In Tunisia, Wasta Kills When It Comes to Covid-19
Our correspondent in Tunis, Emna Mizouni, reports on the vaccination crisis exacerbated by wasta.
Latest Reviews
Lebanon’s Wasta Has Contributed to the Country’s Collapse
Novelist Samir El-Youssef recalls adolescent challenges and more recent experience where wasta was a necessity.
Vitamin W: The Power of Wasta Squared
In which C.S. Layla, the American daughter of a Jordanian professor, remembers life and wasta in the old country.
Lebanese Oppose Corruption with a Game of Wasta
Victoria Schneider reports from Beirut on the new Wasta board game that satirizes corruption in Lebanon.
Syria’s Ruling Elite— A Master Class in Wasta
Lawrence Joffe on how the al-Assad and Makhlouf families have mastered the art of control and corruption in a country decimated by a decade of war.
The Diplomats’ Quarter: Wasta of the Palestinian Authority
Author and attorney Raja Shehadeh recounts the legend of Ramallah's ritzy neighborhood, designed for heroes of the Palestinian Authority.
Wasta on Steroids: Speculative Finance & the Housing Market
Mischa Geracoulis discovers the film Push and explores the incredible greed and inequity of the speculative housing market.
“Pakistani Bureaucrats & The Booze Permit”—a story by Tariq Mehmood
Novelist and filmmaker Tariq Mehmood weaves a tale of wasta, women and booze in Rawalpindi.
Why WALLS?
"I would like to break the walls of ignorance between East and West." Walls and barriers are what we erect when we have no words.
The Murals of “Education is Not a Crime”
Saleem Vaillancourt describes the worldwide mural campaign spearheaded by Maziar Bahari on behalf the Baha'i community to speak out about Iran's persecution of its largest religious minority.
Walls, Graffiti and Youth Culture in Egypt, Libya & Tunisia
Former Egypt and Turkey-based photographer Claudia Wiens documents street art of the Arab Spring.
The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay
Yemen street artist, activist and mother Haifa Subay speaks to Farah Abdessamad about the state of the country and her work.
The Wall We Can’t Tell You About
There are some walls we can't discuss freely and openly without inviting censure. This is one of them.
The Bathing Partition
In this creative exploration of identity and homelessness, Sheana Ochoa faces her own inner walls and travels to Auschwitz.
Is Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek, Too, Occupied Territory?
Taylor Miller explores the aesthetics of gentrification and the "settler colonial hydra that continually displaces, erases, and reinscribes Palestinian space."