Instagram story viewer> @ziadaburish> Posts

ziadaburish

@ziadaburish

1K

followers

305

following

مؤرخ. محرّر. رقّاص Historian | Editor | Dancer
Author of “The State of Lebanon” (Stanford UP 2026)

POSTS STORIES REELS

A fascinating look into Lebanon's history reveals how cinema screens and newspaper ads once fueled an organized bill-striking campaign against electricity monopolies. @ziadaburish unpacks how this mid-century resistance evolved into an orchestrated effort, where committees even advertised phone numbers to hook disconnected citizens back up to the grid.

Comment with "link me" to receive a link to the full episode! by @ziadaburish

Early boycotts of foreign-owned transit and power infrastructure evolved far beyond a simple friction over pricing. @ziadaburish explores how this shifting tide in Beirut eventually transformed grassroots demands into a broader regional push for total state ownership.

Comment with "link me" to receive a link to the full episode! by @ziadaburish

A critical turning point in modern technology began in 1908 when electricity was first introduced to power Beirut's tramway system. Ziad Abu-Rish unpacks how these early infrastructure concessions laid the groundwork for domestic power and transformed urban life across the region.

Comment with "link me" to receive a link to the full episode! by @ziadaburish

The history of electricity in Lebanon serves as a vibrant arena for struggles over political economy, foreign corporate ownership, and the very definition of national sovereignty.

Associate Professor Ziad Abu-Rish unpacks this evolution, tracking public utilities from early regional monopolies to the eventual creation of Électricité du Liban (EDL). Rather than viewing popular protests and boycotted utility bills as signs of state disintegration, this conversation explores how these collective actions actively built and legitimized Lebanese state institutions.

This deep dive ultimately reframes daily encounters with state infrastructure as fundamental practices of modern politics and national identity.

Comment with "link me" to receive a link to the full episode! by @ziadaburish

بالتزامن مع توقيع الولايات المتحدة والكيان الصهيوني ولبنان اتفاق إطار ثلاثي جديد في واشنطن، ننشر الترجمة العربية لتحليل المؤرخ زياد أبو ريش (@ziadaburish)الذي يقدّم سياقًا تاريخيًا ضروريًا لفهم ما تعنيه هذه اللحظة.

يلزم الاتفاق لبنان بـ”النزع الكامل والموثّق لسلاح جميع المجموعات المسلحة غير الحكومية”، وإعادة بناء احتكار الجيش اللبناني لاستخدام القوة. لكن تحليل أبو ريش يدعو إلى التوقف عند سؤالٍ يسبق هذا الاتفاق: كيف تشكّل دور الجيش اللبناني أصلًا، وما الذي أُنيط به منذ تأسيسه؟

يكشف تاريخ الجيش اللبناني منذ عام ١٩٤٥ أنه لم يُبنَ للدفاع عن حدود لبنان، بل صُمّم ليؤدي دورًا في الأمن الداخلي، امتدادًا لإرث الانتداب الفرنسي، ثم تعزّز هذا الدور عبر عقود من المساعدات العسكرية الأمريكية التي سعت إلى تقوية الجيش اللبناني من دون المساس بالتفوّق العسكري لإسرائيل.

وفي العقود التي سبقت ظهور حزب الله، كانت القوات الإسرائيلية تنتهك الأراضي اللبنانية بصورة متكررة، فيما ظلّ الجيش اللبناني غير مكلّف، وغير مُجهَّز، للدفاع عن البلاد. وفي ضوء الدعوات المتجددة إلى حصر السلاح بيد الدولة، يعيد هذا التحليل طرح سؤالٍ أساسي: ماذا كان دور الجيش اللبناني تاريخيًا، وكيف تشكّل؟

اقرأوا التحليل الكامل عبر الرابط في البايو. by @ziadaburish

If you haven’t got hold of a copy yet, consider this your sign on this glorious day. Our favorite historian and human @ziadaburish has recently released The State of Lebanon: Popular Politics and Institution Building in the Wake of Independence (Stanford University Press). As with everything he does, Ziad poured his whole self into researching and writing this book. You can sense his generosity and meticulousness in the depth of information it offers and the abundance of knowledge it shares.

The book explores labor regimes, women’s suffrage, the provision of electricity in Beirut, public education, and the armed forces, as well as the political mobilization and protest movements that emerged around these institutions in the postcolonial era. These histories and institutions remain deeply relevant to understanding Lebanon’s politics today.

The book is available through the publisher, as well as the usual online and retail bookstores. In Lebanon, you can find it at the best bookshop, @snoubarbayrout (also at all Antoine branches). by @ziadaburish

Joined @aljazeeraenglish on Saturday May 2, 2026 to discuss US-Israeli talk of the Lebanese Armed Forces confronting Hizballah, and the broader historical context of Israeli objectives in Lebanon. In short, Israel and the US seek to disarm Hizballah as a longterm strategy of eliminating any capacity for defense or deterrence against US-supported Israeli aggression. Their interest in the LAF is as an internal front against Hizballah, not as a state-centric substitute force that would take up the defense of Lebanon against external aggression—namely that of Israel. I first elaborated this argument in an article with the amazing folks @thepublicsource . by @ziadaburish

Το ευρέως διαδεδομένο άρθρο του ιστορικού Ζιάντ Αμπού-Ρις σχετικά με τους πολιτικούς και υλικούς περιορισμούς που εδώ και καιρό εμποδίζουν τις Λιβανικές Ένοπλες Δυνάμεις να αναλάβουν αμυντικό ρόλο μεταφράστηκε στα ελληνικά από το antapocrisis.

Μπορείτε να το διαβάσετε εδώ: Link στην περιγραφή
https://www.antapocrisis.gr/laf-hezbollah/ by @ziadaburish

Biden admin helped realize a two-decades-long campaign to reinterpret Title VI in a way that anti-discrimination laws could be used to deter and punish criticism of Israel on campuses.

Trump admin is now wielding that tool to advance a broader far-right agenda in higher ed.

My piece in @insidehighered drawing on the groundbreaking joint report by the Middle East Studies Association (@mesa_1966) and the American Association of University Professor (@aaupnational) on "the weaponization of civil rights law."

Link: https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2026/04/15/reinterpretation-title-vi-opinion# by @ziadaburish

Long before Hezbollah existed, Israeli forces repeatedly violated Lebanon’s borders, occupied its territory, and displaced its residents — all while the Lebanese state lacked both the mandate and the capacity to defend its people.
ㅤ
Today, those same external threats persist. Israeli warplanes and drones continue to enter Lebanese airspace, and attacks have killed and injured residents across the south. Yet calls to disarm Hezbollah rarely acknowledge these ongoing violations, nor the political constraints that have long prevented the Lebanese Armed Forces from assuming a defensive posture.
ㅤ
Ziad Abu-Rish (@ziadaburish) interrogates sovereignty and territorial defense, the LAF, and Hezbollah in our latest Long Read.
ㅤ
Read at the link in our bio.
ㅤ
(Photos by Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source) by @ziadaburish

FRESH OFF THE PRESS: The State of Lebanon: Popular Politics and Institution Building in the Wake of Independence (Stanford University Press) by Ziad Abu-Rish, Associate Professor of Human Rights and Middle East Studies and our director of MA in Human Rights & the Arts.

The book offers a new social and institutional history of post-colonial Lebanon by tracing shifting patterns of alliances and conflict that shaped state formation in Lebanon. Exploring labor regimes, women’s suffrage, the provision of electricity in Beirut, public education, and the armed forces—and the meetings, lectures, pamphlets, delegations, and protests they produced—Abu-Rish demonstrates how elite and popular groups shaped the landscape of state institutions. In so doing, Abu-Rish offers significant insights into politics, social life, and the state in Lebanon—grounded in the early post-independence period yet critical to how we understand Lebanon today.

The book is available from the publisher and the usual retail bookstores. by @ziadaburish

Today's Israeli leaflet dropping in Beirut, reported by several journalists including Will Christou from The Guardian, are part of a much longer history of colonial and imperial powers doing so to buttress their violence.

[I'm posting a screenshot to avoid inadvertent barcode scan which probably leads to malware.]

On 13 Nov 1943, French planes dropped Arabic translations of the French High Commissioner's radio address justifying arrest of president, prime minister, and other ministers (plus suspension of constitution) for daring to amend it by removing clauses recognizing French colonial rule and Mandate system that legitimated it.

In 1948, the main Zionist paramilitary organization and key precursor to the Israeli armed forces (Haganah) distributed leaflets in Lebanon justifying the Nakba and warning Lebanese people and army to not get involved. Zionist forces went on to occupy more than 15 villages, massacring civilians (most notable in Houla). by @ziadaburish