معبر | Maabar

Support "Maabar" on Patreon. War is an abstract concept until the moment your neighbours start amassing weapons and sandbagging their buildings and checkpoints line the streets. Tensions are high, divides are deep and anxieties spread far across. Clashes are no longer isolated incidents. Strategies come up on how to best defend your territory against the enemy - who was the enemy again? The fear o...

Support "Maabar" on Patreon. When regions are cut off from one another, and checkpoints and snipers slice the country into hundreds of little pieces, how do you get from one place to another? How do you get to work, see your family, go about your life? What if, after dinner, you get a craving for ice cream from that one shop that is three checkpoints and two sniper crossings away? How do you keep...

Support "Maabar" on Patreon . With telephone lines down, roads blocked and snipers monitoring all movement, how did our parents stay in touch -- with friends, family and each other? How did they update and reassure each other about the situation and their whereabouts? For many, the walkie talkie was the only means of communication, a thread people clung on to for sanity through the long hours of t...

All day people are gathered in front of the radio, the jingle starts, the news comes on. The relief to finally have news of what is happening today. There are also people gathered behind the radio, living for the news, trying not do die while making the news. The relief to manage to air one more flash, after the all the absurdity of making it happen. The radio, the TV, the news, a lifeline to the...

“Can the fighting start already so school can close?” For children, school is meant to serve as a safe space, like a second home, where they go to learn, play and nurture friendships. A space that builds towards their future. But war changes everything. What was once a safe space, can no longer protect them. With education disrupted and their playgrounds destroyed, what does it mean to be a studen...

Support "Maabar" on Patreon . "A child hears about death and destruction, of course that instills fear”. How does a child understand war? How do they comprehend the gravity of the situation? From the deafening sounds of bombs and bullets to the sight of someone pulling a gun on your father at a checkpoint. At an age where children are supposed to learn and play, our parents were children raised in...

Maabar is a 12-part podcast series on the Lebanese Civil War, cutting across two genres – Oral History and Documentary – it dives into the layers of what was experienced, what is remembered and what therefore still exists. Following no particular chronology, the podcast traces themes and shared experiences, as by removing time and space, we have room to open a different conversation about the war....

Tapping into the memory of a country, Maabar is a podcast series retracing the Lebanese Civil War through the memories and stories of the people who lived it. 1st Episode airs on May 5, 2022.