[WCUSP] People Power in Lebanon: The Truth behind the Fog of Spin

[Kate Zaidan]

Hi all,

This came through a group I know of called Tadamon!, a Lebanese 
solidarity organization in Montreal. This is a really excellent media 
analysis that explains what is happening in Lebanon right now, paired 
with the picture that you're getting.

Peace,
Kate

MEDIA ANALYSIS. People Power in Lebanon: The Truth behind the Fog of Spin

One of the largest peaceful mass movements in the Middle East is 
currently taking place in Lebanon. Unfortunately, Canadians are getting 
a distorted picture of what is going on through ill-informed, biased, 
and sometimes outright misleading, reporting of the facts. This is not 
about which side you take in this crisis. It is about your right to know 
the truth and about the right of the Lebanese people to protest their 
government's actions and to democratically chose another one. Our 
government has taken a strong stand in support of the Lebanese 
government. It is time Canadians know the facts about the struggle to 
hold their government accountable for such a stand. The following are 
distortions being propagated through some of our mainstream media 
outlets and the corresponding realities behind them.

Distortion: This is a Hezbollah protest.

Reality: The opposition is a coalition of over ten parties from all 
sects, ideological leanings, and regions of Lebanon. Hezbollah, and its 
Shiite ally Amal, are the dominant force, but they are joined by the 
Free Patriotic Movement, a secular party with a mainly Christian base 
that has
14 seats in Parliament (Hezbollah also has 14 seats). Other parties 
include a group of Sunni coalitions, the Lebanese Communist Party, the 
secular leftist People's Movement, as well as Druze and other 
Christian-based movements.

Distortion: This is an attempted coup to "topple" the democratically 
elected government.

Reality: The only tanks sitting outside the government building are 
those of the Lebanese army, under government command, and are there 
pitted along barbed wire against unarmed protestors. Delegations in the 
hundreds wishing to express solidarity with the government visit the 
building on an almost daily basis. All calls for the protests have 
stressed the peaceful nature of the rally. The opposition has repeatedly 
called for a "national unity government", in which two-thirds of members 
are from the current ruling coalition and only one-third from the 
opposition coalition. This is hardly a plan to seize power through a 
coup d'etat.

Distortion: These protests are a big threat to stability and the economy.

Reality: There are hundreds of thousands of bombs lying across the 
fields of Southern Lebanon, the legacy of the Israeli war on Lebanon 
this past summer. These bombs continue to kill and maim civilians of all 
ages and disrupt the farming of these fields, a main source of income 
for tens of thousands of people. Meanwhile, outgoing UN Secretary 
General Kofi Annan reported this month that daily mock raids are carried 
out by Israel over Lebanese skies, in some cases reaching up to 14 raids 
a day. This is the major threat to stability and the economy of Lebanon. 
Mass movements inevitably cause disturbance to the economy and 
stability, but they are in the first place a response to government 
policies that are doing far greater damage to both stability and the 
economy.

Distortion: This action is a Hezbollah-controlled move to take over the 
country and create a religious state.

Reality: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has gone on record saying 
that Hezbollah is willing to relinquish its seats in a future national 
unity government to its allies as long as all Lebanese factions are 
represented in the newly-formed government. The claim that the goal is 
to create a religious state, oddly suggested by the Globe and Mail 
(Editorial
7/12/06), could not be seriously made within Lebanon. It is never even 
suggested by Hezbollah's staunchest political enemies in Lebanon.

Distortion: The protestors are pawns of Syria and Iran, attempting to 
re-introduce Syrian interference and enforce the Iranian one.

Reality: Syria and Iran do wield influence in Lebanon, but to suggest 
that hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets for 
over a week to serve the interests of foreign countries is insulting to 
those people and cannot be taken seriously. And if it can be said that 
Syria and Iran influence the decisions of the opposition coalition, it 
can also be said that American and western interests, as well as the 
interests of their allies in the region (Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) 
influence the decisions of the ruling coalition. U.S. Ambassador to 
Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman meets on a regular basis with government 
officials and frequently makes press statements about internal affairs 
in Lebanon. The German and French governments sent delegations to 
support the ruling coalition during the first week of the sit-in. Irwin 
Cotler from the Canadian Parliament met with Siniora just two weeks ago.

Distortion: This is a sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis.

Reality: This is a political conflict. Out of the four main speakers at 
the mass rally over the past week, only two were Shiites. They included 
two Sunni figures, and a religious authority who led joint prayers 
between participating Sunnis and Shiites. Two prominent former prime 
ministers and leaders in the Sunni community, Salim al Hoss and Omar 
Karami, are part of the anti-government coalition. There is no denying 
that tensions between Sunnis and Shiites are strongly present and being 
fomented in the current crisis, with the majority of Sunnis siding with 
the government or neither party and the majority of Shiites siding with 
the opposition. But the basic issues are political ones.

Distortion: The protests are designed to prevent the establishment of an 
international tribunal to investigate the assassination of former 
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Reality: All opposition parties have expressed on record, sometimes ad 
nauseum, their support for establishing such a tribunal. The government 
refused to grant these parties the time to review the details of the 
privileges and mandate of the proposed tribunal, which is a basic 
protection against manipulation of such a sensitive and important 
tribunal by foreign powers. The move to ratify the order to establish 
the tribunal without proper consultation sparked the resignation of 
opposition Ministers from the Cabinet and led to the current situation.

-- 
Kate Zaidan
Program Coordinator
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
1213 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA  19107
215-563-7110 [ph]
215-563-5527 [fx]
www.wilpf.org

Never have the armies of the North brought peace, prosperity, or democracy to the peoples of Asia, Africa, or Latin America. In the future, as in the past five centuries, they can only bring to these peoples further servitude, the exploitation of their labor, the expropriation of their riches, and the denial of their rights. It is of the utmost importance that the progressive forces of the West understand this.

— Samir Amin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Amin




-- 
Kate Zaidan
Program Coordinator
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
1213 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA  19107
215-563-7110 [ph]
215-563-5527 [fx]
www.wilpf.org

Never have the armies of the North brought peace, prosperity, or democracy to the peoples of Asia, Africa, or Latin America. In the future, as in the past five centuries, they can only bring to these peoples further servitude, the exploitation of their labor, the expropriation of their riches, and the denial of their rights. It is of the utmost importance that the progressive forces of the West understand this.

— Samir Amin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Amin