How prevailing economic policy choices are a form of genderbased violence This briefing paper argues that austerity measures are a form of genderbased violence against women, girls and non-binary people, and lays out clear examples of how fiscal consolidation affects them. Its core argument is that ending austerity must be a priority. The paper goes on to share feminist economic alternatives offer pathways that can protect the Majority World from completely avoidable suffering.

We are living through an unprecedented moment of multiple crises. Tens of millions more people are facing hunger. Hundreds of millions more face impossible rises in the cost of basic goods or heating their homes. Poverty has increased for the first time in 25 years. At the same time, these multiple crises all have winners. The very richest have become dramatically richer and corporate profits have hit record highs, driving an explosion of inequality. This report focuses on how taxing the rich is vital to addressing this unprecedented polycrisis and skyrocketing inequality. The report explores how, in recent history, taxation of the richest was far higher; how talk of taxing the rich and making billionaires pay their fair share is hugely popular; and how taxing the rich claws back elite power and reduces not just economic inequality, but racial, gender and colonial inequalities, too. The report lays out how much tax the richest should pay, and the practical, tried and tested ways in which governments can raise such taxation. It shows us how taxing the rich can set us clearly on a path to a more equal, sustainable world free from poverty.

Lebanon is extremely unequal and has been rocked by massive protests in recent months. The country is facing a financial crisis and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a potential bailout programme. Other IMF programmes in the region have focused on austerity and have driven increases in poverty and inequality. A business-as-usual approach by the IMF in Lebanon could have serious and far-reaching adverse impacts. Any potential policies pushed by the IMF in Lebanon must first be shown not to impact negatively on economic and gender inequalities, and must be drawn up transparently in consultation with local communities, civil society organizations and social movements.

The introduction and development of the base isolation systems, especially the friction isolator device, were done recently to improve the capacity of adaptive behavior. The efficiency of multi-phase friction pendulums comes from their complexity, which helps reduce the structural responses and enhance structures' energy dissipation under lateral loads. Nevertheless, the influence of various earthquakes' properties on the behavior of base-isolation systems subjected to bi-directional seismic loading is still unclear. Hence, further research and studies regarding the behavior and capability of these systems under bi-directional loading are still necessary before incorporating this device in real-life practical applications. Therefore, this paper is intended to investigate the bi-directional behavior of the friction isolator subjected to various ground motion records. In order to do so, different versions of the friction pendulum system are selected and compared within the study context. Generally, the study's results have shown that the behavior of the friction isolator is highly dependent on low values of the PGA/PGV ratio. Besides, pulse-like earthquakes considerably impact the response of the isolator compared to non-pulse-like ones. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-10-02 Full Text: PDF

In May 2022, Lebanon is hosting its first parliamentary elections since the popular uprising of October 2019, when massive protests took place to denounce the current ruling elites. This research looks at voter turnout and behavior on the eve of the elections and examines the will for political change. It argues that in the current Lebanese context, there needs to be further political awareness-raising, and campaigns should be more inclusive of women and the queer community. Independent campaigns should focus on developing strong governing capacities that voters can trust, and create further space for civic and political engagement on the local and national levels.