The tremendous pressure since the start of Lebanon’s financial collapse has left millions of people unable to afford mental health services.

Dossier on mental health in the Arab world produced as part of the activities of the Independent Media Network on the Arab World.

Alexandria’s connection to the Maghreb is often overlooked. But the cosmopolitan port city developed through centuries of migration and influence from the western side of the Mediterranean, up until the colonial era and the building of self-centered nation states.

A sign at the entrance of Kamed El Loz refugee camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley promises to solve water issues but residents say they have been abandoned. 

In northern Tunisia, seaside Tabarka has played a central role in coral fishing and cross-Mediterranean trade since at least the 15th century. Today, red coral continues to be traded across the sea, despite reef degradation and the informal workings of coral trade networks.

In 2010, with great fanfare, Turkey inaugurated a ferry route between Mersin and Lebanon’s Tripoli, a first between the two countries. It was hailed as an important milestone in Turkey’s strategy of renewed engagement with former Ottoman territories. The latter failed but the ferry line managed to survive.

A native of the Canary Islands, the Phoenix canariensis was planted en masse on the Riviera in the 19th century. For vacationers and locals alike, this palm has come to embody the Mediterranean ideal of leisure and rest. But 150 years later, it is facing a deadly threat.

The word quarantine made an unexpected comeback in 2020, after having been out of mind for as long as most of us can remember. But only as far back as the early 20th century, crossing the Mediterranean often meant spending weeks in isolation. Then and now, something remains true. Not all travellers are equal.

Beirut’s Khandaq al Ghamiq bears witness to an architectural heritage relatively spared by the bulldozers of reconstruction, but is decaying due to neglect.

For nearly three decades, Omar Al Bashir’s regime suppressed arts and creativity in Sudan. But after the 2019 revolution and coup, several new movies are out.