرب صوراً لهم تظهرهم ببشرة سوداء، ما عرضهم لحملة انتقادات واسعة عبر وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي لما تحمله عملية صبغ البشرة باللون الأسود من إيحاءات عنصرية
Racism in the Arab World: Invalidation and Denial
Because slavery is still a taboo topic, most Arabs nowadays are oblivious of the fact that it ever occurred. Discussing the Islamic stance on slavery is very sensitive as well and triggers strong reactions from people, who believe that Islam has banned it. However, the reality is, slavery was never abolished.
Finding Kin: A History of African Organization in the MENA
In the era of the BLM movement, a fascination in the seemingly “new” formations of political organizing of African descended people in the Middle East has cropped up in many media outlets. After much historical erasure, pieces have cropped up in numerous languages across regions. However, there is nothing new about these groups. Under the catalyst of BLM, it may seem like these groups have recently harried to mobilization; yet these collectives have coalesced for centuries.
أصداء فلويد: الأفروعرب في الشرق الأوسط
لا أستطيع التنفس" كانت آخر كلمات نطق بها جورج فلويد قبل وفاته على يد شرطة مينيابوليس، في الخامس والعشرين من مايو. في فترة زمنية مدتها ٨ دقائق و٤٦ ثانية، شاهد العالم رجلاً أسودًا مقيد اليدين مثبتًا على الأرض، بينما يضغط شرطي أبيض بركبته على عنقه، متجاهلاً صرخاته المتكررة طلبًا للمساعدة
Floyd’s Echoes: Afro-Arabs in the Middle East
“I can't breathe” were the last words of George Floyd before his death at the hands of the Minneapolis Police on the 25th of May. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the world saw a handcuffed black man pinned down to the ground with a police officer kneeling on his neck, ignoring his repeated cries for help.