Here is what you get about the mass demonstrations in Lebanon.
A peaceful coup, and fun, too!
"BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 10 — The center of Beirut was packed Sunday with hundreds of thousands of pro-Hezbollah and allied demonstrators who, in a jubilant mass of protest and carnival, pressed their call for the government to resign.
The pounding of martial music and the roaring din of the excited crowd floated up a nearby hill to pierce the thick walls of the stately government building, the Grand Serail, as the prime minister, Fouad Siniora, entered a ceremonial room for a news conference.
Siniora, to a small group of reporters, as soldiers strung more barbed wire around the offices of the Western-backed prime minister:
“I don’t understand what is this great cause that is making them create this tense political mess and stage open-ended demonstrations.”
All right, let's explain it for him:
Over and over, the crowd, the speakers and the posters offered clear explanations. They did not want a government controlled by the so-called March 14 coalition, an amalgam of Sunni, Christian and Druse parties. They did not want a government aligned with Washington. In short, a very large number of Lebanese citizens said they did not want the present leadership.
A banner hung down the side of a building, showing a picture of the prime minister hugging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “Thanks Condy,” it said, just beneath an image of dead children, referring to Lebanese civilian casualties during Israel’s war with Hezbollah in the summer.
Got it now, Sionara?
This fight between Lebanese factions, defined primarily along sectarian lines, is a struggle for control of the government that will help determine Lebanon’s future, and whether the nation eventually leans toward Iran and Syria, as the radical Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah would like, or toward the United States and Europe, as the governing alliance would like.
In Tripoli on Sunday, tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators rallied.
Hezbollah and its allies have managed for 10 days to control the center of Beirut with a loud, peaceful, organized protest. In many ways, Hezbollah has adopted a strategy that has been cheered by the White House in the past, in places like Ukraine, and even Lebanon, leaning on large, peaceful crowds to force unpopular governments to resign and pave the way for elections.
But this time Washington and its allies have said the protest amounts to a coup d’état, fueling charges that the United States supports democratic practices only when its allies are winning.
You see? Hezbollah and the Arabs are not stupid!
They understand our foreign policy better than we do!
Exposes Bush as a hypocrite. Where is your democracy now?
Why not give the people what they want?
We know why: The man is capable of bringing only death, destruction, and war!
The Hezbollah alliance took its protests to the streets after the governing coalition refused its demands to give Hezbollah and its allies more power, including the ability to veto all government action... gave Prime Minister Fuad Saniora an ultimatum of a "few days" to accept its demand to form a national unity government... or face an escalating campaign to oust him.
The current demonstration began Friday, with hundreds of thousands of people pouring into the center of the city, many bused in from the poor, war-ravaged Shiite communities of the south.... Hezbollah's supporters streamed into downtown from all corners of Lebanon, waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags as loudspeakers blasted anti government speeches. Musicians pounded drums in a carnival-like atmosphere, while Hezbollah security agents fanned out in the crowd.
High spirits seemed dominant.... The government appeared to hope that the protesters would grow weary and go back to the negotiating table. But on Sunday, there was the huge crowd, a vista of humanity pressed shoulder to shoulder, flying flags and calling for the government to resign.
Despite the heated rhetoric of the political confrontation, the mass gathering yesterday remained peaceful and left the door open to the possibility of a settlement.
One year later, no such luck. So who is with us and who is against us?
With
Michel Khoury, a former governor of the central bank, as he left a subdued ceremony to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Gibran Tueni, the anti-Syrian newspaper publisher killed in a car bombing last year, a shiny new cellphone pressed to his ear.... in [what] seemed a reverse image of the boisterous protests. The front of the convention center was filled with Range Rovers, Jaguars and Mercedes-Benzes.... the audience was dressed for a funeral, in suits and ties:
“Everyone is afraid. The Shiite community is very important. It is the first time it is monolithic, the first time in the history of this country you have one of the communities united.”
Saad Hariri, leader of parliament's anti-Syria majority and a Saniora supporter:
"Hopefully it won't be long. At the end, there will be no winner, no vanquished. We should all be winners."
Great! Our guys are a small klatch of rich elites!
Against
Michel Aoun, a former general and a Christian leader, in a live video broadcast to the demonstrators in Beirut, has aligned his Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement, with Hezbollah... said that within a few days, the allied groups would press to form an interim cabinet and then for early parliamentary elections:
“We are today at the last phase of our struggle before we consolidate our independence, freedom and sovereignty, because the government has proven to be a failure at all levels. They have failed to isolate the Lebanese people from one another and we are here today to represent unity and we are leading this struggle together.”
The Crowd: “We want a clean cabinet,” read one banner. “Victory, change, is coming,” read another.
Reem al-Zein, 20, a philosophy student: "We have come to show them how big our size really is."
Reema Katteya: “We feel that we are the strong party. The government is the weak party. They are hiding up there in the Grand Serail.”
Hassan Katteya, 10, as he walked with his mother: “I am having fun overthrowing the cabinet."
Sheik Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's deputy leader, in remarks that boomed through loudspeakers to the crowd, said the opposition was willing to stay on the streets for months to achieve its goal:
"There is no longer a place for America in Lebanon. Do you not recall that the weapons fired on Lebanon were American weapons? Does Bush want national expression in Lebanon? Do the West and Arabs want the voice of the people in Lebanon? Tell them, ‘Death to America.’ Tell them, ‘Death to Israel.’ Tell them, ‘Glory to a free Lebanon.’ ”
The crowd repeated behind him: "Tell them 'Death to America!' Tell them 'Death to Israel!' "
This is a problem right here! How to address it?
Know I'll be called an appeaser; however, there really is only one answer.
TALK to THEM! Find out their gripes.
Apologize for some of the things we've done, then pledge to alter our policies.
Plead with them for forbearance because progress may be slow at first.
It takes a long, long time to change attitudes.
Then the onus is on them, and you know what?
I beluieve they are up too it!
Only one problem: Stinky, smelly, black-op props!
Bibliography: "As Crowd Demands Change, Lebanese Premier Is Puzzled" by Michael Slackman/New York Times December 11, 2006 and "Hezbollah allies deliver ultimatum to Lebanon; Opposition presses leader for wider role" by Sam F. Ghattas and Zeina Karam/ Associated Press December 11, 2006
