The Situation In Lebanon

[KR1Z4]

im from Lebanon,
of course u heared about the assasination of PM Rafiq Hariri, the 1559 UN resolution, Hizbullah, Syrian troops and of course U.S. interference.

1 month ago, there was a possibility that a new civil war would start in lebanon, again, after 1958 and, 1975-1990 civil war because of big nations playin their games on our small country..

18 confession that make 2 groups, muslims and christians, made from lebanon a complete mess, nobody works for the country...but everyone works for his own region or his religion.

personally, im goin almost every week to the U.S. embassy to protest against the american intereference in our internal issues.(mostly lebanese leftist or islamic parties) every tuesday about 5000 student and activists gather in front of the u.s. embassy.
BUT, what i didnt like is that the Lebanese Communist Party doesnt participate in a anti-US activity...as a leadership, while the young activists in LCP want to go in the name of the communist party.

so wt u think abt the situation in lebanon?

[bolshevik butcher]

I think that it's good that the sirians have withdrawn, however it's a bit rich coming form the U$ considering they've been there for a18rs or wahtever to put pressure ont hem now out of the blue.

[Severian]

Here's another thread on this lately. (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=34355)

I get the impression that recent events have really opened things up, that it's easier to discuss and take action around all kinds of political questions.


18 confession that make 2 groups, muslims and christians, made from lebanon a complete mess, nobody works for the country...but everyone works for his own region or his religion.

Seems to me this is a consequence of the political system...since all representation is by group, and not by a general election open to everyone, a party's got no incentive to appeal to more than one group. Parties get seats by appealing to just one group.

So most parties might demand more representation for this or that religious group, but not one-man one-vote and secularism.


BUT, what i didnt like is that the Lebanese Communist Party doesnt participate in a anti-US activity...as a leadership, while the young activists in LCP want to go in the name of the communist party.

I gotta say, most of the traditional Moscow-oriented parties have a tradition of acting this way. They haven't become better or more revolutionary since the collapse of the USSR, either...more social-democratic, if anything.

[OleMarxco]

The whole situation is ridiculous. Only UN can solve this mess, and when they clean it up, MAKE THE COUNTRY COMMUNISTIC FOR ONCE'S SAKE! ;)
But as a Communist party you don't HAVE to protest against US. But it's a good thing, considering that since US is acting on it's own behalf, with it's own capitalistic agenda....AGAIN. Screw it all, BURN THE FLAG!

[KR1Z4]

ok let me give u a fast explanation on groups here and show u how this confessional system is destroyin this society

once upon a time there was a middle-east. during WWII the allies came to this region, they divided the population to small countries, lebanon, syria, iraq, jordan, and palestine who later was given to jews to make their own *israel*.

so one of those small partitions was lebanon, 10452 km2, 18 confessions, where the *zaim*(boss in traditional society) is the old guy who leads his big family or village, or sometimes...
in 1943 it became an independant country, and thats when, TRYIN TO MAKE A LEBANESE IDENTITY TO THE PPL OR A NATIONALISM, the prime minister(always sunni/muslim) and president(always maronite/christian) made somekinda deal called *the lebanese pact* where those 2 persons agreed that, christians doesnt have the right to ask for western help anymore, and muslims doesnt have the right anymore to ask for arab unity . but that didnt work!

in 1958, a 1st civil war started. the part B of the lebanese Society aka muslims, asked for more rights in the political confessional system feelin that they dnt have a role in their country, they rebeled on the gov, and the president, kamil chamoun asked the U.S. marines for help.

in 1975, also because we still cant live together, the 2 groups made another civil war that ended after 15 years, in 1990 causin billions od dollars loss, destruction of the infrastructure, hundred of thousands of victims and more than 1 million went to europe, america or australia cause they dnt wanna participate in the war.
in that civil war, of course, we were divided to the same famous two parts; A and B, A were called the isolationists, they didnt wanna live with muslims having the fear of the muslims and arabs tryin to kill all those christian minorities. so they made their own militia made of christians, mainly maronites.
group B was a leftist group. socialist, communist, nationalist parties and organisations supportin the palestinian cause against israel. not like group A, the group B was made of all confessions, thats why A were called isolationists.

that isolationist thing was not just a word, but also an ideology, it was meant to show international society that *we, christians, cant live with those muslims, we can leave alone in peace as christians, so we want a christian state, just like jews in israel, it will create a second minority country. the plan was a federal system where christians are alone, muslim alone, palestinian refugies in south lebanon; so they dnt come back to their land, and thats how ull get the solution of the whole middle east.

so just like 1943, the divided again this land to religions and confessions.

the war ended; in 1990, with the Taef Agreement, that was signed by all the lebanese war lords and crime leaders who became since 1990 till now, prime ministers, presidents, and in the government, again equqlly distributed dependin on confessions.

this year, a guy called Walid Junblat,a deputee and a minister in the governments since 1990 made fom himself an *opposition* and he started attackin those who stole the government and *syrian puupets* while he was one of those robbers, war criminals, and one of the most loyal figures to the syrian regime. same thing to rafiq hariri who stole billions of dollars and other members of that group called in a weird way... *opposition*

now what? the said *syria did the assasination*, they made the 1559 UN resolution, and the chaos was in lebanon for more than 2 months with shootings here and there; car bombing, etc... we were too close to start once again; a new civil war.

but now we still have the same main problem, the confessional system, and till we find a solution; every 10 years will face a crisis.

thanks

[Colombia]

The UN solving the problem?

Are you mad man?

[Jersey Devil]

The UN would actually be able to solve problems if it weren't for veto power in the Security Council.

[bolshevik butcher]

yeh, the veto thing's ridiculous, the U$ has way too much powere int he un.

[Severian]

Thanks for that post, KR1Z4. I agree, the confessional system at the heart of it...I guess the demand of the more progressive forces is for a democratic, secular Lebanon.

For those who don't know, "confessional system" means that all representation in government is by religious group. Like KR1z4 mentions, it used to be the president was always a Maronite Catholic, the prime minister was always Sunni Muslim, etc.

This system was set up by the French colonialists. Divide and rule.

It's been changed some to give more representation to Muslims, etc....but representation is still confessional, that is by religious group.