Tuesday, February 27, 2007
With hindsight
On the 23rd of January 2007 and then two days after that Lebanon almost slid into civil war. What initiated these dangerous events was the opposition’s general strike. Many voiced their bafflement on why a “simple protest and road closure” that got a bit out of hand had such disastrous consequences.
The answer is very simple if one looks at those events with hindsight, taking in the whole picture. On that fateful day the opposition tried to rob the Lebanese of their most sacred right: their free will in expressing and acting upon their political views and believes!
Let me elaborate, a couple of days before Tuesday 23 of January the general strike was announced and –this is crucial in understanding those events- it was portrayed as a measure of the popular support that the opposition can muster.
The 14 March coalition responded by a general call to consider Tuesday a normal working day and encouraged all its supporters to make an extra effort to show that Lebanon was a country for life, work and prosperity not for strikes, paralysis and death!
In short it was a political vote of confidence; if you went to work you were siding with 14 March while staying home was a declaration of your support of Hezbollah and its allies.
Personally I promised myself to go to work, as a political statement to express my support for 14 March.
The next day the opposition closed most businesses and most importantly most roads by force, by intimidation, by burning tires and by mounting barricades of dirt and rubble –ironically brought form the building destroyed by the Israeli in the last war- on most main roads, effectively paralyzing Beirut.
Hezbollah robbed the Lebanese, those supporting it and those against it, of their ability to freely express their political choice, their freedom of expression. On that day the Lebanese people could not CHOOSE whether to go to work and support 14 March or stay home and support the opposition, they were FORCED to stay home!!
Hezbollah’s actions were similar to stopping citizens from going to voting booth on Election Day, these actions were not only anti-democratic and terrible dangerous, these actions verged on tyranny, robbing people of their free will in expressing and acting upon their political views and believes! And for me no crime is greater than that!
The road took me three hours instead of 40 minutes, but at the end I arrived to my office, proving first to myself and to all those who tried to force a choice upon me, that my free political will is and shall always remain FREE!
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9 comments :
Bob,
>>What initiated these dangerous events was the opposition’s general strike
NO No no, what initiated those events is people from the pro government militias who started SHOOTING on the people striking BEFORE a single road was closed.
The names of many of those shooting is on public records.
It is ironic to label the opposition as being undemocratic when they protesting specifically to have ELECTIONS based on an electoral law ALL Lebanese agree on (including the Lebanese forces and Futur movement not only Tayyar, Hezbollah, Karame, Bizri, Franjieh, SSNP, communist party, Arslan...) not an electoral law imposed by Feltman.
But we are not in a hurry, if we need to stay in the streets for another year (till next election time) we will, and we will see then who the Lebanese people chooses.
It does not matter who started it.
1) Civil war is for savages.
2) Elections are more civilized.
After going from 1 to 2, we are now in between: Expressing yourself constantly in the street is for semi-savages, and like Bob said a step toward riots and war.
That's why the LAW must be applied and the idiocy in the streets must end.
Why the hell are we paying salaries to Berri and to the 127 other idiots?
And Sam, if you want another election law, propose one and discuss it in the political arena, don't paralyze the country and the economy.
josey
can't agree more with you! let the international tribunal pass and i am all ofr elections and we will see then who oppose these elections and who will win them!!
Sam
repeating something three times does not make right. And if as you said the names of those who shot others is "public record" plz share them with us and send these names to the judge responsible. I abhor and condemn all those who use force, intimidation and violence in any kind!
However my post was not about who started shooting or what say you, i am only analyzing why the reaction of those days was of such magnitude and why the consequences are still felt.
And bytheway it your own so called “opposition” leaders who stopped talking about the parliamentary election and are now concentrating on the council of ministers, keeping in mind that all this fuss is totally futile as in six month the president will go and the government will have to change!
Bob,
That's right, the presidential elections are just six months away.
Meaning it's the OPPOSITION that can't afford to keep drawing this out, but are instead, the ones in a rush to mount a successful coup.
Sam,
You've spent more time recently in the US and France than you have in Lebanon.
Your constant: "we are not in a hurry", "we need to stay in the streets", and overall insistence on maintaining the move to overthrow the government and replace it with...well, your side still hasn't stated, now have they, would mean more if you weren't completely out of the reach of the conflict being discussed.
Maybe if you had a story about how the recent events kept YOU from getting to work or feeling safe, your words in favor of the opposition would actually hold weight.
Instead, you can tell us about how rude the cab drivers were when you visited the peaceful US and how your coffee wasn't quite hot enough at the local peaceful French cafe you frequented.
It looks like they are gearing up for an escalation. In this context, I cannot help but note further escalations in Iran's own periphery, in Balushistan and Arabstan.
What's good for the geese is good for the gander, I guess.
jeha said:
>I cannot help but note further escalations in Iran's own periphery, in Balushistan and Arabstan.
That's true and those peripheral forces, including the kurds in northwestern Iran, are only going to get worse if some of the more stringent sanction ideas being talked about get put in place. Namely, the idea to target the assets and travel privileges of the 50 to 60 of wealthiest families that have de facto control over the country (similar to the ruling families of Mexico).
In general,
I'm revising my earlier prediction of Saudi Arabia waging an oil war against Iran, instead I think the Saudis are using threat of plunging the oil prices through over production (hence bankrupting Iran overnight) as blackmail against the mullahs to force them to tread a more cautious line.
The Saudi-Iranian intervention last month in Beirut would appear as evidence of this.
I read a good article that spelled out the real crux of the situation.
An Iranian living in America wrote it making counter accusations against Saudi Arabia that is in no position to criticize Iran for human rights abuses, etc.
The author made point after point, and the complaints were so similar, the only difference between the two countries was if the victimized group was Shia or Sunni, Pakistani or Afghan, Arab or Persian and so on.
The author, however, was blind to this realization, and failed to come to terms with the fact that the regime running his homeland and the rulers of Saudi Arabia both "sucked".
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2007/february-2007/saud-house-27207.shtml
Granted Saudi Arabia is far from a hands on broker of Wahhabi extremists (Iran is still way ahead in the category of global nemesis with all its nefarious operations), but the Saudi rulers do foster many of the authoritarian conditions that help foment and grow the conditions that create extremists.
The truth is, Saudi Arabia won't use the oil weapon unless it absolutely has to.
It doesn't want the destruction of the Iranian regime because it would lead to a regional war followed by another chaotic Iraq-like Iran on its borders which it would have to use electrified fences to keep at bay, or worse, a successful democracy next door.
The difference between the circumstances that either create national chaos or prosperity has to do with the people's views of that country.
If you were to remove Assad today, you would then have to contend with the potential madness of the Muslim Brotherhood running things.
At some point, a counter movement has to arise that places a firm value on life, liberty, and justice proclaiming the strength, not the weakness, of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and so forth for the vindictive Mullahs and the reactionary House of Saud to become a permanent thing of the past.
"I Love Life" needs to become a region wide campaign.
To further elaborate on my previous preposal which Lily's striking commentary has done a lot to shape in recent days:
Lily said: "Now I know those were not lies and they actually are our day to day reality. Now I know how anyone can burn Beirut, I am actually living it!!!!"
There is obviously a lot of anger and frustration in these comments as there should by all those who feel that way.
I propose putting that raw emotion (in that emotion = energy in motion) towards a positive campaign that grows to become the basis of a permanent true secular nation state that revolves around ideas instead of ethnic cliques.
One of the biggest problems is that things like freedom of speech and freedom of religion have become watered down over time since their original incarnation during the French Enlightenment over two hundred years ago (or at least in the West, it has).
When they were first imposed, they were revolutionary, shocking, exciting enjoying much of the commotion that radical religious movements are receiving today.
I suggest a back to basics initiative, a rival and more powerful ideology than any "cult of death could ever muster."
A rebirth of the ideals and strength of cause in the how the right to speak your mind is greater than the bullets of a gun, the observance of law and order always triumping chaos, the ability to laugh and carry on freely forever being more potent than the acts of those who claim to kill in the name of religion, but are in truth, simply murderers using religion as an excuse, just as eaily as they would kill in the name money or power.
I've been for some time now peering through this Lebanese looking glass with a foreigner's eyes attempting to get a wide spectrum view of the events, that when enraged, find their way to my newspaper and TV screen.
I see fiery speeches, music videos, and militarized marches in the name of the glory of death, but I am still waiting to see the trumpets blazing in the name of LIFE!
Why not take your collective anger and focus it in form and task towards erecting an "I LOVE LIFE" Campaign so powerful that it will leave no doubt that those who love life will forever prevail.
Your cause is just, and your are right in your pursuit, so there is no need to be timid in your proclamation, for it is one of peace and happiness!
Rediscover the original impetus of Rousseau and Voltaire, but make it entirely your own, something that can spread as an elixir to the poison that has spread throughout the region.
I think if you were to pursue this, that feeling of hopelessness and frustration would melt the ice that encases you to reveal the fire of prosperity and life that no cache of guns or bombs could ever restrain or conquer!
Mike
I hate relegions and politics, but I do adore Lebanon and I truely believe it is the best country on earth.
I was never activly envolved in any political issues. But I think we are forced today to act in that perspective. We have to save our country, therefore I will try to get in contact with the responsibles of the I love life campain to apply you ideas.
I really thank you so much for your constant care and comments on Bob's blog I always look forward to your comments.
Lily
Lily,
Again, it's always rewarding to be given support for my presence on this blog, and I thank you again.
I understand what I'm suggesting does eventually take the form of politics, finally offering a home grown alternative to either supporting:
1) a corrupt government (and no Sam I'm not talking about March 14th, so don't even waste your time posting a remark)
2) an ultraviolent hardline insurgency group that thrives on chaos and disorder
or
3) waiting around for the American hammer and anvil to come to town, potentially creating destruction and exacerbating a situation in the short term, no matter how well intentioned.
But for starters, simply the idea of unity throughout the region for a peaceful cause.
HA has chapters in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, South America, Bahrain, etc. all joined in name in purpose, provided various forms of support for one another.
By contrast, I repeatedly read about pocket movements similar to March 14th in the aforementioned countries, but they are independent and scattered in nature.
The idea of an "I Love Life" sticker on the bumper of a car in Baghdad, Tehran, and Riyadh, just as it can be found on the bumper of a car in Beirut would be profound.
"Uniting the clans," as the Scottish would say, in pursuit of the mutual goal of peace and prosperity with freedom of speech and religion held above all other codes and edicts.
A universal agreement in the basic tenants of freedom of speech, press, religion, right to assemble, pursuit of property for all peoples no matter what their heritage could survive an assassination or corruption of a leader because you are following ideas and living by those instead of favoring one politician over another.
You support the politician only when he follows through in supported the pillars of freedom, and when he or she does not, they no longer have your support.
This way, it is the politician who works for the people, not the other way around!
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