A battle between rich and poor

"I have looked at the world with an objective eye and found it to be a major battlefield between the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak."

Yusuf Ibrahim Yazbak (1901-1982) One of the founders of the communist movement in Lebanon. From the article "Socialism in Lebanon" published in al-Sahafi al-Ta˓eh newspaper, 5 May 1923

Click on header to read the first chapter of The Communist Movement in Syria and Lebanon, by Tareq Y. Ismael and Jacqueline S. Ismael


A crowd watches the roadblocks burn, Beirut, 23 January 2007. Thousands of Lebanese demonstrators blocked main roads in the capital and around the country, burning rubble and tyres, protesting against the government. The strike was abandoned in the afternoon. (Picture: Irin)