The image above is the front page of Annahar newspaper published on today of the year 1933, as in eighty-two years ago.

 
Plenty of things have changed in Lebanon ever since, but two themes endured: The government’s failure and prostitution.
In the opening of the said issue is a letter designated to the Count Damien De Martel, the French High Commissioner, on his first day in Lebanon to take up his diplomatic duties.
The overture reflects widely on the debilitated governmental reality, parading signs of laxity and corruption within the exercised authority, and bearing a stark resemblance of the fate we share today.

 
An intriguing section features in the same issue, a news piece entitled “prostitute diseases.” The article reads that the ministry of Health has submitted a report that documents that 23 out of 174 registered prostitutes are infected with Gonorrhea and have since being transferred to hospital to receive appropriate treatment at the expense of the government.
Among the 48 pimps, one woman was affected and was also treated.
One maid undergoing a medical check-up was also found to be suffering the same condition whereas five out of eleven women arrested for practicing unsupervised prostitution were discovered at risk of different sexually transmitted diseases.