Lebanon: Open Skies of Struggle

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A logo for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [DFLP] spray-painted on the wall within the Burj el Barajneh refugee camp in southern Beirut. Photo by stefan Christoff.

Montreal Exhibition from Photojournalist Stefan Christoff at Sablo Kafé
Announcement for Exhibition Opening Event!

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FRIDAY, APRIL 27th, 7pm
Sablo Kafé,
50 St. Zotique East
[metro St. Laurent & Bus 55 North]
FREE,
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Include performances & presentations from:

• Kaie Kellough: Author & dub-poet
• the Narcycist: Iraqi hip-hop artist

Photojournalist STEFAN CHRISTOFF will be displaying a series of striking photographs captured throughout Lebanon in 2005 & 2006 at Montreal's Sablo Café, from mid-April until the end of May 2007. Christoff's images bring to life the realities of life and struggle from Lebanon utilizing sharp artistic edges and beautiful colors.

From the streets of Beirut to the open skies of south Lebanon, Christoff's photos outline sketches realities of life in Lebanon. The photographs convey the human realities of a nation facing major political upheaval in recent years, marked by massive street demonstrations, international political intervention & a devastating Israeli military attack in 2006.

Christoff's images also document the social and political conditions of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.

From the Palestinian refugee camps of Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon, to Burj el-Barajneh in the southern suburbs of Beirut, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees live in exile as a result of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

for more information concerning the exhibition contact:
email: christoff@resist.ca
tel: 514 690 8499
web: http://tadamon.resist.ca

View Stefan Christoff's photographs at the following links:

• Christoff on Flickr
• Burj el-Shemali Refugee Camp: A Photo Essay
• Palestinian Refugee Camp Images 2006

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Hezbollah and the Left

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During the failed Israeli invasion of Lebanon earlier this year many of us were both wary and intrigued about the political nature of Hezbollah, the Islamic organization which provoked and then successfully repelled the attack. Flags went up because of Hezbollah’s close ties to the Iranian regime, its religious ideology and past conflicts with the left. It was easy for us to assimilate it into the broader rise of right-wing anti-imperialist Islam.

While some comrades went so far as to describe the Party of God as fascist, others considered it to be progressive, even left-wing. Mention was made of current co-operation with the left, statements by leaders in favour of ethnic, religious and political pluralism, the prominent role of women in certain levels of the Party, and the fact that in areas under Hezbollah control women are not being forced to wear hijab.

Things still don’t seem clearcut, and while i think the term “fascist” definitely does not apply to Hezbollah, i would still not characterize it as left-wing , regardless of its undisputed anti-imperialism. Once the onus of proving “fascism” – i.e. a revolutionary and totalitarian programme – is abandoned, the much easier case of “right-wing” is still fairly easy to make. Not in the neo-liberal sense, and not in the pro-american sense, but in terms of promoting conservative gender hierarchies and a corporatist and paternalistic approach to class oppression. All of which is fairly standard for right-wing religious movements, and certainly not only Islamic ones.

(A list of some web postings regarding this debate can be found at the bottom of this post.)

Nevertheless, given Lebanese vulnerability to Israeli aggression, both overt and covert, Hezbollah has emerged as the champion of the people. We don’t have to like this fact in order to acknowledge it as true. In this regard, Mari Abi-Habib’s article from the December 10th edition of the Montreal Gazette, about support for the Party of God from Lebanese communists, is of some interest:

Secular meets sectarian
Lebanese communist party works with Hezbollah to promote stronger resistance

Ibtisam Jamaleddine stood in the room of her dead son, Maxim. Maxim was 18 years old when he was mistaken for a fighter and killed by an Israeli missile during this summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Pictures of Che Guevara and soccer players as well as a plaque dedicated to Shiite Islam's most revered imam, Ali, adorn the walls of his room. They tell a story unknown in the West, of the complex nature of forces that fought Israel last summer.

During the war, U.S. President George W. Bush pitted the conflict as one fuelled by "Islamo-fascism," pushed by Hezbollah, the Party of God. But fighting alongside Hezbollah was an older, more seasoned resistance movement - the Lebanese Communist Party, which allied with the Islamic party for the first time and showed its members that Islam and communism can complement each other.

For Maxim's mother, the alliance of these two ideologies was natural and the pictures in her son's room of a communist martyr and a Muslim hero attest to that.

She said her son wasn't religious. She said she sees her son as part of a line of resistance fighters "that began with Imam Ali and went to Che and then to Maxim. It's one lineage of struggle."

The Jamaleddine family has increasingly woven religious symbols into their lives since the Aug. 14 ceasefire went into effect. Ibtisam's daughter, Lina, was hit by shrapnel from a missile that exploded outside the family's house. She now wears a head scarf. Ibtisam hung a picture of Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in her living room "just to spite Bush." But both deny being very religious.

"The LCP's decreasing support shows that the (Lebanese) are becoming more confessional. They believe that because the state is weak they must turn to their sect for protection," said Saadallah Mazraani, vice-president of the LCP.

The communists' organizational and social clout was the envy of many militias at the onset of the civil war that raged from 1975 to 1990. The group's power began to dwindle with the rise of Hezbollah and other sectarian militias. Hezbollah formed in 1982 to fight Israel and hasten its withdrawal from the south.

The communist resistance dates to 1937, when members of the LCP contributed forces to communist Palestinian militias to fight Israeli militias. In that way, the group is known as the father of the resistance.

But Hezbollah has become the main source of resistance in Lebanon.

"It's not that we support (Hezbollah) because they are Islamic. We support them because they are a resistance," said LCP member Mohammed Jamaleddine, Ibtisam's cousin.

"There was no other strong, active resistance during the (summer) war," Ibtisam said.

"It's an internationally politicized resistance that Hezbollah promotes. We like that," Mohammed said.

The Jamaleddines have supported the LCP since its inception and live in the communist stronghold of Jemmalieh in the Bekaa Valley. Four of Ibtisam's family members - her brother-in-law, his son and two cousins - died fighting with the LCP during the Lebanese civil war.

"I've always voted for the LCP before the summer war," Ibtisam said. "This time, Hezbollah and the LCP better run together."

Hezbollah and the LCP are similar in their support for the poor. Both parties often build roads, schools and infrastructure for impoverished, government-neglected villages. The LCP, with support from the Soviet Union, once was the main provider for the poor. But Hezbollah has surpassed it in philanthropy with its larger coffers and support from Syria and Iran.

LCP party members have come to support Hezbollah in growing numbers, mixing secular politics with sectarian beliefs, an alliance to promote a stronger resistance.

The LCP's mandate is to protect Lebanon in the absence of a strong state, Mazraani said. He pointed to the party's fight against the 1976 Syrian occupation as proof that resistance is not woven into religious strife.

University of Chicago professor Richard Pape argues in his book Dying to Win that communist and socialist groups accounted for 75 per cent of suicide attacks during Lebanon's civil war. Pape also asserts that 70 per cent of suicide bombers during the civil war were Christians belonging to secular parties.

This summer's war "was not a religious conflict - Jewish vs. Muslim. It was a political conflict," LCP vice-president Mazraani said. Israel turned "the conflict into a religious one because they are a Jewish entity. They try to show their enemy as a religious force, to unite Jews for Israel and get support from American Jews by showing the conflict as a clash of religions and not as a resistance to Israeli aggression."

Hezbollah members displayed their political sentiments over what they perceived as Israeli-U.S. political aggression during the war. Anti-Bush Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's image was often altered to appear next to Nasrallah's, illustrating their resistance to U.S. policy and downplaying claims of religious strife.

Although their goals might be similar, their tactics during the war differed. "We worked more with the people of the villages," Mazraani said. "Hezbollah had its own independent faction. We collaborated with citizens to provide local protection. We wouldn't seek conflict, but resist attempted occupation."

According to Huessein Diab, an LCP commander and a fighter in this summer's war, LCP fighters mainly fired at planes trying to land and release ground troops into Lebanon.

The Bekaa valley has about 400 villages and the LCP has sympathizers and members in most that number several thousand, Mazraani said.

An official LCP decree released at the start of the summer conflict told members to organize and "resist attempts of Israeli invasion."

"We're closer to Hezbollah (now) as we both have one goal: to resist Israeli occupation," Mazraani said. "The Resistance is not just Islamic."

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Those interested in checking out one section of the debate regarding Hezbollah may want to read these texts. Unfortunately - and gallingly so, given the importance of gender to all positions in this debate – all these pieces were written by men. None by women, never mind by women living in Lebanon...

• Defending My Enemy’s Enemy, by Matthew Lyons August 3rd 2006 (also discussed on the Sketchy Thoughts blog here)


• More on Hezbollah, Sketcy Thoughts August 6th 2006


• Further Thoughts on Lebanon, Matthew Lyons August 26th 2006


• Hizbullah, Iran and 'Right-Wing Anti-Imperialism': A Reply to Critics, Michael Karadjis September 20th 2006


• Right-wing anti-imperialists are not promoting feudalism: A reply to Michael Karadjis, Matthew Lyons October 10th 2006

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[Montreal] August 30th Benefit for Sanayeh Relief Centre in Beirut

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[please spread the word, forward to lists you are on! s.v.p. circulez!]

QPIRG McGill and Tadamon! present :

OUT AGAINST THE OCCUPATION!
A FUNDRAISER FOR THE SANAYEH RELIEF CENTRE IN BEIRUT

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Wednesday, August 30 2006
Doors at 9 pm, Performance 10 pm
Club Lambi
4465  blvd. St-Laurent (coin Mont-Royal)
Pay What You Can/Suggested Donation: 5-20$
***********************************

FEATURING

Screenings:
A Public Service Announcement from Electronic Lebanon
From Beirut to… those who love us : a video by Beirut DC film and cinema collective

Poetry:
Trish Salah

Speakers:
Nayrouz from ASWAT (a Palestinian Gay Woman’s Group) talks about negotiating a queer Arab Identity while resisting occupation and Israeli apartheid.

a member of from Tadamon! reports back from Beirut.

Performance:
Radical Drag by Osama Bin Thuggin (Condoleza Rice and Dick Cheney like you’ve never seen them before…)

Drag Performance by Farah Abdill and guest

Dj’s Leila P., Dima, Kandis and more laying down beats from Hip Hop to Arab Pop!

*** Translation available (English, French and Arabic) ***
*** Club Lambi is NOT wheel chair accessible ***

For more information click here.

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More on Hezbollah

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I posted Matt Lyons’ piece on Defending My Enemy’s Enemy to Louis Proyect’s Marxism list, where it received a number of (highly) critical responses. One answer in particular, though, did at least try to deal with the actual issues Lyons was touching on.

As i stated in my own comments -  we “know” a lot about Hezbollah without knowing how we “know” this. What interests me is knowing what life is like in areas controlled by the group – especially what it is like for women and queers. While Michael Karadjis’ reply below is by no means the last word on this subject, he does shed some light on this, and so it is interesting to read what he has to say:

The fact that imperialist leaders and media continually talk as if Hizbullah were a local branch office of the Iran regime can blind people to the realities.

1. "The Islamic Republic of Iran enforces medieval religious law"

Hizbullah does nothing of the sort in southern Lebanon and south Beirut, where they run most of the councils, and have been the effective state power for nearly 20 years

2. "The Islamic Republic of Iran imposes brutal strictures on women and LGBT people"

I do not know the situation of LGBT people in Lebanon, but suggest it is probably no better and no worse than anywhere in the Middle East, or most of the third world for that matter. Regarding women, no doubt they face many of the kinds of restrictions they face right throughout the region. However, Hizbullah does not "impose brutal strictures on women" throughout the areas it runs. Many wear veils, many do not. Women wearing jeans and average western looking clothing can be seen walking around the central Shia mosque in south Beiruit, the Hizbullah headquarters. Young men and women work together in the local pizza hut. Women in general are very visible and active, unlike in pro-western Jordan with a "non-fundamentalist" government, for example. I stayed at the Palestinian camp in Bourj al Barajneh, right in this area. The camp is full of bullet holes from when Amal was firing on them in 1985. The Palestinians there were most grateful when Hizbullah came and shoved the Shia-communalist Amal out of the way. I asked Olfat Mahmoud, a social worker in the camp, if Hizbullah had at least initially tried to impose strict religious restrictions on the local populaiton, many years ago, and had perhaps given up later. She replied "we heard a lot about that in the western media, but I never noticed it here."

3. "The Islamic Republic of Iran persecutes religious and ethnic minorities"

Hizbullah does not persecute Christians or Sunni Muslims, or anyone else as far as I know. They fought against other Shia (Amal) to defend Sunni and Christian Palestinians. They fought against the 'Christian'-led South Lebanon Army because it was Israel's proxy army of occupation in the south.

4. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has executed tens of thousands of leftists and other political dissenters"

Hizbullah has not executed leftists or political opponents, on the contrary it works with them. Just on that point, let me turn to a message LP sent quoting Gilbert Achcar:

"Hizbollah built itself partially through fighting the LCP over this (Shia) constituency and managed to prevail"

I don't know about that. Amal launced many violent attacks on the LCP in the early 1980s, over the Shia constiuency, but that was before Hizbullah was born. I don't rule out that Hizbullah may have in the earliest times, but I was following events pretty closely in the early years of Hizbullah. And I can assure you, repelled by the executions in Iran, I had no predisposition to thinking Hizbullah would not continue Amal's work; I expected they would step it up. Yet from my memory I was pleasantly surprised that they did nothing of the sort.

However, a Council on Foreign Relations dossier on Hizbullah claims:

"Hizballah proved to be especially intolerant of competitors for Shi'i recruits. In this regard, the Communist Party, an especially appealing target given its alien and atheist ideology,was singled out for attacks. Dozens, if not hundreds, of party members were killed in a brutal, bloody campaign of suppression and assassination in 1984 and 1985." It gives as its source a book, A.R. Norton, Amal and the Shia: Struggle for the Soul of Lebanon', Austin: Uni of Texas press, 1987.

However, Hizbullah only clearly emerged in 1985 with its famous declaration. Before that, there were a number of smaller groups, with names like Islamic Jihad, which went on to form Hizbullah. Many were still under the shadow of Amal. And this period, 1982-85, before Hizbullah's clear emergence, these groups were more directly under the control of the contingent of Iranian revolutionary guards which ahd been dispatched to Lebanon. From 1985 however, the open Hizbullah came much more strongly under the influence of Lebanese reality, including of radical Lebanese Shia figures, like Sheik Fadlahah, who were sympathetic to Iran but undeniably and forcefully independent, with a long term standing on their own feet.

Hizbullah is obviously not a left-wing or  socilaist organisation, so I suppose one can call it "right-wing" in a very general sense, ie, it is led by the Shia bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie and operates within the confines of national liberation. However, it is not a "right-wing" movement in the sense suggested above, one "dedicated to Khomeini style fundamentalism", or one that represents some kind of international right-wing anti-imperilaism, as suggested elsewhere in that article, which one might arguably say about Al Qaida. It is simply a Lebanese national liberation movement, and at the same time a movement of the relatively impoverished Shia section of the Lebanese nation for a greater slice of the pie. And comapred to the majority of other movements originating with 'Islamist' colouration, I think it has to be argued that many of  its policies and tactics are surprisingly sensible.

Also on the subject of Hezbollah – while it does not shed any light at all on life in Hezbollah controlled areas, the following interview with Hezbollah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah (emailed to me by a regular Sketchy Thoughts reader – thanks!) does give some indication as to how the current Israeli onslaught looks through the eyes of their enemy.

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[Three Way Fight] Defending My Enemy's Enemy

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The following essay by Matthew Lyons comes from the Three Way Fight blog. Lyons is co-author (along with Chip Berlet) of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, as well as numerous essays and articles about repression and the far right in America.

I’ll add some of my own comments afterwards…

Defending My Enemy’s Enemy

by Matthew Lyons
[This essay was published on Three Way Fight, 3 August 2006.]

Question to the U.S. left and anti-war movement about the current war in Lebanon: If we want Israel to fail in its stated objective to destroy Hezbollah, does that mean we want Hezbollah to win?

The Israeli attacks on Lebanon are a mass atrocity, a calculated, long-planned campaign of terror that is inflicting vastly more suffering on civilians in Lebanon than Israelis are facing from Hezbollah missiles.

Since 1978, Israel has invaded or occupied Lebanon repeatedly and has killed tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians. This is closely bound up with the long history of Israeli land theft, persecution, and mass violence against the Palestinian people, and the current Lebanon war is bound up with the latest Israeli violence in Gaza and the West Bank. In these attacks, the Israeli state has acted largely as U.S. imperialism's number one client and proxy, its actions interlinked with Washington's occupation of Iraq.

So let's be clear: We have a pressing responsibility to defend the Lebanese people, demand an immediate end to Israeli attacks, and expose the deadly U.S. role in the conflict.

But let's be clear about something else too: The fact that Israel and the United States want to destroy Hezbollah does not make it a positive political force. To be sure, Hezbollah has staunchly resisted Israeli aggression for years. It runs a sizeable network of social services and has a solid base of popular support centered in the largely poor Shi'i community but cutting across denominational lines. Yet no matter how courageous its fighters may be, no matter how many schools and hospitals it runs, Hezbollah is essentially a right-wing political movement. Its guiding ideology is Khomeini-style Islamic fundamentalism. Hezbollah's political ideal, the Islamic Republic of Iran, enforces medieval religious law, imposes brutal strictures on women and LGBT people, persecutes religious and ethnic minorities, and has executed tens of thousands of leftists and other political dissenters. This is not exactly a liberatory model.

In the framework of our basic opposition to the Israeli attacks, it's important for us to be open about our political criticisms of Hezbollah. That doesn't mean echoing the U.S. government/mass media line – criticism doesn't mean demonization. Even if we accept that some Hezbollah armed actions have wrongly targeted civilians, it's transparent nonsense to say that Hezbollah is a group of "terrorists" and Israel is just trying to defend itself. It's quite possible that Hezbollah sometimes engages in anti-Jewish scapegoating, but the organization is not continuing Hitler's work and does not exist in order to kill Jews. Rather than try to impose Islamic rule on Lebanon by force, Hezbollah has repeatedly acknowledged the country's pluralistic character. And Hezbollah is not the root cause of the conflict with Israel. It is primarily a response -- a deeply flawed one -- to Israeli and western aggression in Lebanon and the Middle East, and to the oppression of the Shi'i community.

Among the statements on the Lebanon war I've seen so far from U.S. leftist and anti-war groups, most condemn the Israeli attacks against the Lebanese people but say little or nothing about Hezbollah's politics. Two notable exceptions are the Workers World Party and the Spartacist League, both in statements dated July 21, 2006. Workers World describes Hezbollah as the leader of a "national resistance movement" and argues that, for both Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, Islam "is the ideological form whose actual content is the struggle against imperialism." An article published in Workers World newspaper four days later describes Hezbollah as "a guerrilla resistance army with Islamic leadership" which "gained wide political legitimacy for its determined resistance and its well-organized, non-corrupt social services."

The Spartacist League takes Workers World to task for "prettifying" Hezbollah in this manner, and notes that during the Cold War both the United States and Israel "fostered the growth of Islamic reaction as a counterweight to Communism and secular nationalism." The Spartacists declare, "As Trotskyists, we in the Spartacist League militarily defend Hezbollah against the Israeli military machine in this conflict, while maintaining our political opposition to this reactionary fundamentalist outfit."

I know it's not popular to say nice things about the Sparts, but on this issue they take a good position and Workers World takes a bad one. To treat Hezbollah as anti-imperialist while glossing over its right-wing religious ideology is dishonest, simplistic, and short sighted from a propaganda standpoint, because it leaves you open to easy critique. The Spartacists' double-edged position -- we oppose Hezbollah's politics but defend them against Israeli attack -- respects people's intelligence more and offers U.S. activists a clearer and more principled way of relating to the conflict. It acknowledges the war's political complexity, instead of reducing it to Good Guys versus Bad Guys, but it also doesn't treat the two sides as equivalent or mirror images -- it takes a stand.

What's missing from the Spartacist League position, however, is a clear recognition that Hezbollah is both right wing and anti-imperialist. I don't mean Hezbollah is inconsistent -- I mean its opposition to Zionism and its U.S. patron is rooted in a right-wing philosophy. This doesn't fit conventional leftist categories, but it's not unique. Although the Islamic right was helped by the United States and Israel during the Cold War, today it includes some of the most militant and strategically important opponents of these same governments. (Hamas, the Taliban, and al Qaeda are other prominent examples, very distinct from each other and from Hezbollah.) We may not like this situation, but we need to find ways to understand it and deal with it.

The title of this essay refers to the book My Enemy's Enemy (Kersplebedeb, 2001), which warned that far-right politics were strong and growing within the anti-globalization movement -- and that many leftists were wittingly or unwittingly complicit in fostering this growth. My Enemy's Enemy helped crystallize the concept of a "three-way fight" to describe the global political situation. Instead of an essentially binary struggle between right and left, between the forces of oppression and the forces of liberation, three-way fight politics posits a more complex struggle centered on the global capitalist ruling class, the revolutionary left, and the revolutionary right. The latter encompasses various kinds of fascists and other far rightists who want to replace the dominance of global capital with a different kind of oppressive social order. This means there is no guarantee that militant challenges to global capitalism -- including popular anti-imperialist struggles -- will take a progressive or liberatory form.

Three-way fight politics is still a new and primitive analytic tool, but I think it's an important framework for discussion and a helpful corrective to oversimplifications that are common on the left. The Lebanon war highlights the concept's usefulness as well as the need to develop it further. Three-way fight politics has largely been used to draw a line between leftist and rightist versions of insurgent politics, to help leftists recognize the differences and warn them against dangerous alliances. Sometimes -- as with the anti-globalization movement -- that's exactly what's needed. But sometimes -- as with the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah and the people of Lebanon -- what we need to do is defend rightist forces, in specific ways and specific situations, against a greater political threat. My enemy's enemy is not necessarily my friend, but sometimes we need to defend people who are not our friends.

This approach to the Lebanon war raises many questions that I won't try to answer here. Within the basic outlines I've presented, what does critical defense of Hezbollah include and what does it exclude? What kinds of tactics and slogans best represent this position? Beyond the immediate situation, when does this kind of stance make sense, and when is it counterproductive? How, concretely, does it differ from solidarity with leftist forces? Given that right-wing anti-imperialist fighters are tying down U.S. imperialism and its allies in several countries, to what extent, if any, could this widen the space for liberatory movements? Such questions merit serious discussion, and that can only happen if we go beyond a simplistic Us-versus-Them model of politics. George Bush declared after September 11th: Either you are with us or against us. Surely we can do better than that.

Now, in my opinion, the above article is useful because it spells out what many of us have been thinking.

We’ve been watching for weeks now, horrified as Israel has committed war crimes in Lebanon, and increasingly inspired (perhaps despite ourselves) as we watch Hezbollah resist these attacks, deliver solid blows against the enemy… all the while apparently respecting a  higher moral code than the imperialists (i.e. initially offering a prisoner swap, now offering a cease-fire, so far holding back from attacking Tel Aviv and offering to continue to do so if Israel stops attacking Beirut).

And yet we also know that Hezbollah is not fighting for a world in which we would be welcome. As non-believers, as women who want to be free, as people not limited by two genders or one way of fucking – we and our comrades don’t need to see the Taliban in order to know where we’re in trouble… no matter how “progressive” on some issues Hezbollah may be, no matter how different from Khomeini that Nasrallah may seem, even given the overwhelming support the group is understandably enjoying in Lebanon right now: their vision is not simply different, it is ultimately incompatible with ours.

Yet we know this largely without knowing how we know this. There is not a lot of information about Hezbollah out there in the North American left and none of what i have been able to find is from an anti-patriarchal, anti-imperialist perspective. This is not an unacceptable situation to be in, but it is unacceptable that it persist: rather than simply asserting Hezbollah’s position, more than ever we need connections with people on the ground, people who can see with the clarity you just can get with cyber-vision or CNN or even the latest issue of Workers Vanguard (the Sparts’ newspaper which, i should note, has maintained this kind of “military defense, political opposition” pose for decades before Three Way Fight or My Enemy’s Enemy were about… just giving those props when they’re due…)

In this regard Lyons’ essay is a bit of a tease, as there’s really no more information here about life in a Hezbollah area than anywhere else. Not that this is necessarily avoidable: as i mentioned, we just don’t have those connections yet.

(The one article i did find online, about a gay man who sought refugee status last year as Hezbollah apparently considers sodomy a killable offense, was of interest but did not really provide any greater context either. Funny in a not funny way: the Bush regime opposed the refugee claim, stating that the man would most likely not be punished by Hezbollah if he would only choose to live a celibate lifestyle!)

Here are a few other articles of interest regarding Hezbollah:

• Middle East in Flames: Gilbert Achcar was interviewed by Andrew Kennedy on August 1 for the September issue of Socialist Outlook (n°10, London).


• Hizballah: A Primer: by Lara Deeb on MERIP July 31, 2006


• In Search of Hezbollah: by Adam Shatz New York Review of Books April 29 2004

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Israeli Artillery Soldier Refuses Orders To Shell Civilians

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From the Palestinian News Agency Ma’an (direct link to story here):

Bethlehem - Ma'an - In an unprecedented incident, an Israeli artillery officer has refused to bomb Lebanese villages.Israeli press sources have stated that Corporal 'Umri Zaid, from the Israeli city of Safad, who serves as an artillery soldier in the occupied Golan Heights, had refused orders to launch more than 150 shells onto the Lebanese village of Al-Jdairah. The sources have reported that the soldier told his comrades that he wasn't ready to serve in an army that is professional in shelling civilians in their villages and cities. He packed his belongings and headed to his home.

And meanwhile, countless thousand of Israeli soldiers continue to act as loyal thugs for zionism...

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Women's Demonstration Against War

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While a majority of Israelis seem to be backing their government’s murderous aggression against the Lebanese people, there have been some voices of dissent.

On July 23rd thousands of people (some reports say as many as 5,000) – from Arab, “left zionist”, peace, feminist and anarchist organizations – came together to demonstrate in Tel Aviv, calling for an immediate halt to the murderous attacks on Lebanon. (Slogans included “We will not kill, we will not die in the name of Zionism” and also “We will not die and will not kill in the service of the United States.”)

Of particular interest to myself are activities which try to explicitly connect the struggles against military aggression, patriarchy and colonialism – all of which are on fine display in the current conflict. (For instance: rabbi Moshe Sternbuch – who seems like the Fred Phelps of Israel – has argued that Hezbollah attacks are a divine warning against queer Israelis, noting in regards to the planned gay pride march in Jerusalem, “We have not protested enough against this parade of abomination and therefore we have received this warning,  Who knows where things will get to if we do not act further and more stringently against it.”)

So i was heartened when i saw the following news story of a women’s demonstration in Tel Aviv last Sunday. The following report is from Sunday’s ynetnews:

Protesters: War a man’s issue

Moran Rada

Former Member of Knesset Tamar Gozansky, who participated in the left-wing demonstration against the war in Lebanon on Saturday, said "War has been and will remain a man's issue. We denounce the conception that everything must be solved through force."

Some 1,500 demonstrators marched from Rabin Square to King George Street in Tel Aviv carrying signs inscribed with slogans such as: "Prisoner swap better than body bags" and "Stop killing, start talking NOW" and "If we want, there is someone to talk to."
Ten women's organizations were behind the organization, under the banner "Women Against the War," espousing the outlook that "women don't gain from war, but men do. Every general or colonel in reserve duty sets the policy, and we, as women, only lose." Adi Dagan, spokeswoman of the Coalition of Women for Peace, said "We as women have more motivation for the war to end."

Gozanksy explained, "If you check thoroughly you will see that among the powerless victims there are a lot of women and children. Women are an exploited, degraded, and oppressed population that pays the price of her weakness even after the war. I'm sure that after this war we will hear of many women who were fired and whose rights were not upheld because they couldn't get to work. The public did not vote for the parties so that they would support war."

Not just for women

At the demonstration, not a small number of men were present. Dan Yahav explained, "I think that this is one of the stupidest wars ever. The captive soldiers were not the trigger for the war. One must coldly think what the real reasons that caused the government to go to war."

He beleives some potential reasons could be "the arrogance and the lack of preparedness to compromise, especially on territory. This is also the main reason for the lack of peace with Syria. Similar to the first Lebanon War, the goal is to rearrange Lebanon, to change the ethnic balance in Lebanon according to the vision of the West - that is the US. The leaders want to prove themselves."

Matti Shmuelaf, a poet and editor, joined the protestors claiming, "I came to demonstrate because I think a fateful mistake has been made that is exacting an enormous price on the periphery, on the soldiers, and on Lebanon and Gaza. Hundreds of people are dying. I think we are a pioneering army in the true camp of peace."

Economic security beyond borders

Yaheli Hashash of Haifa, a member of the Ahoti (My Sister) movement said that she came to the demonstration "because our security in Israel is first and foremost economic security. The economic security of women has deteriorated in the last 15 years. The achievements of the social welfare movements in the last elections have been thrown out the window with the grinding down of entire populations in the north. Who will compensate women in the north who receive hourly or daily wages? The money that is invested now in supposedly saving us from Katyushas was supposed to save us from unemployment and a lack of economic security. Beyond the border there also needs to be economic security, because that is our security also."

Neta Rotem of Jerusalem, a member in the Anarchist Group, said that in her opinion the war must stop immediately. "Our voice calls out to stop thinking that to every problem there is a violent solution, a competitive solution, a solution in which one side has to lose and the other side has to win. The aggression of Israel and the Hizbullah cannot bring about a decisive victory to one side, or a decisive loss to the other side. The solution must be an agreement between the two sides from which everyone will benefit, and won't die from."

Dagan called the Government of Israel to respond to offers of an immediate ceasefire, to prisoner exchange, and to diplomatic negotiation.

"We believe that this war will not achieve security for the residents of Israel, only negotiations and peace agreements with Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority will. We women are always politically active for the end of the occupation, and equality for women and minorities, and therefore we were the first to organize against the war."

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Israeli Military Lies About Qana Massacre

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From today’s edition of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, an interesting contradiction to the official colonialist line on the Qana massacre so far:

As the Israel Air Force continues to investigate the air strike, questions have been raised over military accounts of the incident.

It now appears that the military had no information on rockets launched from the site of the building, or the presence of Hezbollah men at the time.

The Israel Defense Forces had said after the deadly air-strike that many rockets had been launched from Qana. However, it changed its version on Monday.

The site was included in an IAF plan to strike at several buildings in proximity to a previous launching site. Similar strikes were carried out in the past. However, there were no rocket launches from Qana on the day of the strike.

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Thoughts on Yesterday's Montreal Demonstration Against Israeli Aggression

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At least two thousand people – possible many more than that – came out to protest Israeli aggression, marching through the drizzling rain in downtown Montreal yesterday. Media reports than “1,000” were there are bullshit, but i can’t be sure exactly how many there were, as this was the most densely packed demo i have ever been at – and like any densely packed material, it flowed slowly through the streets…

The demonstration was mainly made up of members of Montreal’s Arab communities, but not completely so – there were also many of the regulars from the anarchist scene, the Maoist RCP-OC had members interspersed in the crowd, and i noticed a few Trots, albeit without any of their regular calling cards (i.e. not a copy of The Militant or Socialist Worker to be found). But this was clearly a protest grounded in the Arab immigrant communities, i assume especially the Lebanese, as the latter form by far the largest Arab community in Montreal.

The level of politics seemed to toggle between anti-war sloganeering and nationalism, all with an obvious anti-zionist spin. There were so many flags – mainly Lebanese, some Palestinian, but also a number of Fleur-de-Lys and Maple Leafs – and most signs being the kind that simply called for an end to the killing, some taking a more direct aim at Israel, with signs like “Shame on You” or “End Israeli Apartheid”.

This makes sense given why people are out marching. This is not an abstract “maybe there’ll be a war” like the metropolitan peace movements in the 80s were protesting, nor is this a protest against somebody else’s predicament, like the various demonstrations against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The majority of these people were out protesting the destruction of their homeland, of the land where many still have family and friends, and they were protesting this while it was actually going on. In such a context falling back on simple “Stop the Violence” type sentiments makes sense.

As for nationalism – well, isn’t the appeal obvious when a country is being bombed so viciously? Children are being killed because they are Lebanese – so the defiant desire to (as one woman’s sign read) “Rally To Our Flag, Our Nation, Our Glory” isn’t tough to figure out.

Furthermore, people should notice that racist politicians and radio talk show hosts have already being playing the “real Canadian” card, implying that “dual citizen” Canadians are somehow less deserving of rights or respect than their pure bred neighbours. We heard this most disgustingly in bipartisan remarks made as Canada bungled its evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon. In what could be a situation of literal life or death, with an estimated 40,000 Canadians in Lebanon, MP Garth Turner has argued that evacuees should be separated out depending on if they share Lebanese citizenship, with only the “pure” Canadians being the ones who should be saved, or at least the ones who should be saved first. (Of course, this is avoiding he truly painful fact that either evacuation amount to saving “our” citizens so that Israel can safely murder anyone who is left without causing too much of a diplomatic kerfuffle.)

So in a situation where people are not only under attack in Lebanon, but also face racist discrimination here in Canada – all the more reason why nationalist sentiments should come to the fore. While i don’t support it, i don’t necessarily oppose it, or at least not in the form i saw it expressing itself yesterday.

car flies canadian, quebecois, lebanese and palestinian flags at yesterday's demo

What is more problematic, though again very understandable in a sad kind of way, was the Canadian and Quebecois nationalism in evidence. I’m talking about the ones saying Harper has “betrayed” us, or that Canada should not turn its back on its past as noble peacekeeper, or the Quebec and Canadian flags … in other words the wrapping oneself in imperialist flags insisting that the “real Canadian” or “real Quebecois” national interests and values lie with the Lebanese victims of imperialism.

This fosters dangerous illusions.

Canada is a nation founded on settlerism and invasion, just like Israel. Anti-zionists are fond of describing Israeli policies as “apartheid”, pointing out the similarities with the draconian racial controls which existed in South Africa until 1991, but what some may forget is that South Africa itself was merely perfecting and sharpening the lessons learned from the colonial experience around the world, including Canada, which had its own “pass laws” for Indians – indeed, in 1902 a South African delegation visited this country to study these laws…

Nor is this ancient history. Check out the situation at Grassy Narrows. Check out the struggle people have had to wage outside of Caledonia, at Six Nations. This is the country where indigenous women comprise 2% of the population, but 46% of those in maximum security prisons. This is the country tuberculosis rated 17 times higher amongst indigenous people than settlers.

This is the country which claims the maple leaf, and this is the flag some people are holding up in opposition to the Israeli flag, as the “good country” which should be standing up against “the bad one”.

As radical leftists, what we have to point out is that Harper’s tacit support for Israel is not an aberration, nor is it a “scandal” or a “betrayal” – it is merely the logical and consistent expression of his right-wing politics on the world stage.

Opposing a progressive “Canadian” or “Quebecois” nationalism to zionism also muddies the waters as to what the latter is, and why we should oppose it. Unlike those who hold that zionism is “worst than the nazis” or “the most racist ideology ever” – opinions which are as ahistorical as they are anti-semitic – zionism is in fact nothing more or less than the ideology of turning the Jewish people into a new colonialist nation.

In this zionism is certainly racist, and certainly reactionary, and certainly must be opposed 100% - but it is also certainly in the same category as Canadian nationalism or American nationalism. Or even certain varieties of Quebecois nationalism. The idea that a group of people – call it a nation or an ethnic group or whatever – should take a piece of land, subjugate those who live there or force them to flee, and found a new nation on the bones of its victims is not one which was thought up by Theodor Herzl – he was merely trying to apply the lessons of European world conquest to his own people, hoping for a Jewish colonial State in the same way that England and France and Belgium and the other Euro-powers had set up “their” colonial states.

Opposing zionism while embracing Canadianism is a defensive move by a community which is currently under attack from the former, and realizes it may be able to defend itself with the latter. This is what i call “protective politics”, where people adopt symbols or claim values out of desperation, because they realize that this may be what it takes to save some lives.

However, embracing one form of colonialist nationalism in order to oppose another makes no sense as a political line for the left. For us, we must try to push the level of struggle beyond anti-zionism to anti-canadianism, to a more general and explicit and radical anti-colonialism.

For instance, rather than adopting the highly dubious “Star of David equals Swastika” imagery which was visible in some sections of the demonstration, i think it would make more sense to put forward a “Down with Canada – Down with Israel” or some such. (This is of course leaving out the stupid ambiguity of such imagery in general – for the Star of David is the symbol for all Jews, including those who are anti-zionist…)

The linkage of zionism with nazism is really just a way of saying “fuck you” to Israel’s most vocal supporters, most of whom are Jews and will obviously get upset by this amalgamation. But on a political level it does nothing to clarify the nature of this conflict or our reasons for opposing the zionist settler state – which should be because it is colonialist. It makes much more sense to connect our opposition to Israeli crimes to our opposition to Canadian crimes against the First Nations.

About which i guess i could write more, but this post is getting long enough… so you’ll have to wait til some other day…

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Yesterday's Montreal Rally Against Israeli Aggression

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I don’t think i had ever seen as many Lebanese flags as at yesterday’s rally against Israeli aggression in downtown Montreal.

More than 500 – perhaps as many as a thousand, i can’t be sure because of how the crowd was spread – showed up to protest the ongoing carnage. Men, women and children, mostly Arab, listened to speeches and stood up to show their horror at what is happening in Lebanon today.

It was moving, upsetting, walking through the crowd, taking in that the signs – and also, it seems, the mood – was not so much anger (which i’m sure was there too, and is of course justified) as horror. Horror at what is being done, so quickly, and so brutally, to an entire population.

Some signs, which might normally make me sneer but in this context were all the more moving, read “I Am Ashamed to be a Human Being”, “We All Eat The Same Falafel”, and many many with photos of dead or maimed children, begging that attacks “stop targeting the innocent”.

Not that there was any visible policing of signs – there were one or two more militant placards which i spotted – my take is rather that the people there were simply representative of the mainstream of the Lebanese-Canadian community in Montreal.

There are 150,000 Lebanese-Canadians living in or around Montreal – in fact half of Canada’s Lebanese population lives here – and these people are obviously subject to all the contradictions of being a Third World immigrant community in a western imperialist country. The news reports for the past couple of days have all been highlighting Canadian efforts to rescues Canadians in Lebanon – several cruise ships have been hired for this purpose, and Israel has promised these Canadians safe passage – while yesterday both Conservative and Liberal MPs tried to score cheap racist points by suggesting that “real Canadians” be given priority, as those with dual citizenship caught in the carnage are not mere “accidental” (read: innocent, white) tourists. The whole issue is of course anything but academic as several Montrealers have already been killed in Lebanon.

And yet – as an immigrant community in a country which is lurching to the right – there are whole layers of what i call “protective politics” going on, the feeling that it’s important to prove one’s worth as a “real Canadian” even as the real Canada is complicit in the ongoing imperial slaughter in the Middle East. So of course the demo started with a stirring rendition of the national anthem, and yes you could see the odd maple leaf interspersed with the cedar tree flags. To me this is not so much deplorable as sad, the fact that people feel a need to reassure the butchers that they too are loyal members of the Canadian settler-nation.

Oh yeah, and the sentiment expressed by those signs saying “Harper Has Betrayed Lebanese Canadians”… really? Has he? To betray someone, you have to be on their side initially, you have to switch directions. Hasn’t this fucker always been clear about where he stands? (Oh yeah, and as to the other bourgeois mis-leaders who may be pretending sympathy… if they’re really upset about this there’s an easy solution: stop supporting the Tories. Harper only has a minority, and the moment the NDP, Liberals and Bloc decide it’s worth their while he’ll be out – it ain’t my idea of “how to change the government”, but seeing as these cretins always insist it’s the way their system “works” why don’t we see some action?)

There is a local anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian group which has been trying to build grassroots connections between Montreal and Beirut activist groups. Tadamon! has a regularly updated blog, with reports from members in Lebanon right now.

Actions against Israeli Aggression happening later this week:

1. SOLIDARITY CHAIN (info-picket with images of the atrocities) prior to US fireworks Wednesday, 19 July, gathering at 8pm Place Jacques Cartier, Vieux Montréal
Called by: Association des jeunes libanais musulmans Contact: Youssef Hariri, tel. 514 887-7156, yhariri@hotmail.com

2. FRIDAY VIGIL at ISRAELI CONSULATE Friday, 21 July, 12pm to 1pm NW corner of Peel and René-Levesque Called by: Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
**Also, SPHR is planning a rally on this day; details to be confirmed. Contact (PAJU): Daniel Saykaly, tel. 514 961 3928, dsaykaly@contact.net Contact (SPHR): Nasser Abukhdeir, tel 514 991 5146, nasser.abukhdeir@mcgill.ca

3. 24-hour VIGIL at ISRAELI CONSULATE Starting after the PAJU vigil, continuing until the rally the following day. Corner of Peel and René-LévèsqueCalled by: Various groups Contact: Aaron Lakoff, tel 514 985 2085, aaron@resist.ca

4. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION in solidarity with people in Lebanon and Gaza Saturday, 22 July, 2pm Gather at corner of Peel and René-Lévèsque
Called by: Canadian Muslim Forum Contact: Mohamed Kamel, tel 514 863 9202, mohamed@btceramique.com

5. RELIEF EFFORT FUND-RAISING As increasing numbers are displaced and wounded and civilian infrastructure is destroyed, there will be a huge need for well-directed funds to provide basic survival to people in Lebanon and Gaza. A crisis working group, Relief Center - Spears, has formed in Beirut to support refugees coming into the city: http://tadamon.resist.ca/index.php/?p=50. We will be fund-raising to help with the relief effort and possibly others (to be confirmed).
Contact: Lara di Tomaso, 514 695 0319, lara.dito@gmail.com

6. CALL-IN DAYS and FLYERS To let the government know that many people are outraged by their support for Israeli war crimes, one or more call-in days will be organised. In addition, flyers will be distributed at all events, urging people to call in to PM Stephan Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. Contact: Nasser Abukhdeir, tel 514 991 5146, nasser.abukhdeir@mcgill.caAssociation des jeunes libanais musulmans Canadian Muslim Forum Coalition against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees International Solidarity Movement MontrealMembers of the Lebanese Diaspora Members of the Palestinian Diaspora Palestinian And Jewish Unity (PAJU) Parole Arabe Presence musulmane Montréal (PMM) Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) Tadamon! Montreal Voices of Conscience

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Coordinated Montreal Response to Israeli Aggression (17 to 22 July 2006)

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Montreal-based organisations and individuals have come together to coordinate our responses to calls for solidarity from our brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Gaza, currently living under a vicious military offensive by Israel which has killed hundreds and destroyed civilian infrastructure, with devastating consequences.

While the Canadian government is, outrageously, supporting Israel's war crimes, members of the Lebanese and Palestinian diaspora in Montreal and those who stand in solidarity with them are taking the following actions in support of the people of Gaza and Lebanon.

==> TO GET INVOLVED: contact details are listed with each of the initiatives below.

==> ADDITIONAL INITIATIVES: As we become aware of further plans, they will be posted at http://tadamon.resist.ca/ along with updates from Lebanon; please email tadamon@resist.ca to have an event or appeal or update posted.

1. PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION against the Aggression against Lebanon Tuesday, 18 July, 5pm Dorchester Square, at 1155 Metcalfe (corner of Metcalfe and René-Lévèsque) Called by: University Lebanese Association. Contact: Wissam Moussa, tel. 514 586 4415, wissam.moussa@mcgill.ca

2. SOLIDARITY CHAIN (info-picket with images of the atrocities) prior to US fireworks Wednesday, 19 July, gathering at 8pm Place Jacques Cartier, Vieux Montréal

Called by: Association des jeunes libanais musulmans Contact: Youssef Hariri, tel. 514 887-7156, yhariri@hotmail.com

3. FRIDAY VIGIL at ISRAELI CONSULATE Friday, 21 July, 12pm to 1pm NW corner of Peel and René-Levesque Called by: Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)

**Also, SPHR is planning a rally on this day; details to be confirmed. Contact (PAJU): Daniel Saykaly, tel. 514 961 3928, dsaykaly@contact.net Contact (SPHR): Nasser Abukhdeir, tel 514 991 5146, nasser.abukhdeir@mcgill.ca

4. 24-hour VIGIL at ISRAELI CONSULATE Starting after the PAJU vigil, continuing until the rally the following day. Corner of Peel and René-Lévèsque

Called by: Various groups Contact: Aaron Lakoff, tel 514 985 2085, aaron@resist.ca

5. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION in solidarity with people in Lebanon and Gaza Saturday, 22 July, 2pm Gather at corner of Peel and René-Lévèsque

Called by: Canadian Muslim Forum Contact: Mohamed Kamel, tel 514 863 9202, mohamed@btceramique.com

6. RELIEF EFFORT FUND-RAISING As increasing numbers are displaced and wounded and civilian infrastructure is destroyed, there will be a huge need for well-directed funds to provide basic survival to people in Lebanon and Gaza. A crisis working group, Relief Center - Spears, has formed in Beirut to support refugees coming into the city: http://tadamon.resist.ca/index.php/?p=50. We will be fund-raising to help with the relief effort and possibly others (to be confirmed).

Contact: Lara di Tomaso, 514 695 0319, lara.dito@gmail.com

7. CALL-IN DAYS and FLYERS To let the government know that many people are outraged by their support for Israeli war crimes, one or more call-in days will be organised. In addition, flyers will be distributed at all events, urging people to call in to PM Stephan Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. Contact: Nasser Abukhdeir, tel 514 991 5146, nasser.abukhdeir@mcgill.ca

Association des jeunes libanais musulmans Canadian Muslim Forum Coalition against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees International Solidarity Movement Montreal

Members of the Lebanese Diaspora Members of the Palestinian Diaspora Palestinian And Jewish Unity (PAJU) Parole Arabe Presence musulmane Montréal (PMM) Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) Tadamon! Montreal Voices of Conscience

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