By Lauren Abunassar

Today, the advocacy landscape is less about idealism and more about triage, grit and the endurance of caring under pressure.

By Lauren Abunassar

“Talking about art and creativity is not secondary or tertiary to Islam. It’s primary to Islam. There is a place in Islam for levity. There is a place for celebrating beauty.”

By Joseph Fahim

The cornerstone of works by diaspora filmmakers is identity and alienation, and intricate community dynamics in relation to diverse American environments. In the scant body of work by Arab Americans, these issues have never surpassed an elementary examination.

By Ben Bennett

“It’s just a Palestinian’s addiction. You just know [when] you go to your parents’ house, you’ll have a couple big jugs of homemade olive oil.”

By Gawhara Abou-eid

All evening, the sold-out venue felt like a citywide inside joke finally getting told out loud. 

By Elissa Odeh

“It’s one thing to go to protests and give presentations, but to be able to help my people through henna — and for this business to be recognized as advocacy, as power for the people — that’s something truly meaningful.”

By Kenza Bousseloub

At three cafés in South Philadelphia, North African men gather for coffee, company and Kabyle music.

By Gawhara Abou-eid

“When performed with authenticity, raqs sharqi becomes a form of empowerment, an act of reclaiming the beauty and strength of the feminine and honoring the deep humanity that this dance expresses.”

By Ben Bennett

The 2030 census will include a new racial category: ‘MENA’. Until then, these interactive maps, based on data from the Pew Research Center, show where some of Philadelphia’s SWANA communities have settled.

By Lauren Abunassar

“I think something that draws me to glass so much is that it is a very experience-based medium where the process itself is so captivating and exhilarating and fun, but also difficult. When you make the work, you're aware that there is a very large chance you're not going to get anything from it. Something may break, something may not exist at the end.”

Within the context of organizing, the problem with ceasefires is that they feel like victory. If the problem is defined as "too much killing," then less killing appears to be progress. But the "quiet" periods between military assaults are also a form of violence.

By Elissa Odeh

At his show, Al-Rayess joked about one of the biggest cultural pressures in Arab culture — getting married. “I’m almost 30, so the questions never stop. Back home I would’ve been married to my cousin by now.”

By Gawhara Abou-eid

The farm supports immigrant and refugee families in Norristown, as well as other residents, through hands-on agriculture, nutrition education and culturally relevant crop production.

By Joseph Fahim

“One Battle After Another” is not just about the U.S. — it’s a fable about the failure of the left worldwide. And for the Arab viewer, it’s impossible to watch the film without drawing comparisons to our own failures in the Arab Spring.

By Gawhara Abou-eid

Maintaining heritage language fluency is not only a personal effort but also a community challenge. Limited language programming in schools and mosques means families often bear the burden alone. That’s where Bilingual Counseling Assistants become vital.

By Ben Bennett

The three organizers of Philly Climbers for Palestine want to continue fundraising and directly support the people in Gaza.

By Lauren Abunassar

“I cannot genuinely say I believe that my writing and publishing a book with a small press based in the U.S. is an act of resistance. For me, it tends to get into these questions about rhetoric, or about public opinion, or about changing people's minds or hearts through our writing. But I don't know that I would call that resistance.”

By Kenza Bousseloub

What makes Neshaminy State Park such a popular gathering place for SWANA families?

By Ragad Ahmad

Every Sunday night, Fatih Ahmed commits what locals consider football treason. From his Doylestown living room, deep in Eagles territory, he roots for the Giants with the kind of blind devotion that none of his friends can understand.

By Lauren Abunassar

If this is an era of destruction, it’s also an age of adaptation as organizations like HIAS PA and PIC shift their approaches to embrace collaboration and local advocacy.

By Ben Bennett

Every Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., members of Philly Palestine Coalition gather for a protest outside the munitions manufacturer’s corporate offices.

By Joseph Fahim

The success of “With Hasan in Gaza” in Locarno, where it was seen by thousands of people, has proven that there is a sizeable audience for films like Aljafari’s: an artistically and intellectually uncompromised cinema that rejects a digestible, ready-made message.

Gauri Mangala

The festival panel noticed a shift in this year’s collection of applications. While overall application numbers have dwindled, a larger proportion featured strong political themes and messages.

By Gawhara Abou-eid

The Hebron facility had long played a crucial role in preserving heirloom seed varieties critical to Palestinian foodways and climate resilience. With preservation in the West Bank increasingly endangered, diaspora-based efforts have stepped in to continue the work.

By Ragad Ahmad

When universities can redefine academic freedom to exclude certain perspectives, when they can retroactively criminalize respected ideas and abandon institutional principles in the face of external pressures, then no field of knowledge remains safe.

By Lauren Abunassar

Community gatherings like “Acts of Resistance” become a way to reject the notion that our grief or our desires for freedom and witness are singular—an understanding that is a key piece of reclaiming agency.

By Joseph Fahim

Criticism is imperative not only for understanding Arab culture, but for confronting the mediocrity that can arise from silencing critical perspectives.

By Elissa Odeh

Wahab still remembers his first stand-up show in Ferndale, Michigan: “They gave me five minutes, so I wrote three minutes of jokes and figured the other two would be filled with laughter,” he said. “Let’s just say it didn’t quite work out that way.”

By Ragad Ahmad

For nearly five decades, El Funoun has understood that keeping Palestinian tradition alive and building upon it constitutes a political act in a context where Palestinians’ very existence remains contested.

By Kenza Bousseloub

International students in Philadelphia face growing risks for supporting Palestine. One organizer shares why they continue to speak out.