Last night I got a text from a friend in Beirut:
The started to shoot each other on the streets.. not a civil war.. violent clashes between political forces.. but sound of bullets is disturbing.. going to sleep..dont call.. salam
This was sent before news reports this morning that Hizbollah is controlling West Beirut.
I have not heard from him again, and I am alarmed. The BBC is publishing reports from people there, and most of them are scared and holed up in their homes — an increasingly exceptionally-Lebanese experience. Clashes have left more than a dozen dead the last I checked.
The confrontation between Hizbollah and government-supporting militias is coming to a head. The ostensible reasons are over a secure telephone network Hizbollah operated and accusations from politicians that the party of God has set up surveillance cameras at the airport to look for prime kidnapping victims — an unsubstantiated allegation.
CNN’s reporter on location attributed the tensions to the 2006 war with Israel, in which Hizbollah fought back and the Lebanese government watched and silently hoped for Hizbollah’s doom. It is being described as a western-backed government, which means it is accountable to other, more powerful countries and a portion of its own population.
Lebanon’s troubles, in my eyes, are linked to the unresolved problems of the civil war — it concluded with no structural changes, leaving a politically untenable consociational, sectarian system in place — one based on the myth of Maronite Christian numerical superiority. It is based on the fantasy of Shia’ minority status. Lebanon cannot last with such fragmenting premises.
When the Lebanese government becomes based on a system representing everyone equally, and Lebanese groups see Lebanese as their brethren, rather than area powers and superpowers, the country will be stable. Until then, Hizbollah will take over where official neglect leaves off, and look to Iran and Syria for support. And the wannabe western Sunnis and Christians will lean on whoever they are aligned with that given week — the US, France, Syria, Israel, Saudi, etc.
It is a political system built on the instability of minority rule and now we see it reaping what it sows.
Related posts:
- Lebanon: One Year Since Israel’s Attack
- Israel’s Birth and Lebanon’s Suffering
- Counting the Dead in Lebanon and Israel
- Lebanon…this is getting worse
- Israel Threatens To “Turn Back The Clock in Lebanon by 20 years”
Al Jazeera English Inside Story from 7 May
There’s also an Al-Jazeera translation and commentary on Nasrallah’s address- as usual he makes more logical sense than the talking heads at the UN that were also on Al-Jazeera all yesterday, but he doesn’t address the chaos.
Posted by Emily | May 9, 2008, 10:06 amNasrallah’s made his speech at around 4:30 PM local yesterday. Like you said, he does make much more sense and his arguments are much more logical-but for the first time he pretty much insinuated there would be violence.
To me watching from here, its Gaza 2006 all over again: weak, Western-backed agencies and militias subservient to the US versus the ‘resistance’. Even the tone and terminology used by Hariri, Junblatt and Gaegae are pretty much the same as that used by Fatah and Abbasshole.
Bloody coup, attacks on legitimacy, Iranian bidding. Blah blah blah.
Posted by Mohammad | May 9, 2008, 2:33 pmas usual the scarecrow (Junblatt) and co. are at it again. I’m not surprised, those people stink from their heads all the way down to their toes.
Posted by Moataz | May 9, 2008, 3:35 pmits pretty easy to romanticize hezbollah until their fucking militiamen take up positions outside your apt and you can’t leave.
hezbollah are not the heroes you think they are, and a majority of lebanese are on this side, according to literally ALL public opinion polls in the last year. particularly after their disgusting actions the past few days. tfeh.
ya aib… people are dying and you guys are defending their murder. open your eyes already!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous | May 9, 2008, 5:26 pmThe issue of ‘minority rule’ or ‘majority rule’ is a canard. The real issue is — if Hezbollah were in power, what program would they enact that you view as superior to the one being pursued by the Lebanese government?
Representation isn’t everything.
And don’t Hezbollah’s links to Syria, who have been fucking with Lebanon for quite some time now, bother you?
Shit, you utter ‘Western-backed’ like it’s a dirty term (One of the greatest things *about* Lebanon is its strong links to the Western world and the Western tradition), but the words ‘Syrian-backed’ never exit your mouth?
I’m fine with allowing Hezbollah into the political process… once they renounce all Syrian ties, subordinate their political and religious philosophies to secular humanism and publicly prostrate themselves before the altar of rational materialism, and give up all their weapons.
These are the conditions for proving that they’re serious about joining us in modernity, and the cooperative building of the modern world.
Until then, here’s hoping there are a few less of them once the Lebanese army is done with them.
Posted by Joe | May 9, 2008, 6:24 pmno offense anonymous, but your response is pretty stupid to say the least.
Posted by Moataz | May 9, 2008, 6:24 pmYazeed
Beirut is not Israel. Hezbollah (a name that was obtained from The Koran, The Party of God) is nothing as what they claim for themselves. They are Hezb Al Shaytan (the Party of the Satan). They are a bunch of THUGs. No Muslim should be allowed to kill his brother. They did win on military basis but they have proven to be bankrupt. Power corrupts and we will see who will be the final winner. Hariri’s blood will never be forgotten.
Posted by Anonymous | May 9, 2008, 7:32 pmIf you think this is not a sectarian war then you are mistaken. An emotional outburst by a TV anchor from the now forcibly shut Future TV station (owned by Harriri) captures the essence of what is going on in the minds of residents in Beirut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnwQ_PhDr9c
Posted by Beirut | May 9, 2008, 7:50 pmJoe, what you are arguing is that the Lebanese don’t deserve a true democracy; no equal representation, but a manipulation of elections to ensure that a certain party or group of parties is underrepresented because you don’t like them. That’s fucked up.
Posted by Anonymous | May 10, 2008, 8:33 am“”Joe, what you are arguing is that the Lebanese don’t deserve a true democracy; no equal representation, but a manipulation of elections to ensure that a certain party or group of parties is underrepresented because you don’t like them. That’s fucked up.”"
Uh… who said I support direct democracy?
I support a constitutional republic, that enshrines certain freedoms which I hold to be most important:
-Freedom of faith, but even more importantly, freedom FROM faith.
-The freedom to offend.
-The freedom to engage in all the consensual sexual activity you want, potentially in conjunction with the freedom above.
Without these three freedoms, you cannot maintain any of the other freedoms that make up a liberal constitutional society.
You honestly think Hezbollah is going to sign off on those?
I consider America to be a far greater country than our counterparts in Western Europe, even if they surpass us in any number of standards — precisely because they lack a written constitution providing these freedoms, and so their freedoms are more easily abrogated by democratic vote.
Do you trust the democratic will of the people to decide what your fundamental freedoms should be? I sure as hell don’t. I’m glad I live in a constitutional republic, not a direct democracy.
Posted by Joe | May 10, 2008, 6:06 pmwell the USA is slowly moving away from its constitutional past and becoming more of a democracy. I must agree with Joe, true democracy doesn’t exist anywhere and it is a disastrous system to say the least.
Posted by Moataz | May 10, 2008, 9:57 pm