World Against War rally posted by lenin

Some vids from the World Against War rally on Thursday, by Ady Cousins:

Labels: iran, iraq, lebanon, stop the war coalition, world against war

The Gazan "Shopping Spree" posted by lenin

Guest post by EasyWind:

Labels: gaza, Israel, lebanon, palestinians

Lebanon Strike posted by lenin

Via 3arabawy and Sursock, I hear that there's a general strike in Lebanon. Apparently, the army are being sent in to, er, keep order. Though I've seen no indication that Hezbollah are backing the strikes themselves, pro-American commentators are blaming Hezbollah for the general sense of disorder. The truth is that Hezbollah have been extraordinarily tentative about the effective collapse of the government, and are rather too reluctant to rock the boat.

Check out Sursock and 3arabawy for updates.

Labels: hezbollah, lebanon, strike, trade unions

Nasrallah on the Bush administration. posted by lenin

From Hezbollah TV, an interesting discussion of Nasrallah's impressions of the US:

BEWARE OF RELIGIOUS TREND IN US ADMINISTRATION
Sayyed Nasrallah said that to better understand this visit, one can refer to studies, facts, researches and books issued in the US by reliable think tanks. "From these studies, we can conclude that the current US administration continues to be a coalition of three groups: The first is major oil firms, since key figures in this administration either own oil companies or arms factories. So the second is large arms industries. The third group is a religious trend in the US called Christian Zionists. However I do not want to use this term so that the Divine Christian religion is not offended." His eminence explained that this religious group is a strong constituent of the tripartite coalition. The other two groups are interested in controlling oil resources and marketing weapons, he added.
"However the third religious group has millions of supporters, controls media outlets and enterprises. This group believes that it is paving the way for the return of Jesus Christ to Earth, They believe that one of the conditions for his return is the rise of a Jewish state; a condition that materializes in Israel. It is also required that all the Jews from across the globe live in Palestine.
What they are doing for the Jews is not out of love, not to defend Semitism, not to show regret for massacres, but because they deride Israel for the sake of their own ideological project. Hence, I would like to point to two issues: What this religious trend is undertaking should not give anyone in our Arab and Islamic worlds any reason whatsoever to hold the Christians responsible for it. Whatever they are doing will backlash because Jesus Christ peace be upon him will not advocate Israel, oil firms, weapons industries or any tyrant on this Earth. He will advocate the oppressed."

This is worth mentioning because it amounts to a slightly more sophisticated analysis than some of Nasrallah's previous statements (I mean the ones that can be verified) in which he appeared to subscribe to the sort of "wag the dog" thesis that John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt and even James Petras have been putting about.

Labels: hezbollah, Israel, lebanon, nasrallah, US imperialism

The dizzying pace of our progress posted by lenin

Sursock on the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon, 1951 and 2007:




Meanwhile, Daniel Pipes' call for war crimes in Gaza has been heeded by Israel. The invasion is coming, and not a moment too soon because, as the Washington Post helpfully points out, Hamas is contributing to a mass outbreak of beard growth. (I know we're not seriously expected to blame Hamas for the effects of a vicious blockade and encirclement policy). Israel, forever embattled, forever defending itself, forever the land of the little kibbutz populated by advanced human beings and surrounded by Arabs transmogrified by fungibility into a faceless, deindividualized horde. Invading Gaza - to expand the frontiers, press forth the outposts of civilisation, and conquer the untameable, esoteric wilderness - is nothing but a response to "Islamic imperialism". This kind of "imperialism" is completely unlike any other we know - subtracted from history, from politics, from production and appropriation. It is a timeless yearning for violent subordination to superstition, an insatiable ferment beneath every kufi, an effort to expand the zone of Oriental despotism and stultify progress. Speaking of progress, we all know - don't we? - of the boundless generosity of whitey when it comes to providing for the natives. Despite their ingratitude, he has been preparing an allotment for them for some decades - where they may, under strict supervision, content themselves with their curious customs. Yes, the amount of Palestine currently left to the Palestinians is 8% of the original, and that is latticed with 'Jewish Only' roads (all of which will one day lead to Damascus), "settlements" and garrisons. But statehood is in the works, selflessly crafted by Dore Gold, Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman, by the light of a silvery moon and under the careful tutelage of Dick Cheney, Ribbentrop of Arabia. You watch, and wait. Don't do anything, for heavens' sake.

Labels: lebanon, nakba, palestine

The media's war on Lebanon posted by lenin

An interesting study by the ICMPA discusses the media's coverage of last year's war on Lebanon:

Labels: hezbollah, idf, Israel, lebanon

Phalange fascists booted out posted by lenin

The seat formerly held by the Christian Phalange leader Amin Gemayel, has been lost to Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, which is part of the opposition. Gemayel has responded by pouring vitriol on the Armenian Christians who may now have to contend with the violent pro-Gemayel 'Lebanese Forces', and by resorting to racist, sectarian arguments. The opposition seemed like it had pretty much pissed away its near-victory last year due to the conservative strategy of Hezbollah and Aoun, but this is an encouraging blow to the "March 14th movement" and its overseas allies.

Now, the UN are whinging that arms are flowing to Hezbollah, as if Lebanon's big problem isn't the pachyderm that keeps invading the room. As if the world's biggest arms dealers aren't threatening Lebanon all the time.

Labels: free patriotic movement, hezbollah, lebanon, phalange

Palestinians shot dead in cold blood by Lebanese troops posted by bat020

You might have noticed this story on the BBC about Palestinian demonstrators shot dead by the Lebanese army while "trying to break through a checkpoint". Here is what really happened:

Lebanese soldiers have opened fire on a demonstration of Palestinian refugees in the Beddawi camp near Tripoli in northern Lebanon, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more.

Palestinian rights campaigner Caoimhe Butterly was an eyewitness to the shooting. "There was a big demonstration through the Beddawi refugee camp today," she told Socialist Worker by telephone.

"At 1:40pm local time a group of about 200 young men broke away from the main section of the march and headed towards the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, which has been under siege by Lebanese army in their battle with Islamist militants.

"The men pushed passed local Palestinian security guards on the outskirts of Beddawi and proceeded towards the Lebanese army checkpoint.

"A group of women and children, including myself, rushed to attempt to stop the young men from marching on the checkpoint. We were trying to de-escalate a dangerous situation. By this time the crowd had grown to around 400 people.

"As they appproached the army checkpoint, Lebanese soldiers fired several volleys of warning shots into the air.

"At this point the demonstration halted, and a group of women rushed to the front and sat in the road to block the young men from marching any further.

"The women were joined by representatives of Palestinian political parties who began negotiations to end the confrontation and persuade the young men to rejoin the main demonstration inside the Beddawi camp.

"The negotiations had calmed tempers and there were no incidents of provocation – neither shouts, taunts nor stones were thrown."

"It was during this period that the soldiers suddenly fired two to three minutes of sustained automatic fire directly into the crowd.

"Many of us took refuge in the alleyways and shops off the main road. When the firing stopped, a group of us returned into the main road to help the wounded.

"We raised our hands above our heads. One of our group raised a piece of white cloth – I believe it was a shirt – to indicate we were unarmed. The soldiers shot her in the thigh.

"Ambulances began to appear to ferry away the wounded. During this time a group of around 20 Lebanese men appeared and began to attack the survivors with fists and knives. One activist who had been keeping a video record of events was severely beaten and stabbed.

"From first reports, five women are among the wounded, seven demonstrators are in a critical state and seven children were hit by bullets or fragments that ricocheted from the road, among them a three year old girl.

"Two men were killed – one 50 year old, the other in his 20s to 30s. Many of the wounded were hit in the legs and thighs. Others were hit in the stomach and back. We will be compiling witness statements."

from Socialist Worker

Labels: lebanon

Lebanon updates posted by bat020

A few updates on the ongoing siege of the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon: there's a solidarity statement translated into English on Angry Arab that's well worth reading, while Ghassan Makarem writes in Socialist Worker on what's behind the siege and its political impact in Lebanon.

Ghassan includes this snippet about the "bank raid" that kicked it all off, which I don't believe has appeared elsewhere in the (generally pisspoor) media coverage:

When Fatah al-Islam first appeared, they declared themselves to be in opposition to the "Shia Muslim expansion". From the onset they said they did not want any confrontation with the army and sided with the government over its opposition to Hizbollah and Iran.

However, after encouraging and sponsoring the group, the Future Movement turned its back on them. According to Fatah al-Islam, the current crisis began when the group went to the bank to collect their "wages". They were informed that the money had been frozen – so they robbed the bank.

This provided a pretext for the police to raid an apartment in the upmarket area of the city used by the group. After a fierce battle with the police, Fatah al-Islam attacked Lebanese soldiers in their barracks. The army responded by shelling any location inside the refugee camp without mercy – just as Israel had done to the Lebanese last summer.

There's also an absolute must-read eyewitness account of a solidarity mission to the northern camps over at Banana Republic, complete with some extraordinary photos, including a banner listing the confirmed Palestinian dead (the only attempt I've seen to count this figure).

Some of EDB's snaps display wicked flashes of surrealism - a table canopy that resembles a stealth bomber, or the refugee boy with rather outré taste in footwear...

A little girl and her friends came over to tell us that "their" camp is much nicer than this one, as if to apologize for a messy house to unexpected visitors. "My camp is beautiful. Not like this," she said, waving her hand dismissively at her surroundings.

Anyway, read it all here.

Labels: lebanon

EDB on the latest strife in Lebanon posted by bat020

I came across Anecdotes from a Banana Republic during Israel's attack on Lebanon last summer - it's a sharply written and spikily cynical blog from Beirut that combines slice-of-life observation with a keen understanding of Lebanese politics.

Anyway, it's well worth checking EDB's latest post on the background to the current flare-up in Lebanon - it details how Fatah al-Islam has been armed and encouraged by the Siniora/Hariri forces in Lebanon as a counterweight to Hizbollah, quoting Seymour Hersh's New Yorker piece from back in January:

"Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, 'The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.' Crooke said that one Sunni extremist group, Fatah al-Islam, had splintered from its pro-Syrian parent group, Fatah al-Intifada, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon. Its membership at the time was less than two hundred. 'I was told that within twenty-four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government’s interests—presumably to take on Hezbollah,' Crooke said."

But Fatah al-Islam is now out of control. The resulting fallout has led to a wanton slaughter of Palestinian refugees in the Nahr el Bared refugee camp:

What seems clear is that whoever once sponsored or gave orders to Fatah al Islam has unleashed a beast they no longer control and a policy of trying to contain (or tolerate) the group is no longer working.

In the meantime, the army which is not allowed to enter Nahr el Bared, is shelling the camp "indiscriminately", according to a PFLP spokesman earlier today. The wounded are not receiving medical attention; fires are raging. "We want ambulances to be allowed into the refugee camp to transfer the civilian casualties. We also want fire brigades to enter the camp and put off the fire in many buildings." A cloud of black smoke envelopes the camp, and rescue workers who were trying to evacuate the wounded were fired upon.

Read the whole thing here.

Labels: lebanon