Paris III and the making of a Puppet Gov

It seems that much of what I wrote about has come to fruition. Yes, Israel was "defeated" in the "divine victory" but, in the end, the US and Israel have succeeded in forcing the government to confront and disarm Hizbullah. Paris III is a sham of course. 7 billion dollars to Lebanon? Much are loans, like from France. That means, further debt. Much is MILITARY aid (from the US) to the security apparatus in Lebanon being tooled to watch internal dissent and confront internally armed groups (Hizbullah but also the Palestinian factions). This military aid is not to confront Israel or stop their daily illegal fly-overs or other provocative actions. Furthermore, the money will be giving to Lebanon upon reaching "benchmarks" in privatizing the country. In other words, the aid is contingent on forcing the liberalization of the country even if it is against the will and certainly interest of the Lebanese people.

The Left in Lebanon is active. The real left. The grassroots left. They are moving on the ground but few look at them and yes their numbers are small but their energy and insight big. They are distancing themselves from Hizbullah and Aoun's "opposition", which is really a power grab (albeit probably a justifiable one) and also from the corrupt Seniora regime, so eager to sell Lebanon to corporate and elitist interest and yes selling out Lebanon during the Israel aggression of the summer.

I do miss being there though and miss my beloved friends.

IT ALL COMES OUT...UN-NOTICED

Much has been happening since my last posts. I have little time these days to read and therefore comment. That said, forgive the compulsion to scream into the wind and validate my own analysis over the past month. I do think, however, in this case, it serves an important political purpose.

That is, just as I said, Israel has been suing for peace with Lebanon in their own ways. Olmert a few weeks ago made several overtures to Lebanon and specifying that the offer is to Lebanon only not Syria. This is against the advise of many "leftists" and "realists" in Israel who know that there can be no comprehensive peace with "the Arabs" (and undercutting of the Palestinian position) without talking to Syria.

On the ground, comrades have been organizing many international, local, and pan-Arab conferences around the resistance and the inter-confessional, progressive civil resistance getting little attention in the South. Also, the anti-globalization and anti-WTO groups and NGOs have been organizing to head off the governments plan to integrate privatiztion as a key component of reconstruction.

Finally, there has been no press in the Western press so far about this but several international (Western--so they must be fair of course) have definitively concluded that Israel did use phospherous weapons (therefore chemical weapons) in Lebanon as well as Uranium Depleted warheads. Here is one Arabic article on the matter.

http://assafir.com/iso/today/front/2912.html

The struggle continues --whether in silence or under the light of day.

GAPING LANGUAGE

Speaking of an-Nahar English edition, I read this below statement as well today on its site. I could not find another article to confirm this article, which is what I usually do. However, this is very likely "off the AP line".

Before visiting Saudi Arabia, Rice told reporters:

"I want Saudi's involvement in the stabilization of Iraq. I want Saudi's involvement in the stabilization of Lebanon, through resources and political support."

He, I mean, she is on a Middle East "tour" to attempt to get Saudi to lead (ie financially coerce or buy off) Arab countries, particularly Lebanon and Syria, on the road to normalization with Israel. There has been a lot of murmuring in Israel, even during the invasion of Lebanon, that Israel has to talk to "the bad guys". Articles are regularly appearing in Haaretz and Maariv insisting that to make peace the Golan will have to be returned and Israel will have to sit down with Syria.

All that said, Rice’s statement is as obnoxious as the abyss-like gape in her two front teeth. It is sick that the Empire, or as Eldridge Cleaver used to called it Babylon, not longer takes care to cloak the arrogant imperialist language of their policies. “I WANT Saudi’s involvement” in controlling the region, in stopping the violence that the US started, in propping up the pro-US government and big business government of Lebanon. Well, in the words of every naggy-neglected housewife (sorry for the sexist language), how about what the people of the region want? First they want you Condi to get braces. Second, they want the US to stop supporting indeed using Israel as an attack dog. Third, they want the US to stop crushing secular democratic movements in favor to right-wing authoritarian regimes that do the US’s bidding to stay in power and to further aggrandize their own financial and power positions.

I can’t help you Condi with any of these except offering my honest professional advice. I can also recommend a good Orthodontist in DC if you want.

Ghajar Means More Than Gypsy, Brother

Israel "withdrew" from Lebanon on Oct.1, according to the Israeli Information Ministry. They withdrew "except" for an "insignificant" number of troops in Ghajar. What is almost equally repugnant is that al-Nahar English Edition basically released the same press release of the Israeli government. I'll write more on this later. For now, Ghajar is a town that borders Lebanon-Golan-Northern Palestine. It believe that its inhabitants are Alawi and Druze, but not certain. The south of Ghajar was taken in 1967 and annexed along with the Golan (illegally I might add and against a standing UN Security Council Resolution). In 2000, Israel withdrew from the north part of the village in 2000 when they were ejected from Lebanon by the Lebanese Resistance. It is clear that Israel is shoring up its bargaining power in imminent negotiations with the Arab League (which is being pushed by the US) and/or planning to permanently annex Ghajar as a part of Israel.

Resisting in the Streets: Screw You Right-Wing and Neo-Liberal (yes Democrats too) Pundits

The last post provided an account of the on-going efforts of a group of volunteers from all walks of life, ages, professions, and sects in Lebanon in helping from the grassroots the people of the South rebuild but, in doing so, reinvigorate the ways the Lebanese think and live politically, socially, and culturally. The Civil Resistance is a sign of the vitality and energy of the "Arab civil society", a sign that, despite how mess up we can be (and we can be really messed up), there are and have been strong currents of progressive thinkers, activists, and citizens in the Arab world.

Currently, that resistance continues in other forms and venues. The Beirut Film Festival is going on now. It's been going on since 2001 and indeed improving (although I confess that I like raw, untested festivals rather than the improved, smart and often too slick ones that Beirut Festival is sure to become by mere weight of its quality). They have some rather interesting mainstream and alternative films showing. But, of course, what is as interesting as the films showing is that that films are showing period! The festival has received some press in the international media. But what has NOT be commented on is that BEIRUT DC (Documentary Center), the organizer of the festival, completely transformed itself within days of the bombing and became the media-center (and to some degree logistical center) for the grassroots relief coalition that would become to be known as SAMIDOUN. Personally, I was assisting in media outreach but, due to the effectiveness and efficiency of the volunteers at BEIRUT DC, I quickly became irrelevant.

The organizers there (women and men, Muslim, Christian, and Druze) were ready to sacrifice their year's work for the common good of the victims of Israeli aggression.
Those of you who know me, know that I am not much of an optimist or flatterer. However, these folks at BEIRUT DC need to be recognized and more for just a film festival.

See their site and the festival program at:

BeirutDC.org

Civil Resistance: Week Four of the Rest of Our Lives

I have written before about and posted message from the Civil Resistance group in Lebanon. Rather than praising their courageous and tireless work again, I want to mention one very important point. TV pundits and Five and Dime intellectuals (as my Tayta might called them in her endearing South Philly accent that obfuscates her impressive knowledge) impugned the Arab world since 9/11 for lacking a "civil society". They accuse Arabs as unable to act and think democratically as they same time they encourage the US government to cut all aid and political ties to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas is legally elected as the will of the majority (elected for that matter only AFTER the US INSISTED that Abu Mazen hold elections after his better/corrupt judgement). All the while, parts of Lebanon and Palestine are being held together by grassroots, multisectarian, democratic, progressive activists and organizations. Civil Resistance in Lebanon is an amalgamation of folks from all ages, genders and sexual preferences, sects, and regions. But moreover, they have been accepted by thousands of rural, mostly Shi'a, poor in the South with open arms. I am not just talking about a group of otherwise conservative rural folk accepting the economic aid of generally educated, socially minded, urbane middle class. I mean these folks in the South, who are basically peasants, homemakers, and tradesmen are allowing, indeed encouraging, the Civil Resistance movement to take on social and educational projects that these aforementioned Western "pundits" would otherwise think incommensurate with the "traditional" "Muslim" way of life. The Civil Resistance Movement are heroic just as those who have remain in South Lebanon are heroic. They face not only Israel aggression but also violent forces of neoliberal privatization and economic policies of the central government. I am posting the Civil Resistance Movement's most recent update and all for donations. I have deleted their call for volunteers because most readers of this blog, I believe, are abroad in Europe and North America. The Struggle Continues.


CIVIL RESISTANCE: Fourth & Fifth Weeks Report
Resisting aggression by reshaping the nature of Lebanese civil society
This document describes projects we have undertaken in the fourth week of our engagement with Lebanese areas targeted by Israeli aggression (Sept. 8-14, 2006).
For a detailed description of our mission, objectives, and resources, please read our document entitled “Civil Resistance,” available on-line at www.lebanonsolidarity.org.
For ways you can help our efforts, please see the last section entitled, “Upcoming Village Solidarity Work.”
Objectives:
1) To enable quick rehabilitation in areas damaged by bombing so that daily lives can recommence in time for harvest, school, and winter
2) To counter the divisive social effects of this and past wars against Lebanon
3) To activate a self-sustaining local economy
4) To provide constructive means for children and their families to deal with the trauma of enduring war
5) To enrol an expanded section of Lebanese civil society in active civilian resistance and solidarity work
SECTION 1
Chronic Medications for Al-Taibe & Markaba
On September 9 we took our supply of medicines to Al-Taibe’s municipality. A call was made from the mosque’s loud-speaker that villagers could see a doctor there and fill their prescriptions. In the course of two hours over 55 prescriptions were filled with the oversight of Dr. Ahmad Marmar, a Al-Taibe native now living in Beirut because of the damage Israeli soldiers caused to his home in Al-Taibe during the month-long occupation of it as a base. The following Saturday we took our medicines to Markaba where Dr. Ahmad Hammoud, a cardiologist and native of Markaba, examined 10 patients and filled 74 prescriptions (c. 150 medicines). Both visits confirmed our worry that villagers are regularly excluded from access to medications for chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart diseases and to specialist doctors. We are seeking remedy these gaps in the local medical care by setting up a chain of village clinics (Markaba, Al-Taibe, Adaisseh, Houla, Zibqine, and Silaa) and visitation routes to be traveled by volunteer specialist doctors from Beirut or other urban areas.
For Donors:
We would like to buy the following medicines to distribute to a regular roster of elderly and underprivileged patients. These medicines are costly. We have bought tem already for distribution this month in Al-Taibe, Markaba, and Zibqine.
Adalat, Amaryl, Avandia, Capoten, Co-aprovel, Co-diovan, Codaran, Concor, Corvazel, Covarsyl, Deanxit, Depaqin (chrono), Discotrine, Glavix, Glibomet, Glubophage, Imuran, Indiril, Isordil, Lanoxin, LasixLetrox, Micardisaprovel, Monocinque Pareit, Preterax Stavacor, Tarka, Tegretol, Tenoretik, Topamax, Tenoretit, Vastril, Ventoline, Zestoretic.
Cost of Al-Taibe/Markaba/Zibqine Chronic Disease Medications:
TOTAL: $2000

Playing & Story-telling in Silaa, Yet Again
For the third and fourth weekends in a row we offered children’s entertainment activities in the Maqasid School in Silaa. Each time about 80 children participated. There were more physical games on the playground led by Sami and Mohamad. Fida and Baha read from Samah’s picture books to a group of children aged 3-5 and then played with them “Qala al-qa’id (Simon Says)” and water-balloon tosses. Maha and George led group drawings of the children’s favorite things about Silaa and changes wrought in Silaa by the Israeli bombing. Forty girls in their early teens competed in another boisterous set of Pictionary rounds. The hit of the third week, however, was the séances of musical chairs. The fourth weekend, more volunteers brought new playground games, and Sariya led the older girls in creating their own, personalized Monopoly game sets. The objective was multiple: to encourage the youth’s self-reliance in the face of Israeli threats to destroy their homes and possession over and over, and to enable them to boycott the toy company Hasbro, which has consistently adopted pro-Zionist policies. The girls had fun making up their own street names, chance cards, and currencies. At the end of each hour and a half play session, the children received chocolate bars and either coloring books or picture books, and the organizers all received invitations to stay in the children’s homes. On Sunday, September 17, Malak accompanied 60 children from Silaa to Sur to attend “The Sad Bird,” a play performed by child actors from Ramallah.
For Donors:
We would like to buy supplies for more physical activities and for crafts such as kite-making, doll-making, etc. The money for this project need not involve huge sums to have tremendous impact.

Cost of Activities for 80 Children, ages 4-12:
Books: $20; Modeling clay: $6; Colored pencils: $14; Markers: $15; Scissors (10): $12; Rulers (10): $4; Soccer balls (2 large, one small): $10; Building blocks: $10; Finger paints: $20; Newspaper print roll: $5; Wide-bristled brushes (10): $5; Plaster of Paris and molds: $20; Glitter and sealant: $15; Foam board: $20; A4 Paper: $3; Glue: $7. Chocolate bars $10. Coloring/Picture Books $60.
TOTAL: $276

A Bakery in Zibqine
One of the problems villagers faced during the war was the lack of that major staple, bread. Historically, villagers of the South either make their own saj bread on domestic ovens or, more often, buy bread from Tyre. With the roads to Tyre cut, many villager had to forego bread or make a daring trip that sometimes led to death. As part of our goal of activating a self-sustaining local economy, we seek to establish bakeries for Arabic bread in centrally located villages such as Zibqine, Markaba, and/or Al.-Taibe. For example, a bakery in Al-Taibe could supply bread to that village’s 5000 permanent residents, as well as those of Adchit (750), Deir Siryan (1200), Rab al-Thalathin (700), and Al-Qantara (1500). An oven in Markaba could supply bread for that village’s 3000 permanent residents as well as those of Bani Hayin (750), Taloussa (1000), and Houla (2000). Such a bakery would provide jobs for villagers, enhance their ability to earn an income without having to leave their villages, cut transportation costs, and enable a higher degree of self-reliance during conflict situations.
In Zibqine, the village bakery closed a few months before the war due to insolvency. However, a bakery that is run not for profit but to provide an essential service would be able to cover its costs and remain open. We have assessed how much repairs to the Zibqine bakery will cost (see chart below). Initially, we will provide the flour and other ingredients, and labor will be donated by residents of the village, so that the bread produced will be free. Eventually the bakery will be handed over to the municipality for it to contract the work as it sees fit, but on a non-profit basis.
In Markaba or Al-Taibe a bakery would have to be built. We have begun to look into costs of supplies, generator, site, equipment, and construction; our initial estimate is $80-$100,000. Lebanese-made equipment is available for an automatic or semi-automatic oven.
For Donors:
If you are interested in helping to fund this project or have experience working in the bread-making business, please contact us for a detailed project proposal.

Cost of operations for Zebqine Oven
$
cement 300
sand 200
pebbles 200
floor tiles 800
floor tiles (?) 45
glass 270
paint 500
electricity 300
sanitary 200
concrete works 150
metal door 300
maintenance oven 200
Builder’s fee 500
TOTAL $3,965.00


Clothes for Markaba
Sunday night we delivered bags of clothing for 55 families who lost their homes to Israeli rocket-fire during the war. The day before we had visited the town as a group of 7 volunteers. At the central town park-cum-refugee camp, we met with four residents and split into four teams to head for different sectors of this badly damaged town in order to get precise information about quantities and sizes needed. On September 18, the day following our delivery, Israeli soldiers crossed the “Blue Line” and extended their fences into the land of Markaba.

Cost of Markaba Project:
Clothing for women: pants and shirt or long house dress, underwear, veil if needed, and hygienic pads; Clothing for men: pants, shirt, and underwear; Clothing for children: shorts, shirt, shoes, underwear, and toy packet (crayons, modeling clay, soap bubbles, and either a doll, a ball, a pair of rackets, a puzzle, or a car, all contained in a hand-sewn personalized bag = $4)
TOTAL: $1200, almost all of which was spent locally (a small portion came from donations of clothing in Beirut)

Twinned Schools = Twice the Care and Twice the Strength
Many schools were structurally damaged by the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, and many school populations were socially traumatized both by having to endure life-threatening situations and by finding themselves isolated in their confrontation. Students of Lebanon’s South need help from people outside their natural social networks, and most importantly, they need to share their stories and experiences with other Lebanese students. School-twinning will put student populations from different parts of Lebanon in constant contact with each other. It will enable children in schools not directly hit by the aggression to become part of the process of recovering from the trauma inflicted, such as children at a Beirut school learning about the presence of cluster bombs, the dangers they pose to lives and livelihoods, the means for dealing with them politically and socially. School-twinning will enable children at schools able to offer social services to disadvantaged communities to discover their social relevance and power. Twinning can be applied through joint educational curricula (such as learning Arabic by writing letters to twin classes, or learning about the environment by studying plants and farms on site), through community events (such as school visits, picnics, and summer camps), and through joint social programs (such as fund-raising or awareness-raising campaigns). Students at all grades can be encouraged to learn about their counterparts in another area of Lebanon and learn how to take the initiative to cope with problems facing their fellow citizens. The Association for Volunteer Services (headed by Dr. Patricia Nabti) has already identified 20-30 schools that have been trained in involving their students in social service. We are currently in the process of identifying which school administrations in southern villages that are interested in twinning. Already, we have received a positive response from school principals in Markaba and Al-Taibe.

SECTION 2 – Upcoming Village Solidarity Work for which we are asking your help:
Unlike most organizations currently active in the South, our project surpasses immediate relief and seeks to use the most expanded networks of civilian volunteers. This means returning each week to Silaa, Al-Qantara, Zibqine, Markaba, Adaisseh, Blida, Al-Taibe and Houla. In each of these villages, we are seeking ways to stimulate nation-wide embrace of all Lebanese as equally dignified and deserving inhabitants, to rekindle the local economy, to link schools in areas affected by Israeli aggression to sister-schools in other parts of Lebanon, to provide emotional and intellectual stimulation for children who have endured war, and to foster local civilian resistance through cultural events and symposiums. Some of the applications to reach these goals that we are currently considering or already undertaking are listed below:
1) Memorial lunches, Ramadan meals: Needed: $750 per meal for 1000 residents; volunteer participants willing to spend an evening sharing stories and concerns. Contact: Abed Zahzah, abdelrahman.zahzah@dargroup.com
2) Durable, large-group physical game equipment; plaster, molds, and paint; face-paints; kite-making supplies; doll-making supplies; photocopies for guided, therapeutic drawing sessions.
a. Needed: $150-$300. 8-10 volunteers willing to spend an afternoon each weekend playing with children of one village, for at least one month. Contact: Maha Issa, maha.m.issa@gmail.com
3) Two more villages according to the sample applications = $5000
a. Needed: $2500 per village. 5-6 volunteers (at least two drivers with cars) able to give two days per week to assess needs by visiting villages, purchase supplies, pack them, and deliver them. Contact: Sami Hermez, shermez@princeton.edu
4) Clinic Network for long-term, specialized care
a. Needed: $300 chronic disease medications per village per month; specialist doctors willing to volunteer one or two days a month to visit set of villages. Contact: Fida Shreim, fs25@aub.edu.lb
5) Economic Stimulation and Independence projects
a. Two bakeries for production of Arabic bread for the region from Blida to Markaba to Zibqine; will initially provide free bread through volunteer village labor but eventually will be turned over to the municipality for village income generation. Needed: c. $80,000 in start-up costs (site, building, equipment, supplies, generator). To employ 20-30 people and serve 15-20 villages
b. Water purification plant for production of drinkable water based on near-by sources. Needed: c.$100,000 in start-up costs (site, building, equipment, supplies, generator). Will cover its own costs within 12 months. To employ 10-15 people
c. Carbonated Drinking Yogurt Plant. Contact Sami Hermez
d. Fruit Chips Plant. Contact Sami Hermez
6) Olive harvest, oil processing and marketing
a. Needed: Funds to be ascertained; Volunteers with cooperative agricultural, export, merchant experience
b. Contact: Mohamad Safieddine
7) Boycott lectures, publication material, web-site
a. Needed: Web-site designer, Web master, Graphic designers to update brochures, produce stickers and posters; Volunteers willing to devote one or two days a month to giving lectures and leading discussions. Volunteers willing to prepare petitions in their neighborhoods to their area storesVolunteers willing to devote one or two days a month to lobbying wholesale merchants
Contact Samah Idriss,
8) School Twinning
a. Needed: Funds to be ascertainedVolunteers to develop ideas, prepare proposal, lobby schools, facilitate coordination
i. Contact Kirsten Scheid,

We would appreciate any donations of volunteer time, money, or kind. For sending money from abroad, please send it to the attention of Abdelrahman Zahzah via the NGO Platform Sidon, the account for which is at the First National Bank, SAL, Sidon Branch, #0017-128374-002 USB. The name of the account holder is Hamatto and/or Cheaib, NGO Platform Sidon. The swift code is SINKLBBE.
Please send an e-mail notifying us of your donation to Abed Zahzah, abdelrahman.zahzah@dargroup.com, or Samah Idriss & Kirsten Scheid, kidriss@cyberia.net.lb.
For your record-keeping, we would be happy to supply you with receipts from merchants and affidavits of donation from village mayors.

Torture for Freedom

It's amazing how transparent GW is (even more transparent than normally) when he is in front of the WORLD community (at the UN). Again, he blamed Iran and Syria for the evils of the world but he again forgot his (and his father's) own dealings with Syria.

The case of Maher Arar is case and point. A Canadian citizen was illegally arrested in New York City after 9/11 in transit to Montreal, then for weeks detained by the FBI, and then "rendered" to Syria (via Jordan). The Syrians subsequently tortured him for ten months, forcing him into false confessions including having trained in Afghanistan where he has never been! His wife AND kids (6 months and 6 years old!) were put on a watch list in Canada as well.

He was finally repatriated to Canada, which recently issued an 800 page study about the rendition. Canada itself and the pig Royal Mounted Police collaborated with the FBI and fabricate evidence against Arar.

GW talks about "living freedom" and bringing democracy to the "peeeeples of the Middle East". These are the same people that his regime illegally kidnaps, detains and tortures people without any due process. The same peoples who are crushed in the streets by the US's best ally, like pro-democracy demonstrations last spring in Egypt. Both Germany and Italy are investigating CIA activities in those countries, particularly secret kidnappings in Milan and in Germany of Muslim residence. "From Beirut to Baghdad" he said in the UN, "people are making choices for democracy" but he makes sure to crush any of those true democratic movements in the interest of oil Corporatacracy and its Zionist attack dog Israel. This is the same man who vigorously has supported the most repressive Israeli government, refused to recognize the DEMOCRATICALLY elected Palestinian government. This “democracy” loving leader is same President who supports the "Jewish State of Israel" in his words, openly rejecting the Land-for-Peace formula established by the UN 30 years ago and the Palestinians Right of Return.

Syria, for the past few years, is a bete noir but GW conveniently forgets how he outsourced torture there (as well as how the US relied on Syria to manage Lebanon in the 1990s).

GW. You're a bad bad bad man, a hyprocrit, and a destroyer of the US, the Middle East, and global security and properity. I think Chavez was right.