Today as I headed out to work, I picked All Honourable Men, by Michael Johnson from my bookcase to read on the train. Perhaps I was trying to find an answer. Why is Lebanon the way it is....
Something profound caught my attention. In his analysis of the civil war in Lebanon, Johnson wrote that "by the mid 1980s most Lebanese were thoroughly tired of war, and yet a significant minority--10 per cent...--still favoured a total victory for their faction. This economically frustrated, highly militant group has no difficulties in imagining the expulsion of all opponents, and the presence of one or serveral groups with profiles of this nature are a godsend to any political force in or out of the country that has an interest in perpetuating tension."
I believe that in many societies, there is always this 10 per cent lurking somewhere, vying to assume control, betting on the weakness of the other to move ahead.
The 10 per cent is in Lebanon and also in Israel. As rumoured, the Israeli Army is amassing troops on the southern border of Lebanon for an overnight invasion of the South...but also on the other side the 10 per cent is getting ready for confrontation.
The Lebanese people are not defeatist. We're known to survive through invasions and move on with life. We're known to rebuild fast, we're known for loving life and finding ways to enjoy it despite the darkness.
I have nothing political to say; tomorrow morning might just speak for itself. But before I go, read "I Left for a Smile", by a fellow blogger.
"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."
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21 comments:
I am not even sure how to begin this email. For the last two weeks I have enveloped myself in Lebanese blogs and the life of bloggers there. I have been blogging for three years now and believe in the voice of regular people. My heart is with each person involved in this conflict. In the US we only know what we see through media and other outlets. People like me, however, want to hear the voices of life that is still being lived each day in Lebanon. We want to again know there is laughter and love and compassion and outrage and all sorts of emotion coming from the people there. It so happens that I also work with a website called Evoca. We help bring audio to the web. You can check it out at www.evoca.com. We would love to give you a free PRO account to record for your blog anything you want. You can make recordings using Skype, your cell phone, your PC mic, an MP3 recorder, etc. We can even help you start a Podcast by offering you an RSS. The player is easy to embed right into you blogsite. You can see it in use on my blog if you visit "About Us". Please feel free to contact me at drew@drewandbritt.org if you want this account and you want to empower your voice on this blog and in the world at large. Thank you for reading my comment and blessings to you.......
drew.
i hate this shitty war.. one day.. in the future - somehow - people will stop fighting and this will be history.. it seems so stupid for people to die along the way..
wishing peace to all of us
lirun
tel-aviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
gregory.. what a "balanced" report your blog represents.. it's great you show "both" sides and demonstrate such an "understanding" - its very "credible" and clearly takes into account "all" the complex issues in this conflict..
"well done" may all journalists "take a leaf" from your compilation of 3rd party accounts..
i am proud that my country doesnt take photos of our kids that get ripped apart by hostile fire and the lynched bodies and the devestated families.. i am proud that in all this shittiness at least we dont smudge the honour of our victims as part of a propaganda machine..
i get very disappointed by people who use this as an antidote to our war.. it only inflames and increases the disinformation and confusion..
these messages have failed for decades - its time for new messages of peace..
interesting snapshot Lynda
I would like to add some
11. Arab opression
Many arab states run autocracies and totalitarian regimes that do not permit participation of the masses.. assuring the continuation of israel's reputation as the enemy is a vital diversion from local affairs.. the arab world is easily swayed into unity by focussing all anger against israel at any given opportunity.. a cease fire would weaken and shorten the leverage that such governments can gain from this event and in turn reduce the balance of hatred and limit tehir ability to opress..
12. Distance from the West
Western nations prefer the violence to be centralised in the middle east.. there is a broad conflict between east and west.. there is a dire need for peace.. last year we watched all the way from israel how london trains were blown up by modern educated integrated and assimilated muslims in london or how muslims in australia attacked australian beach lifeguards and then proceeded to flow into sydney's eastern suburbs by the hundreds with weapons and arms in a full week of intense and fierce conflict.. it is much better for these nations to be able to lob the issue over to the middle east.. than it is so reckon with it locally.. and no one is fully prepared to address the issues with the appropriate level of care and detail..
13. Lebanese national composition
The Lebanese are terrified of civil war and live in intense fear of their own independence.. the cedar revolution was a very cautious and tentative movement and has not been properly completed.. the hizballa managed to avoid the momentum and in essence have managed to take advantage of this fragmentation and undermine the very essence of the movement - now forming a proxy of the syrian evictees..
14. Media imbalance
The two sides of the war are covered invery different ways.. this war is largely fought through the media and the arabs and israelis make very different use.. the resulting picture to the world is distorted at so many levels and it is therefore difficult for the world to form a balanced and concrete opinion.. the inconsistencies abound and people are inherently confused.. including the parties themselves..
15. The irrelevance of peace
no one seems to care about the positives that have been and that may be one day.. peace is so unsexy and war is "all that jazz".. we dont teach peace but we thoroughly study war.. its as if peace is only the absence of war rather than war being the absence of peace.. philosophical but i submit that it impacts the way we view the world..
other than that i thoroughly agree with your view that the world is complex and the issues are many.. and for this very reason.. i ask for all to pursue the simplest thing there is.. and that is peace.. ceasefire is a technical political state of affairs.. but peace is something that every single person can strive to.. and moreso.. in my mind..has the moral obligation to seek and bring into existence..
praying for everyon's safety and an expedient end to a horrible situation
lirun
tel-aviv
Hi doha
as iranian bloggers are circulating this petition maybe u like to do the same
http://epetition.net/julywar/index.php
i think the point of the Hizballa's reinvention is really not critical here at all..
israel has the burden of a hidious paradox.. if it is bombed for six years and it does nothing - no one cares.. our sovereignty is meaningless to the world.. our people's blood means nothing.. so israel's alternative which is to defend itself is inevitably perceived as agression..
it is natural for people to point at the stronger party and say that they are the always the cause.. why? because they are "stronger" so naturally they are in control.. here lies the greatest fault in western analysis of mid east politics.. strength as it is perceived in the west has no correlation to strength as it is seen in the middle east.. infact it is generally the opposite..
so from our persepctive - in israel - over the past 6 years we attempted to apply western standards to our demonstation of strength.. resilience.. restraint.. controlled response.. verbal condemnations.. bla bla bla.. listen now to the international and arab media and understand that the passifist acts of strength have damaged israel's greatest shield - deterance.. and consequently the battle on ground has been reignited by arabs to test their revised perceptions of our strength and examin israel's defencability as a lithmus exercise..
to avoid a further degradation of the "deterance" and further invite such additional testing israel's view is that from this perspective it must crush this test.. it must remove the examiners and the aparatus - because not only does the testing itself continuously terrorise the lives of its citizens in the north (as it involves the regular carving of our skies with missiles) but it also creates a longer term risk of further adverse action..
much is said about international law and humantarian obligations.. international law (IL) is repeatedly used as a flag card to tarnish israel's name.. i call all those who freely use this card to examin international law at a closer level.. it is not so simple.. and death in battle is not genocide by default.. the liberal use of that word is an insult to all of those nations who have in fact suffered such fate.. and is reckless as it dillutes the validity of the term and the ability of genuinely endangoured nations to seek the relevant protection..
under international law.. not only is israel required to meet certain standards of cross border conduct but also internal conduct and obligations.. under IL israel must defend and protect its citizens.. this is in fact a positive obligation under IL.. the only thing is.. a violation of this duty would not concern anyone in the world.. no one would care about the cheap israeli blood.. it has flowed before and flows today and this has been factored by the world as a basic axiom.. so where is the world that cries about international law violations when israel neglected its northern residents for 6 years and allowed missiles to pepper their homes? nowhere to be found.. not a whimper..
the conclusion is simple.. our mechanisms are faulty.. our perceptions are flawed.. there is only one answer and that is to seek peace now..
lirun
tel-aviv
sad lebanese girl..
for their elected palestinian government i dont exist as part of state entity.. i am merely a jewish pig who is a member of the zionist enemy.. who is worthy of nothing more than kassam rockets in its towns and cities..
The way I see it, just think of the Solar System. Jupiter is Israel, Mars is Syria, and Lebanon is the Asteroid Belt. The Asteroid Belt wanted to be planet, but the gravitational pulls of Mars and Jupitor tore it into bits and pieces.
So you guys don't think i am complete waste of brain power, i stumbled upon this insightful post by Free Cedar on the war. It reflected my frustrations perfectly.
http://cedarfree.blogspot.com/
peace
michel
You also forgot to mention that a whopping 90% of Israelis "want a war" right now.
i dont want a war.. i'm just trying to balance the inaccuracies.. every coin has two sides..
i pray for peace non stop
(i wrote here some more about it)
http://emspeace.blogspot.com
Lebanon could be an interesting state with great economic potential, mind you so could large areas of the Middle East.
So long as the political fanatics can buy the poor and uneducated and give them AK47s and a grievance it will not happen. Last year the Palestinians got $1.1 billion in aid, all but $124 million from non-Arabs...........what happens, terrorists get police uniforms and pay, and Swiss banks get new accounts.
This is a joke and cannot go on. It is getting really tiresome firing rockets and wearing masks and blowing up silly schoolgirls and sexually-fruatrated schoolboys to kill those around them.
There has to be more in life than death, and maybe stupid bearded men with fiery phrases and comfortable Mercedes should be ignored so people can buy, sell, trade, and live a life before they die.
Lebanon is the chosen battlefield of the Mad Mullahs of Teheran and Boy Assad is along for the ride. This is rather tiresome to the world at large like a Hollywood Disaster Movie Episode 20...........we know the cast, we know the plotlines, we just watch the car crash repeatedly.
Sorry Lebanon, you are going to get trashed. You probably don't deserve what's happening but you have to get free of Syria and Iran's poodle Hezbollah or you are never going to escape being puppets on a string.
"If I were you guys. Have some "BALLS" and take back your own country from terrorist. Even if you die trying. Atleast you die with dignity and not a victim."
If only BALLS were enough to defeat people armed with missiles, we wouldn't be here today.
It's easy to say things like this when one has F-16s, nukes, and one of the most advanced military in the world.
But us people who only have "BALLS"...well, short of throwing them at terrorists...I'm not sure how we can do much.
I am sorry, I dont mean to shamelessly plug my post but I think i have answers "why" on my post. so I might as well send you there instead of writing the whole thing all over again here. but a little hint, the answer is Syria.
whisperofmadness.blogspot.com
most of my countrymen and women have made valid contributions to your blog and challenged your concepts.. as you have ours..
the last few have shamed gravely - but they too represent an angle not too different from some of the lebanese bloggers..
the ugly 10% as doha has put it..
i offer to you all a song i recorded wishing israel sow seeds of peace..
i hope you listen and can tell that it came from my heart
http://www.dreamstaterecords.com/peaceearthsafe/mp3/israelwinter.mp3
dunes:
We weren't able to expell the Syrians for 30 years. Balls alone were never enough.
The only reason we were able to expell the Syrians last year is because we had the backing and support of the USA (because it suited them at the time, to put pressure on Syria).
This speaks to my very point. We can do the same with Hezbollah, but it would take longer (given that Hezbollah is not a foreign force that's as easy to expell), more talking, and more importantly a LOT more support from the west (be it by helping build a strong Lebanese Army, etc.)
I've said over and over. I realize Israel can't stand by idly and wait for Lebanon to go through that process. I get that. No one is arguing that.
But to think that we could've disarmed Hezbollah by flicking our red slippers three times and whispering the magic words is outright unrealistic and childish. These things take time. Hell, Israel's own "disengagement" from the Palestinians has been going on for how long now? These things can't be done in one night, one month, or even one year.
victory for lebanon
alghadabulsaati3
i dont think its about what you would and owuldnt do at the abstract level.. i mean in all fairness.. who cares what you post.. the splendour of this medium is that you dont need any special clearance or purpose.. every post becomes a movement and every contributor has the power to steer it to a certain extent..
we are building connections and establishing commonalities and boundaries in our minds.. whether or not these connections are idealyc is something that time will tell.. but in any event.. its more meaningful and more significant than the silence that has maintained our fragile ceasfire over the years..
i dont think this is the battle field.. i think this is the tunnel of friendship..
nevertheless.. you make of it whatever you like
peace man
lirun
telaviv
oh come on people.. dont get silly..
no one owns cyber space..
this is what you make it.. doha maybe an initiator - if you want peace - bring it.. i doubt doha would personally oppose peace.. she is an enlightened and intelligence person..
dont get so sensitive
the news report just said that the kassams may have stopped - there may be a ceasefire with the hammas brokered by abu mazen.. god willing..
btw dunes please i urge you to refrain from using the word "we" because your posts make me sick to the stomach.. your dementure and lackof sensitivity are painful to the mind and soul..
lirun
tel-aviv
sain?
"sain
\Sain\, v. t. [Cf. Saint, Sane.] To sanctify; to bless so as to protect from evil influence.
"
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