Tony Chakar on Hope, Despair, and the Lebanese Wars in Afterall Journal 48

In an essay for Afterall Journal 48, published July 1, 2019, Lebanese architect and writer Tony Chakar reflects on the nature of hope through personal experiences during the Lebanese wars (1975–1990) and conversations with Egyptian artist Rana El Nemer. El Nemer, based in Cairo, told Chakar she cannot imagine what hope looks like after Egypt's 2013 military coup, but recalled a fleeting moment of hope in February 2011 driving through tree-lined Cairo streets after the January 25 Revolution. Chakar parallels this with his own discovery of Beirut's Corniche in 1992, when crossing the divided city became possible after militias disarmed (excluding Hezbollah). Standing on the Corniche, he felt a sense of existence rather than hope, understanding Beirut's history shaped by the sea, port, and mountains. The essay explores hope as a commodity in capitalism and traces its symbolic link to light, contrasting Palaeolithic (nocturnal, cave-dwelling) and Neolithic (agricultural, solar) symbolic systems. Chakar invokes the Qur'anic story of Iblīs's refusal to prostrate before Adam, interpreted by Sufi Mansour al-Hallaj as an act of love, and references Paul Auster's 'In the Country of Last Things' and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's 'Night Flight' to illustrate life without hope. The full text is available to subscribers via University of Chicago Press.