{ "article": { "title" : "Not Collateral Damage: A Visual Record of South Lebanon’s Ecology, or, Mapping the Species of a Wounded Land", "author" : "Sarah Sinno, Aude Abou Nasr", "category" : "visual", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/mapping-the-species-of-a-wounded-land", "date" : "2025-07-20 17:35:46 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/EPP-Map-0707-fruits.jpg", "excerpt" : "This collaborative project by illustrator Aude Abou Nasr and researcher Sarah Sinno builds on a map originally created by Aude for Sarah’s article, featured in The Land Remembers at the 2025 Venice Biennale, curated by the Collective for Architecture Lebanon.", "content" : "This collaborative project by illustrator Aude Abou Nasr and researcher Sarah Sinno builds on a map originally created by Aude for Sarah’s article, featured in The Land Remembers at the 2025 Venice Biennale, curated by the Collective for Architecture Lebanon.Wars are typically measured in human casualties, economic losses, and the destruction of infrastructure or cultural heritage. But what happens to the land remains an afterthought, if considered at all. Entire ecosystems are disrupted by war, yet much of this loss is routinely ignored or dismissed as collateral damage.While it is difficult to quantify how many non-human species have been killed, injured, or displaced, statistics tell only part of the story. Numbers may reveal the scale of destruction, but they fail to convey the depth of what has been lost. As vast stretches of land are burned, poisoned and ravaged, we must ask: Who were the species that thrived here?In response to that question, we created a map that does not reduce life to abstract numbers. Instead, we chose to illustrate some of the native species that embody the ecological richness of South Lebanon. Through visual representation, we restore presence to what is so often made invisible.Each of these species is rooted in our southern landscape, and many are embedded in local knowledge, oral traditions, and healing practices, reminders that in South Lebanon, ecology, culture, and community are inseparable.Of course, the biodiversity of South Lebanon is far too vast to be contained within a single map. What we offer here is merely a glimpse of what exists. We selected a handful of trees, herbs, flowers, and animals, not because they are more valuable than others (we reject the logic of selective worth), but simply because space was limited. By representing a few, we hope to honor the value of all.This map gives voice to those who cannot speak for themselves, those so often pushed to the margins by war, occupation and colonial systems that desecrate all forms of life. It insists that their loss, too, matters. By making their presence known, we challenge the silence that often surrounds non-human suffering and remind everyone that colonial violence does not stop at the pain inflicted on human bodies: It devastates entire ecological worlds, severing the interdependent relationships between people, land and the ecosystems that sustain them. Fennel Common Mallow Pistacia Palaestina Iris Palaestina Green sea turtle Sea Daffodil Rock Hyrax Red Fox Pomegranate (Punica Granatum) Pine Tree Fritillaria Libanotica Long-eared Hedgehog Inula Viscosa Thyme (Za’atar) Wild Rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus) Ricotia Lunaria Striped Hyena Fig Tree Orange Tree Alcea Setosa Veronica Syriaca Grape Lebanese Oak (Quercus Libani) Olive Tree Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua) Hyancinthus Orientalis Lupinus Digitatus Gazelle Hawthorn Sage Tobacco Dandelion Myrtle Partidge Geranium Libani Golden Jackal Anise Acantholimon Libanoticum Polyommatus Isauricoides Gundelia Tournefortii" } , "relatedposts": [ { "title" : "100+ Years of Genocidal Intent in Palestine", "author" : "Collis Browne", "category" : "essays", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/100-years-of-genocidal-intent", "date" : "2025-10-07 18:01:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/1920-jerusalem.jpg", "excerpt" : "Every single Israeli prime minister, president, and major Zionist leader has voiced clear intent to erase the Palestinian people from their lands, either by forced expulsion, or military violence. From Herzl and Chaim Weizmann to Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, the record is not ambiguous:", "content" : "Every single Israeli prime minister, president, and major Zionist leader has voiced clear intent to erase the Palestinian people from their lands, either by forced expulsion, or military violence. From Herzl and Chaim Weizmann to Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, the record is not ambiguous:{% for person in site.data.genocidalquotes %}{{ person.name }}{% if person.title %}<p class=\"title-xs\">{{ person.title }}</p>{% endif %}{% for quote in person.quotes %}“{{ quote.text }}”{% if quote.source %}— {{ quote.source }}{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endfor %}" } , { "title" : "Dignity Before Stadiums:: Morocco’s Digital Uprising", "author" : "Cheb Gado", "category" : "", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/dignity-before-stadiums", "date" : "2025-10-02 09:08:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/EIP_Cover_Morocco_GenZ.jpg", "excerpt" : "No one expected a generation raised on smartphones and TikTok clips to ignite a spark of protest shaking Morocco’s streets. But Gen Z, the children of the internet and speed, have stepped forward to write a new chapter in the history of uprisings, in their own style.The wave of anger began with everyday struggles that cut deep into young people’s lives: soaring prices, lack of social justice, and the silencing of their voices in politics. They didn’t need traditional leaders or party manifestos; the movement was born out of a single hashtag that spread like wildfire, transforming individual frustration into collective momentum.", "content" : "No one expected a generation raised on smartphones and TikTok clips to ignite a spark of protest shaking Morocco’s streets. But Gen Z, the children of the internet and speed, have stepped forward to write a new chapter in the history of uprisings, in their own style.The wave of anger began with everyday struggles that cut deep into young people’s lives: soaring prices, lack of social justice, and the silencing of their voices in politics. They didn’t need traditional leaders or party manifestos; the movement was born out of a single hashtag that spread like wildfire, transforming individual frustration into collective momentum.One of the sharpest contradictions fueling the protests was the billions poured into World Cup-related preparations, while ordinary citizens remained marginalized when it came to healthcare and education.This awareness quickly turned into chants and slogans echoing through the streets: “Dignity begins with schools and hospitals, not with putting on a show for the world.”What set this movement apart was not only its presence on the streets, but also the way it reinvented protest itself:Live filming: Phone cameras revealed events moment by moment, exposing abuses instantly.Memes and satire: A powerful weapon to dismantle authority’s aura, turning complex political discourse into viral, shareable content.Decentralized networks: No leader, no party, just small, fast-moving groups connected online, able to appear and disappear with agility.This generation doesn’t believe in grand speeches or delayed promises. They demand change here and now. Moving seamlessly between the physical and digital realms, they turn the street into a stage of revolt, and Instagram Live into an alternative media outlet.What’s happening in Morocco strongly recalls the Arab Spring of 2011, when young people flooded the streets with the same passion and spontaneity, armed only with belief in their power to spark change. But Gen Z added their own twist, digital tools, meme culture, and the pace of a hyper-connected world.Morocco’s Gen Z uprising is not just another protest, but a living experiment in how a digital generation can redefine politics itself. The spark may fade, but the mark it leaves on young people’s collective consciousness cannot be erased.Photo credits: Mosa’ab Elshamy, Zacaria Garcia, Abdel Majid Bizouat, Marouane Beslem" } , { "title" : "A Shutdown Exposes How Fragile U.S. Governance Really Is", "author" : "EIP Editors", "category" : "", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/a-shutdown-exposes-how-fragile-us-governance-really-is", "date" : "2025-10-01 22:13:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/EIP_Cover_Gov_ShutDown.jpg", "excerpt" : "Each time the federal government shutters its doors, we hear the same reassurances: essential services will continue, Social Security checks will still arrive, planes won’t fall from the sky. This isn’t the first Governmental shutdown, they’ve happened 22 times since 1976, and their toll is real.", "content" : "Each time the federal government shutters its doors, we hear the same reassurances: essential services will continue, Social Security checks will still arrive, planes won’t fall from the sky. This isn’t the first Governmental shutdown, they’ve happened 22 times since 1976, and their toll is real.Shutdowns don’t mean the government stops functioning. They mean millions of federal workers are asked to keep the system running without pay. Air traffic controllers, border patrol agents, food inspectors — people whose jobs underpin both public safety and economic life — are told their labor matters, but their livelihoods don’t. People have to pay the price of bad bureaucracy in the world’s most powerful country, if governance is stalled, workers must pay with their salaries and their groceries.In 1995 and 1996, clashes between President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich triggered two shutdowns totaling 27 days. In 2013, a 16-day standoff over the Affordable Care Act furloughed 850,000 workers. And in 2018–2019, the longest shutdown in U.S. history stretched 35 days, as President Trump refused to reopen the government without funding for a border wall. That impasse left 800,000 federal employees without paychecks and cost the U.S. economy an estimated $11 billion — $3 billion of it permanently lost.More troubling is what happens when crises strike during shutdowns. The United States is living in an age of accelerating climate disasters: historic floods in Vermont, wildfire smoke choking New York, hurricanes pounding Florida. These emergencies do not pause while Congress fights over budgets. Yet a shutdown means furloughed NOAA meteorologists, suspended EPA enforcement, and delayed FEMA programs. In the most climate-vulnerable decade of our lifetimes, we are choosing paralysis over preparedness.This vulnerability didn’t emerge overnight. For decades, the American state has been hollowed out under the logic of austerity and privatization, while military spending has remained sacrosanct. That imbalance is why budgets collapse under the weight of endless resources for war abroad, too few for resilience at home.Shutdowns send a dangerous message. They normalize instability. They tell workers they are disposable. They make clear that in our system, climate resilience and public health aren’t pillars of our democracy but rather insignificant in the face of power and greed. And each time the government closes, it becomes easier to imagine a future where this isn’t the exception but the rule.The United States cannot afford to keep running on shutdown politics. The climate crisis, economic inequality, and the challenges of sustaining democracy itself demand continuity, not collapse. We need a politics that treats stability and resilience not as partisan victories, but as basic commitments to one another. Otherwise, the real shutdown isn’t just of the government — it’s of democracy itself." } ] }