Nabil Habiby leads the youth ministry at the Sin el Fil Nazarene Church, and lectures on the many of the ideals Jesus of Nazareth stood for and preached. During these turbulent times where religious extremism and violence is on the rise, we had an honest conversation of what unites us all and how best to counter our worst impulses often hidden behind the "defending religion" excuse. This is definitely not my usual kind of conversation, but I am very grateful for the opportunity to have this enlightening discussion. It's definitely a huge departure from what you're used to, but I think you will thoroughly enjoy this conversation. I know I did, and left it hoping more people were like Nabil.

Ronnieh Chatah is the creator and host of The Beirut Banyan, and a good friend and fellow activist. When situations get sticky, Ronnie hops on a call and we usually end up having a live conversation to flesh out what the problem is and what we each think could help move forward. This is the audio from our conversation on Instagram Live. You can watch it on the link below on The Beirut Banyan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw0T0eCEkvo and follow The Beirut Banyan on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thebeirutbanyan/

Makram Rabah is a lecturer on Lebanese history in the American University of Beirut. His latest books delves deep into the battle of the jabal, between Maronites and Druzes and the effects this battle had and lessons we can learn from it. Collective memory is a prerequisite to moving forward, we discussed what that means and how we can apply it in our daily struggle for a better future for Lebanon.

If you're like me, you might be struggling to find a reliable, trustworthy source of information on Lebanon's offshore oil and gas prospects, the current situation with the maritime border demarcation and Hezbollah's daily threats and promises that the not-yet-confirmed gas field is the ONLY salvation for Lebanon. We discussed all of this with oil and gas expert, and friend Laury Haytayan.

"Ziad' is a name we gave a Sulta Insider with years of experience working across vital ministries in Lebanon. He currently still works at one, so we hide his identity to protect both him and still have access to his insights form behind the scenes of Lebanese government. The first episode discussed in detail how upwards of 20 billion USD was siphoned off from October 17, 2019 to 2021. The follow-up was the weird relationship with Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, and his partners in power. This one is a conversation about a topic I hadn't really considered: the tiny minority of public sector employees that actually do their job and know what they're doing in a country that spends 2/3 of its budget on public sector salaries and benefits for employees appointed as political favors by Lebanon's sectarian parties over the decades. Ziad discusses why losing them will just end up with us rehiring private organizations (linked to politicians) who would charge us a lot more, with several examples mentioned in the episode. Follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Joe Kawly is the Arab World's first openly queer news anchor and a passionate defender of all human rights when not on the air. In this heartfelt conversation, we talk about what it's like being the "first" to openly come out, the responsibility that comes with that and how Joe Kawly sees the LGBTQI+ community situation in the Arab World and Lebanon. In the second part, we discusses journalism today and how we imagine it in the future.

Pamela Ghanem was banned off Twitter for her Tweets, after coordinated campaigns by religious extremists from across the Arab World against her. Pamela writes for Raseef22 and used to run Atheist Republic's Arabic section. In light of recent supreme court decisions in the US to overturn Roe vs. Wade, as well as an uptick in violence against women in the SWANA region and campaigns against the LGBTQ+ community, we talk what's next, what we should do and some advice for young free thinkers living in places where their lack of faith could endanger their lives and livelihoods and liberty.