Lebanese revolution

by eekkkkk Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:45

To publish stuff in the 'other press' section use the publish button as normal - fill in the form as normal - in the drop-down menu under 'type' select - 'other press'

by Dave Wed Mar 16, 2005 13:30 www.swp.ie

Sorry about this but I am uploading them as I find them.
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6071

Ps- could someone tell me how to post stories on the 'other press' section

by Dave again - swimmies Wed Mar 16, 2005 13:24

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6078

by Dave - swp Wed Mar 16, 2005 13:17 www.swp.ie

New interview with Tariq Ali about the resistance here
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6070

by :-) Wed Mar 16, 2005 12:18

I think it prob. goes without saying that all we "in the fleet" are anti-violence and terror.
I left a few articles under the heading "hariri's game" in the other press section for those readers who don't usually navigate throughout the whole site, and there you'll find links to beirut imc and various support orgs.
Starting today in bcn there is a two day mediterranean social forum prelim meeting, and I'm going along [uncharacteristically to listen to the local swimmie types ;-) ].
the Mediterranean area is of great concern to Barcelona, and Europe, Barcelona historically being the only city to see christian, jew, muslim, and humanist enjoy more just a few centuries of peaceful co-existance. The so-called "barcelona doctrine" expresses the will of the EU to establish good relations with all states and peoples who share the Mediterranean, north-south and west-east. And so one of the main foreign policy interests of the "think-thank" is always that zone of inter-relations.
This years "med social forum" will be held in Turkey early summer.-
Lebanon shall naturally be very much on the agenda there and today and tomorrow.
I'll let ye all know (as a comment to "hariri's game part 4) tomorrow evening what was said and rumi-nated.

by dave - swp Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:33

For the record the SWP does condemn the senseless attacks on shia civilians carried out by tiny and unrepresenative fraction within Iraq. But so do the vast majority of Iraqi reistance organisations, including, for example, the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars.
We do not however conflate the broad resistance with these attacks, as the western media and political establishment is trying to do. There are over two thousand attacks on American forces carried out every month by the wider resistance. These receive little or no coverage. There are countless other acts of resistance- student protests, strikes, blockades, over which a blackout is being enforced.
The French resistance to the Nazis 'punished ' women who fraternised with the Nazi soldiers by torturing and murdering some of them. These horrible acts did not remove the overall right of the French people to resist the Nazi occupation.
Atrocities were carried out by most of the national liberation movements in history.
Also I wonder how many of the civilian attacks are dirty tricks engineered by the 3000 Americasn 'embassy staff' ensconced in the green zone.
Everything I would like to say about the resistance is covered in the article at then link below from Zmag
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=7441
Also this link below is to a very intyeresting anti-occupation conference taking polace in UCD next Monday and Tuesday
http://irishantiwar.org/calendar/item.tcl?calendar_id=1356

by jeff! Tue Mar 15, 2005 19:13

While respecting your other points of view, I have to agree with you regarding the Sheeba farms-the area if close to large reservoirs of water, which Israel has annexed and thus gotten the upper hand when it comes to pumping such water out, leaving the Leb side with fek all.

Anyway, cheers, slainte, etc

by publo Tue Mar 15, 2005 18:59

First off, Israel will in all likliehood soon return the Sheeba farms to Lebanon. It has held on to this area not just for military/strategic reasons (such requirements are adequately played by the occupation of the Golan and specifically Mt Hermon) but as a bargaining chip.

If syria completely pulls out of the leb then israel will soon do likewise leaving it free to take the high moral ground and force the US/EU and UN to place further pressure on Hizballah. Basically, if Israel is no longer in the leb, then Hizballah loses (in the international communities eyes) its justification for continued existence as an armed group.

If Hizballah are subsequently forced to disarm or are weakened to a serious extent by UN security Council resolutions and sanctions, either directly or indirectly through action against Syria, then Israel will have shifted the front lines in its planned war with Iran away from its own 'borders' which will permit long range aerile bombardment of Iran without serious fears of an attack on the north of Israel from within lebanese borders.

Portents of this are apparent in the appointment of the chief of the Israeli Air Force as overall commander of all israeli military forces in the last month. This is the first time that the overall commander has been chosen from among the aerial troops.

Id be surprised howver if Israel can totally remove the forces of Hizballah. Even if they are driven unbderground and seriously weakened, an attack on Iran could result in either a) an assault on israel by hezballah, leading to an all out conflict once again in south lebanon or b) a pre-emptive israeli attack on south lebanon (with some lies to provide justification?) leading in either case to Israel re-occupying those areas of south lebanon which Hizballah drove the Israelis from during the 1990's.

The obvious manner in which such bloodshed could be avoided is (apart from an insurrection of Israelis - jews and others - against their elite) is that Iran finally gets a nuclear bomb in which case the yanks - whose support is vital though not indispensible for israeli aggression - will have to think twice!

Anyway, salaam, shalom, etc

by mise Tue Mar 15, 2005 18:48

By Robert Fisk in Beirut

03/14/05 "The Independent" - - As the United Nations' Irish-led special investigation team here prepares to report that the Lebanese authorities have covered up evidence of the murder on 14 February of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri, his two sons have fled Lebanon after hearing that they too are in danger of assassination.

Mr Hariri's elder son, Bahar, has flown to Geneva while Saad has left hurriedly for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after warnings that they could be the next targets of their father's assassins.

The UN's Irish, Egyptian and Moroccan investigation team has now been joined by three Swiss bomb experts following the discovery that many of the smashed vehicles in Hariri's convoy were moved from the scene of the massacre only hours afterwards - and before there was time for an independent investigation. Yesterday, frogmen were sent into the sea off the Beirut Corniche to recover the wreckage of the one car in the Hariri convoy that was not taken away by the authorities because it was blasted over a hotel wall into the Mediterranean by the force of the explosion. If they successfully recover parts of the vehicle, they may be able to discover the nature of the explosives. First reports that Hariri was killed by a car bomb are now being challenged by evidence that the explosives - estimated at 600kg - could have been buried beneath the seafront avenue.

A unique photograph handed to The Independent in Beirut - which is now also in the hands of the UN investigators - was taken on the afternoon of 12 February, about 36 hours before the bombing. It shows a drain cover in the road at the exact spot where the explosion was to tear a 30-foot crater in the highway, instantly killing Hariri and many of his bodyguards.

The section of roadway is marked off by "no parking" signs which have been left there innocently by staff of the nearby HSBC bank. But a mysterious object can be seen on the left edge of the drain cover. Both the metal cover and an extensive area of roadway around it were atomised by the bomb.

by jeff Tue Mar 15, 2005 17:56

There is a snowballs chance in hell of Syria getting it's Golan Heights back, as is the case of the Sheeba farms.

Of course, if Syria was the U.S, it would not only have the Sheeba farms,etc,but would probably get Cyprus, Greece and the Faroe Islands as well!

And you can bet Sean Barret would be writing another article condemning the rest of us for failing the democratic revolution that has just taken place! Oh well, western values...


I might actually create an alter persona on this site, calling myself ' Western Values' and giving stern rebuke to, oh lets say The Anarchists ( 'Hitler lovers!'), the pro Palestinan human rights workers ('Anti Semitic Hitler lovers'), the Irish Society to prevent cruelty to Animals (' Subversive elements that wish to destroy our liberal, vibrant economy').

by Ali H. Tue Mar 15, 2005 17:37

Plus ca change. We have 1M lebanese turning out to support the Syrians and 1M against. Given the fact that these people were at each others throats for 15 years in a civil war which ended only relatively recently the turnout does not show that a revolution is iminent. It shows that the Lebanese population is still highly polarised. This polarisation has come about as a result of foreign interference, Israeli/US and to a lesser extent the Syrians. The sooner the meddling by the US and Israelis stops, the sooner the Syrians get out (in exchange for the return of the Sheba farms and Golan heights) and the less chance of a renewed civil war there is.

by jeff Tue Mar 15, 2005 17:30

Neo Conservative like the gentleman who has published this thread are glib when they try to blame the left in the West for not marching against Syria. It is ironic that groups like Amnest International are derided for being leftist by the same type of commentator, despite Amnesty having numerous files and reports on both Daddy Assad and young Assad's regime.

Neo cons will try bamboozle with their rethoric. Don't let them; be proud to be a 'moral relativist' if thats what they call us. These same people criticised intervention in Bosnia as ' nation building', or, in Condi Rices view, a waste of time to be sending troops to help walk kids to school.

Then they will turn around and try to say we are oppossed to democracy because we don't think it is a nice things to drop cluster bombs that killed 13,000 people, and an occupation that has resulted in 100.000 dead.

It'll be good though in the long run. The long run being the lined pockets of both corporate America and even those 'professors' who get paid shitloads by corpoarte powers to write rubbish about 'defending western values'.

Thank god for the moment that the rich old bastards like this have not yet discoverd immortality. Please go to sleep soon, guys...

by jeff Tue Mar 15, 2005 17:21

...unlike simpleton neo cons want ordinary people to both be and believe...


First; Bosnia. A difficult place. Neo Cons always oppossed the Clinton adminstrations intervention and implementation of Dayton. Bosnia was and still is a difficult quagmire, owing to the fact that there are THREE different ethnic groups.

Now, Lebanon; A country with lets see, perhaps at first glance, three main religious groups, namely Muslim, Christian, Druze. Then there are many Palestinian refugees living there since 48.

Look again; amongst the Christians, we have Maronites, traditionally a Vatican supporting Franco phile group of people. Then there are Greek Orthodox. Then the Muslims have Sunni and Shia, and during the civil war, they had their various factions at each others throats. For example, the Shia had both the Amal militia and Hezbollah...


On it goes, so let me skip and come to the reason why Syria went in there in the first place. THEY WERE INVITED IN BY THE CHRISTIAN PRESIDENT, A MARONITE.

Today, the same Maronites opposse Syrias presence, for a number of elongated reasons. The recently murdered politician Hariri was a Sunni.

What you got here are a number of conflicting views in relation to Syria. Syria are no 'nation builders', they like the geo political sphere of influence afforded them. Nonetheless, Hezbollah want them to stay as they see them as a buffer against any further Israeli attacks. Remember, Israel initially went into Lebanon to get at PLO, Sunnis. Hezbollah, it may be argued arose out of genuine anger felt by Shias in South Lebanon caught in the crossfire, the shias traditionally the poorest ethnic grouping in the country.

by Joe Tue Mar 15, 2005 16:10

Unfortunately the author of the piece is half right. Sections of the western left do have a pretty moronic attitude towards the middle east. Mind you Lebonen is hardly an example of this, the issue of popular attitudes towards Syrian withdrawal is not simple as shown by the huge numbers both pro and anti Syrian forces have mobilised at this stage.

What is a better example is the moronic last line of the long cut and paste job from Dave Lordon of the SWP above. I refer to

"This is why activists must be 100% behind the resistance to imperialism in the Middle East"

Moronic because there is no 'the resistance'. There are many often deeply opposing factions, being 100% behind all of them is a bit like being 100% behind both the INLA and the UDA at the same time.

In the case of Iraq are the SWP really 100% behind the Islamist resistance that has been shooting barbers in Iraq for giving unIslamic clean shaves to men?

Or 100% behind those who have bombed off licenses?

We can certainly say one is 100% for US withdrawal from Iraq but being 100% behind these sort of nutters is imply sacrificing Iraq workers and women for the short term advantage of those of us in the west.

by James - WSM (personal capacity) Tue Mar 15, 2005 15:54

The understandable reason why progressive groups in Europe and America demonstrate against Western intervention is that they are living in the West. There is a simple moral principle that one is responsible for one’s own actions. We in the west have some influence over our governments (though not a lot) and have some responsibility to limit as much as we can their warmongering.

Obviously we are much less responsible for the conduct of the conduct of regimes in other parts of the world, therefore there is less chance of altering their policy and so there is less reason to demonstrate it against it. There are after all, so many hours in a day. Nevertheless, there are often demonstrations against the friendly reception by European leaders against various dictators, such as those against the Chinese ones a couple of years back.

That moral principle of taking responsibility for one’s own actions is why we on the libertarian left have focused on what is going on in Shannon; it is an area where there is the possibility of having an impact.

That said, I doubt few on the western left support Saddam or the thuggish dictatorship in Syria. Can you name any? We do however think that the people of these countries rather than capitalists who should do the toppling of these dictatorships. After all western intervention support for reactionary forces in say Chile (1973) or Saudi Arabia today reinforces these reactionary regimes That change from below is possible is clear from Europe in 1989, Indonesia in the late 1990s, and Serbia a couple of years ago.

Few on the left are blinded by anti-Americanism; we just don’t support the US government’s self-interested and bloody interventions. You can be confident if Hassad or Saddam’s forces were passing through Shannon to devastate the US we would oppose that as well. And I’ll be happy to see Syria withdraw from Lebanon and hope secular and progressive forces blossom there, without becoming a satellite of the U.S.

by Roger Cole - Peace & Neutrality Alliance Tue Mar 15, 2005 15:50 pana at eircom dot net 17 Castle Street, Dalkey

Syria should end its occupation of Lebanon.
PANA is not campaigning on the issue because over 300,000 Syrian troops have not used Shannon on their way to invade, conquer and occupy the Lebanon
Invasions and occupations of other countries whether it is Syria's occupation of Lebanon, Israel's occupation of Palestine, the US occupation of Iraq or Britain's occupation of Ireland should not be supported by those people who support democracy and social justice
The marches and demonstrations are not as big as they were in February 2003, but that I believe is largely due to the fact that they were ignored by the FF/PD government which decided to actively support this imperial war for oil despite the marches, so people saw little point in going on them again and again. However the FF/PD government got their answer in June 2004 in the EU and local elections and more recently in the by elections.
Marches and protests are only part of the political process. At the end of the day political power derives from the Irish people and they express that power by voting in elections and referendums. The next major opportunity for those of us who are against Imperialism and military capitalism wil be the referendum on the EU Constitution which transforms the EU into a militarised, neo-liberal and centralised superstate. It provides all Irish democrats with the opportunity to win, as we did in Nice I. We need to build a Democratic Europe, a Partnership of Independent, Democratic States, legal equals, without a military dimension. If you would like more information see our web site; www.pana.ie

by Dave Lordan - swp Tue Mar 15, 2005 15:50

Democracy Hypocrisy

Bush and Blair's latest buzzword is 'democracy'. According to the new spin, the invasion of Iraq can be justified, despite all the lies and the corpses, by the January elections which have ushered in a new era of democracy . Furthermore, the 'liberation' of Iraq has inspired the 'cedar revolution' that is demanding Syrian withdrawal from the Lebanon. World opinion is being softened up for more wars with talk of the lack of democracy in Syria and Iran.

But there is no genuine democracy in Iraq. The January elections did not transfer power to the representatives of the Iraqi people. Real power remains in the hands of the American colonial administration. The key sectors of the economy have already been handed over to US multinationals. Freedom of expression and association are severely curtailed.

The elections were actively boycotted by at least 40% of the Iraqi population, an alliance made up not only of the Sunni religious minority, but of womens', workers' and students' groups too. The Shia coalition that won the election campaigned explicitly on the basis of calling for immediate withdrawal of foreign troops . They have since reneged on this campaigning promise, but an estimated 80% of Iraqis remain in favour of the US leaving their country immediately. The latest opinion polls in the US show that 57% of Americans also want the occupation ended.

The truth is that the empire-builders couldn't care less for democracy. They will do deals with any rotten criminal regime, no matter how brutal, as long as their interests are looked after.

Saudi Arabia is the West's major Arab ally, and one of the world's most vicious dictatorships. Less than 1% of the Saudi Population control more than 80% of the countries vast oil wealth. Vicious police repression keeps the resentful population in check. Women have no rights whatsoever. Public executions are commonplace and torture is routine.

In another much vaunted example of his commitment to 'democracy' .Bush is claiming to have pressurised the Egyptian dictator Mubarak into allowing free elections. But for thirty years the American government has been supplying Mubarak's 200'000 strong police force with the plastic bullets, pepper spray, and electrified batons required to keep the Egyptian populace cowed. In reality Bush and Rumsfeld fear that the Iraqi resistance is inspiring a growing revolt against their client regime in Cairo. They want stage- managed elections to take the wind out of the Egyptian opposition.

The west's support for regimes like Saudi Arabia and Egypt is no aberration. It is tied in with the history of global capitalism. As capitalism developed in the late 19th Century, industry and the military become much more reliant on oil. This process was accelerated by the arms race and WW1. After WW1 the defeated Turkish empire collapsed and the the victorious powers rushed in to take its place. Iraq, Jordan and Palestine were occupied by Britain. Syria and the Lebanon became part of the French 'Mandate'.

Popular uprisings, along with declining economic and military strength, forced Britain and France to retreat from the area shortly after WW11. By this time the US had taken over as the leading Western power. Together with Britain they sponsored the setting up of the state of Israel at the expense of tens of thousands of massacred Palestinians. A million more were driven from their ancestral homes .

The strength of anti-colonial movements made direct occupation of other Arab nations impossible for this whole period. Instead the strategy was to rely on Israel as a 'watchdog state' and to prop up brutal client regimes like the Iranian Shah and the Saudi Royals. When the Iranian revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979, threatening western oil interests, the US and Britain backed Saddam Hussein's murderous eight year war against Iran. When dog bit master and Hussein annexed Kuwait he too had to be chastened. But the Americans held back from overthrowing him in 1991 for fear of bringing to power an Iran-supporting Shia government in Baghdad. A weak Saddam, no matter how cruel he was to his own people, was preferable to an emboldened Teheran.

The coming to power of Bush and the Neo-cons signaled a further shift in strategy. They wanted to tighten control over world oil supplies in order to guarantee the smooth functioning of the US economy and to allow the US to remain in pole position ahead of China, the EU and other economic rivals. This meant wiping out any potential opposition to the US in the region. The invasion and occupation of Iraq are part of this strategy. So is total and unquestioning support for Israel's oppression of the Palestinians, as well as integrating Israel's regional ambitions into the neo-cons overall plan for the region. Forcing Hezbollah to disarm, and regime change in Teheran and Damasacus, are next on the list.

The Bush gang have been fine-tuning the extremely useful technique of corporate sponsored revolt. In Georgia, and more recently The Ukraine, they poured huge amounts of money and expertise into backing carefully selected factions within the broad opposition. Their aim was to manipulate the genuine desire of people for democratic change in order to bring to power a ruling group who would implement favoured policies of economic liberalisation while aligning themselves militarily with the West. This technique has the added propaganda advantage of making the Western rulers look look like the good-guys. This is the grid we need in order to understand the recent US interference in Lebanon.

Lebanese sectarianism is a legacy of Imperialism. France created Lebanon after WW1, drawing the borders to ensure a country divided along religious lines, and with a slim majority for their main supporters the Christian Maronites. In 1976, with the support of the US and Israel, Syria invaded Lebanon to put down a rising of the Palestinian and Lebanese left. But after Israel's bloody invasion of Lebanon in 1982 the Syrians began to support the Shia resistance movement Hezbollah, which eventually drove Israel out of Southern Lebanon in 2000. Syria has refused to support the American occupation of Iraq and has recently signed mutual defense treaties with Iran.

After the unsolved assassination of the Lebanese billionaire Rafiq Hariri, the US moved swiftly to gain advantage against the Syrians and Hezbollah . The American ambassador helped disaffected sections of the Lebanese political establishment to organise demonstrations calling for Syrian withdrawal. The protests in Beirut's Solidere square were managed by the Lebanese equivalent to concert promoters MCD.

The US are also calling on Hezbollah to disarm. But most Southern Lebanese see Hezbollah as their guarantee against Israeli occupation. Hezbollah are not terrorists. They are a legitimate resistance movement supported by the vast majority of Lebanon's mostly working class Shia population. They run schools, hospitals, and social centres and have nine MP's in the Lebanese parliament. They are being targeted only because they are a symbol of a successful resistance admired by tens of millions across the Middle East.

Hezbollah is refusing to disarm in the face of US intimidation and is mobilizing its support in enormous militant demonstrations. Meanwhile in Iraq the resistance is inflicting serious damage on the US military's ability to carry out the mission of the neo-cons. All across the Middle East revulsion at the actions of the US military in Fallujah, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere is ripening into a widespread mood of revolt. A regional explosion is possible if the Americans attempt an invasion of Iran and Syria

The outcome of the confrontation between imperialism and the Arab masses could decide the future of the world politics for many years to come. If the US succeeds in crushing resistance it will tilt the balance of power in favour of the forces of reaction everywhere. If however they are defeated, and given the ferocious persistence of the growing Iraqi resistance, this currently looks the more likely scenario, it may inspire a worldwide anti-imperialist movement that could topple much more than statues with moustaches. This is why activists must be 100% behind the resistance to imperialism in the Middle East and why we must build the largest possible revolutionary movement in our own country.