A majority within all Lebanese sects against the U.S. puppet regime
It was predictable that the imperialist stooges in Lebanon would try to counter the advance of the people’s resistance movement achieved by defeating the Israeli aggression of last summer.
Against the demand of the patriotic an popular coalition led by Hizbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of former general Aoun for a stronger institutional representation, the Hariri-Siniora clique set a tribunal against Syria for the alleged involvement in the killing of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. In doing so they are being backed by their masters in the West including the U.N. with its respective resolutions.
As Hizbollah and its allies where just kicking off their campaign for either new elections or a unity government, all of a sudden the assassination of Pierre Gemayel popped up. Immediately it was blamed on Syria not only by the rightist Maronite Phalangists, of which the Gemayel’s are a leading family, but also by their partners of the Hariri group as well as their backers in the West.
This comes as an attempt to revive the March 14 coalition built after the assassination of Hariri which somewhat has lost momentum for its passivity during or even collusion with the recent Israeli aggression. The main threat for the vast majority of the Lebanese people is, however, no more the alleged covert Syrian interference but the overt Israeli aggression backed by the West. This is highlighted by the change of sides of Aoun and his movement who is being supported by a good deal of the influential Christian Maronite sect. Aoun used to be the most outstanding enemy of Syria while today he is allied with Hizbollah against the Israeli and Western meddling. Therefore the unsubstantiated blaming of Damascus for the assassination of Gemayel is most probably to deflagrate soon and the March 14 bloc will make no significant headway on it.
While the global corporate media is trying to depict the Lebanese anti-imperialist resistance as sectarian and steered from outside, this accusation is exactly true for its adversary, the ruling elite.
Although Hizbollah is based on the Shiite sect its coalition has mass following among all confessional groups: There is the Maronite movement of Aoun, there are the Sunni nationalist and Islamic forces, there are the secular nationalists and leftists including the communist party. They are all unified on a the common aim to establish national sovereignty against imperialism and Zionism with a cautious tendency toward non-confessional democracy and social justice against the traditionally liberalist state. In no way this coalition can be accused to be a puppet of Syria and Iran. Even for Hizbollah, which militarily indeed is supported by Damascus and Tehran, it is not true as the recent support to the Iraqi resistance voiced by its leader Sheikh Nasrallah shows. Such a support definitely goes against the geo-strategic interest of both.
On the other hand the March 14 bloc, centred around the commercial elites of the Maronites and Sunnis and being supported by the Druze leader Jumblatt, is thoroughly sectarian. It is based on the traditional sect leaderships and strives to preserve the confessionalist system installed by French colonialism. Regarding the Sunnis, which for a long time lacked such a leadership, they try to uplift Rafiq Hariri post mortem in such a position making him the icon of the pro-imperialist elite. This heterogeneous bloc lacking popular support in their own sectarian constituencies is completely tied to Western imperialism especially the U.S. and France as their real pillar. The UNIFIL troops led by France and Italy were deployed to Lebanon to safeguard their rule beside their function as a protection for Israel.
National unity government?
In the last days Hizbollah and their allies stepped up the campaign against the puppet government of Siniora. For the time being hundred of thousands hit the streets literally besieging the government. But from their answer to the 14 March bloc last year as well as from their capacity to stop Israel one can assume that this was only the very beginning of a political conflict with the aim to bring down the government.
The anti-imperialist forces around the world lend their full support to the popular resistance to smash the imperialist and Zionist tools within Lebanon. Demission of the Siniora government and new elections are the immediate aims. This is a completely democratic demand which is being wished by a majority despite the imperialist accusations of the preparation for a putsch. This illicit holding on to state power is on the contrary operated by the Hariri clique: They fear the popular will to be expressed in elections as they are going to loose and see the resistance triumphant.
As to the national unity government, this is a rather unclear and evasive formula. National unity of the popular masses against Zionism and imperialism as certainly a necessity. But this is not possible with the March 14 forces who are nothing less than tools of the latter. For national unity means uncompromising anti-imperialism.
The clear aim of the anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces must be to smash the power of the March 14 bloc, to seize state power from them and to bring the resistance coalition to power creating a democratic state abolishing the confessionalist system.
This is certainly not an easy task and the enemies are numerous and might even grow as the goal become more ambitious. What is to be avoided at any cost is a civil war on sectarian bases which can only split and isolate the resistance. But a confrontation on a clear programme of national sovereignty, non-sectarian popular democracy and social justice against the Lebanese elites and their imperialist backers is unavoidable and must be prepared. The current mobilisation can serve for that task.
We have to bear in mind that Israel, the U.S. and their European allies are preparing the revenge for the defeat inflicted upon them by the Lebanese resistance led by Hizbollah. Their bellicose attempts might this time not be limited to Lebanon but could try to redesign the set-up of the entire area where their rule is challenged and threatened not only by popular resistance movements but even by the notorious “rogue states”. Preparing for this confrontation means to weaken and depose the Hariri clique and the March 14 coalition.
Anti-imperialist Camp
December 2, 2006
