(Updated: Originally published December 2, 2006)
God help you if you push for peaceful change and the U.S. opposes you.
Just take a look at the treatment dished out to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
First, in a perfectly legitimate form of non-violent protest (still there after a long year, too), Hezbollah asks that democracy be respected.
"Hezbollah Calls for Rally to Grip Beirut" by MICHAEL SLACKMAN
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 30 — Hezbollah and its political allies said Thursday that they intended to occupy the center of this city beginning Friday with a huge sit-in that they said would last as long as it took to force the government to resign.
Appearing on Hezbollah’s television station, Al Manar, the group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, called for a peaceful sit-in to topple the government because, he said, it “has failed to fulfill its promises and achieve anything significant.”
The sit-in would be the most volatile escalation in what has turned into a political death match between the pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian Hezbollah and its adversaries, the pro-Western March 14 alliance, which leads the current government.
You see that?
The peaceful protests are a "volatile escalation" in a "political death match."
That surely didn't pan out over the year because a) they were quiet, and/or b) I never heard about it the whole year from my stink Zionist press.
Let us pray Hezbollah is successful. Why?
Prime Minister Fouad Sinoria, in a televised speech, blamed Hezbollah for dragging all of Lebanon into a war with Israel and for the “heavy price” the country paid, said that his government would not resign:
"[Hezbollah and its allies are looking to] overthrow my cabinet, Lebanon’s legitimacy, Lebanon’s Constitution and to turn Lebanon into a battlefield for regional conflicts. I am going to stay in office and defend democracy and independence, and we will not be scared by their threats or terrorized by their threats."
Actually, you weeping, cowardly puppet, Israel had already planned the invasion, and was waiting for the proper excuse, which "Hezbollah" conventiently furnished!
Sheik Nasrallah called on the people of Lebanon to join the protest, which he said would begin at 3 p.m. and continue uninterrupted until there was a new government. He has demonstrated his ability to draw tens of thousands of followers into the streets. He will also be aided by his ally Gen. Michel Aoun, who is considered the most popular Christian political leader in the country.
Sheik Nasrallah: “You, the Lebanese people, are all invited from different regions, thoughts, beliefs, religions, ideologies and different traditions to take part in the peaceful, civilized popular movement that represents our beliefs and points of view and to push matters peacefully and politically in a civic approach toward achieving this choice.”
The government coalition remained defiant, likening Hezbollah’s actions to a coup.
Marwan Hamadeh, minister of telecommunications: “We are determined to refuse the extortion and blackmail now practiced through popular pressure to force the government to resign or to change the democratic regime in Lebanon. We welcome peaceful demonstrations as long as they don’t cross red lines and threaten public and private institutions.”
And if Hezbollah does not commit violence (which they won't because "Hezbollah has a reputation for maintaining strict discipline and running well-choreographed events"), I'm sure the Lebanese government -- will produce the appropriate agent provocateurs!
After a year, my truth has been proven out! Hezbollah has remained peaceful!
Military forces were put on alert, and security was increased around the city.
Oussama Safa, director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, a research institute:
“It’s not going to stop here. The government will not resign, and they will not leave the streets and they will resort to violence.”
Wrong! Been a year, bozo, and no violence!
Except for Fatah al-Islam, the Saudi imports!
The plan for the sit-in holds the prospect of history repeating itself, though with a different goal. The last time crowds brought down the government was in 2005, after the assassination of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Despite the anger over his death, those were heady, upbeat days for many Lebanese, who helped force the pro-Syrian government to resign. That movement and its international response led the Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon after 29 years of occupation.
Ummmm, about Hariri's death:
Israel's dirty games
CUI BONO, readers?
Syria pulled out over it, huh? Just as USrael wanted?
This protest seeks to accomplish the reverse — to force the collapse of a governing coalition that took its name, March 14, from the day during that period when a million people poured into Martyrs Square. Instead of occurring during a period of optimism about the future of Lebanon, this protest will take place in an atmosphere of widespread pessimism fueled by the recent assassination of Pierre Gemayel, a government minister who was harshly critical of Syria’s influence on Lebanon, and harsh comments from both sides.
And USrael benefited from that assassination as well, no?
Hezbollah moved quickly after the war with Israel to capitalize on its enhanced political standing at home and abroad, out of a conviction that the governing coalition had effectively colluded with Israel in the hope its bombing campaign would destroy Hezbollah’s militia.
Yeah, but it was Hezbollah that "capitalized" on its attempted destruction by Israel!
I get tired of the pro-Israel bias of the New York Times, reader.
Political leaders initially held talks aimed at resolving the standoff. But the talks collapsed when Hezbollah refused to give up its demand that its alliance be given more seats in the cabinet — one-third-plus-one members, ensuring it veto power — a demand the governing coalition also refused.
Sheik Nasrallah: “Lebanon, with its structure, diversity, nature and confidentiality, cannot be ruled by one single party and cannot be ruled by a specific coalition to solve its problems, especially in light of the internal difficult conditions, which are regionally more difficult and internationally very dangerous.”
Nasrallah is not only well-spoken, he is incredibly intelligent!
The events of the day are depicted in this Boston Globe piece:
"Crisis Intensifies in Lebanon As Hezbollah Takes to Streets" by Anthony Shadid/Washington Post December 2, 2006
BEIRUT, Dec. 1 -- Hezbollah and its allies escalated Lebanon's month-long political crisis into a popular confrontation Friday, sending hundreds of thousands of supporters into the streets, parking lots and sidewalks of downtown Beirut, vowing to topple the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and reorient the country.
The city's stylish downtown, to some a symbol of recovery from the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, was awash in red-white-and-green Lebanese flags, interspersed with banners in the colors of various sectarian and political leaders.
It must be a beautiful sight, huh, reader?
The winter sun glinted off coils of wire and barricades encircling the colonnaded government headquarters nearby, where Siniora and other ministers have taken up residence. But the crowd was more festive than angry, more celebratory than militant, as the theater of the moment intersected, perhaps a little dissonantly, with the drama of a struggle as decisive as any in Lebanon's history.
It sounds like a lot of fun! So unlike AmeriKan protests!
Hezbollah has said the demonstrations will be open-ended. Long after nightfall, white tents went up in the downtown area, where thousands of people were expected to stay indefinitely, and speakers blared Hezbollah anthems. Groups lit fires with placards, one reading, "All of us for the nation." Others played cards or smoked water pipes in a carnival-like atmosphere.
I do believe they are still there, too, even after a year. Talk about being patient!
If the protests fail to force the government's resignation, Hezbollah's supporters have talked about resignations from parliament, work stoppages or civil disobedience to shut down ministries.
God, what a bunch of "terrorists!"
I mean demonstrations, protests, civil disobedience.
How "radical," huh?
Hezbollah announced the protest Thursday, and by early morning the movement, among the best-organized in the Middle East, was in full swing. The southern suburbs, devastated by Israeli bombing this summer, were almost frenetic, with buses plying roads and flags of Hezbollah and Lebanon flying from windows. Mopeds sped through streets plastered with portraits of Nasrallah, who has inspired a cult of personality among his followers and others in the Arab world.
Hezbollah went to lengths to portray the demonstration as less its own and more an expression of what it calls the national opposition. No Hezbollah speakers appeared; Michel Aoun, an influential Christian leader allied with Hezbollah, gave the main address, although the number of his supporters paled in comparison to Hezbollah's. The demonstrators themselves were eclectic, from sober-looking clerics in traditional robes to supporters of Aoun who had dyed their hair his group's trademark orange. Others had donned orange wigs and cowboy hats.
In some ways, the most poignant theme was the legacy of this summer's war: Hezbollah's opponents blame it for starting the conflict; Hezbollah celebrates it as a victory, with anger at what it sees as the government's lack of support as it fought."
Ah, let the people speak:
Protesters ventured downtown along streets adorned with the iconography of Hezbollah's opponents. One sign read in French, "I love life." Another, written in red, said in Arabic, "We want to live." Both were critiques of Hezbollah's celebration of martyrdom.
Maha Kanj, 16, quipped: "They don't love life; they love the throne."
A Hezbollah placard read: "Because we love life."
Some people shouted: "One Lebanon, one voice!"
"Us," sign after sign read Friday. In Arabic, the consonants used can also mean, "We want a clean government."
Chants cascaded across the crowd: "Siniora out! We want a free government!"
Drums added a cadence to the slogans thundering from banks of speakers.
Youths danced in circles: "Hey, hey, you government of thieves!"
Some of the slogans were sectarian: "God, Nasrallah and all the southern suburbs."
At times, though, the crowd aimed for chants with broader appeal:
"Green, yellow, orange, [the colors of Hezbollah, an allied movement and Aoun], "we want to topple the government."
The slogans played on themes that Hezbollah and its allies have pushed relentlessly since the crisis began. Corruption was a key complaint.
Many chants were directed at Siniora, some ridiculing him for crying in public during the war.
One went: "We've had enough lies and tears."
Often the language was directed against the United States' sway in Lebanon. Nasrallah has called the government more loyal to U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman than Siniora himself, and in conversation after conversation, protesters, occasionally even Aoun's supporters, cast the protest as a way to deflect U.S. influence.
Zein Sleiman, 16, shouted: "This is the government of Feltman!"
Samer Salim, his friend, added: "Siniora is an Israeli."
Sleiman paused, answered: "No, he's an American. There's no difference!"
Michel Aoun, an influential Christian leader allied with Hezbollah, told the crowd:
"I wish that our prime minister and his ministers were here among us today, rather than hiding behind army tanks and barbed wire. The one who has support of his people does not need barbed wire. I call on the prime minister and his ministers to resign."
Boudy Mbarak, 24, a Christian supporter of Aoun from the village of Balouneh:
"The government ruling us right now is dictatorial. It's a minority claiming to be a majority. And I think we're showing today who's the majority."
Hassan Karnib, a 20-year-old protester, using an honorific for the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, vowed:
"I'm staying until the year 2100 or until Sayyid Hasan speaks again."
Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze community, who has shifted alliances since the civil war and is now one of Hezbollah's most outspoken opponents:
"They decided to go to the streets. Let them do that, and let them stay there as long as they want. We will stay in our homes, raise our flags and wait one month, two months, as long as they want."
It's been a year!
Ali Younis, a 35-year-old resident of the Shiite-dominated southern suburbs, who brought his three children. One carried a sign that said "We want a clean government":
Mr. Younis sat with his three sons, and used the words heard so often among Hezbollah's supporters in southern Lebanon during the war: pride and empowerment.
Behind them a banner played on a slogan from the conflict: "As with victory, change is coming, coming, coming."
Mr. Younis, , narrowing his eyes, spoke with the fervor of a man who wants to be listened to:
"I'm staying until the government falls. Dignity is more important than anything else. We don't want this to take too long, but the decision is in their hands."
P.S. In addition to littering south Lebanon with cluster bombs, the criminal Zionist regime also left land mines behind.
According to the U.N., "the mines were new Israeli anti-personell weapons, based on their 'type, shape and condition... The entire are... had been cleared by agency experts between 2002 and 2004, so clearly these are new ones."
What a bunch of MURDEROUS ASSHOLES, those Israelis, huh?
Yup, the criminal Zionist regime is all about peace, yup!
