The Guardian 31 January, 2007
The unfinished struggle in Lebanon
The massive general strike and demonstrations which took place in Lebanon last week are set to continue as the clashes between a coalition of opposition forces and the government of Fouad Siniora and its allies swept the country. Every city and region was affected in what has become an exceedingly complicated struggle.
The struggle is usually presented by the Australian media as a contest between various religious groups and in this respect some of the Christian groups support the government while others support Hezbollah and the opposition. There is a similar division among Muslims. Some of the bitterest clashes were between the Christian groups. "No clashes were reported in the Hezbollah areas", said the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star.
Robert Fisk wrote in The Independent that the inter-Christian war "was the most vicious of the day" contrary to the claims of the United States which falsely blamed Hezbollah for the violence.
The US has pledged its support to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora as has the European Union. Together, at a donors conference, also held last week, they weighed in with more than US$10 billion in aid. This financial support will prop up Siniora regime to continue to allow him to implement his neo-liberal economic policies and its political suppression of Hezbollah and its supporters.
While the general strike was called off by the opposition forces, Sayyed Nasrallah the leader of Hezbollah said that "The opposition has the political, popular and organisational strength to bring down the unconstitutional government tomorrow or the day after. What has so far prevented the fall of this ‘clique’ that is clinging to power is not international support but the patriotic feelings of the opposition and its desire to preserve civil peace. We are not an occupation force", said Nasrallah. "This is our country, just like it is everyone else’s".
Michel Aoun a Christian and a former Prime Minister of Lebanon and part of the opposition to the government said the demonstrations had been called off "to prevent Christian strife. We did not want further clashes to erupt among Lebanon’s Christians", he said.
Massive public debt
Lebanon is faced with the consequences of massive bombing by Israel in last year’s conflict. It incurred a US$20 billion public debt which has to be added to a debt of $40 billion that existed before the Israeli invasion. There is also the destruction of many private homes and flats that resulted from the war.
It was the armed forces of Hezbollah which emerged as the heroes of the resistance to the attempted Israeli invasion and occupation inflicting the first military defeat on the Israeli military since Israel’s formation in the 1948.
The Siniora government represents the propertied and business elite of Lebanon and the international corporations of the US and the European imperialists who formerly were the colonial masters of Lebanon (France) and Jordan (Britain) and Iraq (Britain). These imperialist countries continue to control considerable investments in Lebanon and the region.
Coalition of the opposition
On the other hand the opposition includes Hezbollah (The Party of God), the Lebanese Communist Party, the national trade unions of Lebanon, and the Christian political party led by Michel Aoun. They not only represent a Lebanese national movement and their particular religious or ideological interests but also the working people, farmers and small business people of Lebanon. Hezbollah is noted for its widespread community work in the fields of education, health, housing construction and other community services. The trade unions and the Lebanese Communist Party oppose the capitalist class policies of the Siniora government and their efforts to increase the exploitation of the working people, with legislation similar to the Australian Government’s Workchoices, at the behest of EU corporate interests.