Memoirs of a Defeatist - Too Many Slaps in the Face!

Couple of years ago, I started blogging, and I decided to blog for change. I decided I needed change from face to face politics. I was writing extensively, almost on daily basis, but then... I lacked the time, there is no time to write. Eventually, I started running out of motivation and stamina. Even on the blogosphere I was losing it.

To be honest, ever since 1997 I have been active on the ground. I used to participate in a lot of demonstrations: freedom of speech, civil marriage, and against Israeli atrocities (to name few). I have been active since then, and in those days, me and the fellow "comrades" dreamt of a left-wing Lebanon free of all those corrupt political parties. We had a dream to demolish sectarianism, free ourselves from Syrian chains of thought control, and proceed to continue struggle against Israeli ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and Lebanese. We had dreams to shatter the borders between Lebanon and Syria, get rid of the Baathi brutal regime, and establish people's republics away from tyranny. We already were dedicated leftists then: each one of us had the experience to be beaten by political party hooligans, the armies (Syrian or Lebanese), and had the guts to go to South Lebanon and stick up our middle fingers in the face of Israeli cowardly soldiers who occupied Lebanon (and still occupy Palestine). Some friends were even more bold, they were students, and they went in a demonstration and throw those chicken Israeli soldiers from Arnon for 24 hours (Israel brutally returned and almost committed a massacre against those brave university students). We were stalked by Syrian second bureau into our houses, and we demanded social justice. In a nutshell, what our non-political activists used to call us: crazy and insane.

One of our aspirations was to dismantle the Lebanese Communist Party and get rid of the Stalinist features. Of course, some broke out and triggered a chain reaction briefly. These people were saluted for their courageous move; nevertheless, they ended up as the founders of another reactionary movement (even though that movement barely has 150 people in it): the Democratic Leftist Movement (as in the Neo-con "Leftists").

We never knew religion, we thought that religion is an invention, and one day we will bury that feature of Lebanon in the graveyard without return. We used to meet up with all types of university students, go and talk to farmers, the proletariat, and anyone. We used to convert party members into free lancing leftists. We thought the whole world was ours. In 1998-1999, we thought that the revolution will begin. Civil marriage was close to be implemented, yet we were far to get that part alive. We retreated with more heat and excitement to change Lebanon, the Middle East, and even the whole blasted entire world. Breaking ethnicity and uniting the workers of the world was easy then. We did believe it, no matter how much the Syrian army tried to shut us up or demoralize us. We were seculars and against Zionism: how could they get their loyalists to accuse us of treason? Beat us instead. Yet, we stayed active. Heck, we had the chance to go to the Lebanese border, after the Israeli army withdrew like cowards, and we had the chance to stick up our middle fingers straight from the borders, with Palestinian grounds for the first time, appeared before our eyes. Yes! As one comrade said in excitement: We are one step closer to our zillion billion goals. Sadly, nothing good lasts for ever.

Then, slap after slap took place. Our different groups of lefties started to crumble down, one after the other. Part of the reason was power struggle and lust for power. Between the Democratic Leftists' bullshit of scaring people away from the left and the Lebanese Communist Party's crappy salutations to "Comrade" Stalin, we were losing grounds. The main reason of our failures were plenty. I demonstrated for Palestine for unaccountable times, yet nothing was done. It was the capitalist powers that decided everything over there. We demonstrated for Iraq in peace demonstrations that aimed against US Imperialism and the dictator Saddam, and the US – UK coalition by-passed the UN and shattered Iraq into a three way ethnic groups. Suddenly, to a lot of people: what is the use to go into demonstrations? We always had those rotten dinosaurs like Elias Atallah or a free lancing leftist suddenly jumping in front a demonstration and then pause to the cameras in order to appear they were demonstrating. Who invited those dorks (prior to the foundation of Democratic Left Movement)?

Then there were the anti-Syrian demonstrations, we took pride in those demonstrations. We succeeded in transforming several demonstrations from Christian versus Syrian to Lebanese versus Syrian hegemony. Walid Junblatt then was defending Syria for the sake of the "Arab Cause" against Israel. We emphasized that solidarity to our brothers and sisters of the Syrian proletariat is a must! That we should together get rid of all our leaderships. Of course, Syria responded with brutality, or get their allies to gather more of their supporters whereby rallies of praising: "Mother Syria". Yet, we stayed active despite the fact our jobs were threatened and everything. We wanted Syria out, but we demonstrated against Aoun's "Syrian Accountability Act" that was launched in DC. Yet, we were little people. The only time anti-Syrian hegemony kicked off in Lebanon is when the late Prime Minister Harriri was assassinated. Hence, mobilization was sectarian in basis, even though Bahiya el Harriri and the late Samir Qassir (the only decent figurehead in the DLM) tried their best to keep it secular (Elias Attallah by then was more Junblatti or Harriri than Junblatt or Harriri themselves, trust me, I know him in person).

Then afterwards, sectarianism entered our private lives. Several comrades started to argue that "we shall demonstrate for civil marriage, but we shall get married in a religious marriage" or "we shall not marry a person non-Christian or non-Muslim". Heck, I was told by several comrades: "if only you were of sect X or Y". Now, tell me dear reader, how does that make you feel?! Nevertheless, I thought we can get it through.

People were involved with jobs, they preferred to stay away from activism instead risking their jobs.

Each 10 lefties built a group, they proclaimed themselves: the real and only leftists fit to "rule" or "guide" other leftists.

Of course, that doesn't exclude other factors as well: the sudden birthrate of NGOs. Those took out a lot of activists from the arena, and suddenly they believe that "lobbying" is the only way to reform the Lebanese government. That is a different topic on its own, as I collected about 90 statements from fellow comrades who were active in NGOs. Nevertheless, these NGOs are business traders, get a part of whatever funding this or that NGO receives. The fact that Ziad Baroud made it as Minister on the behalf of the NGOs, gives them some sense to celebrate; however, Ziad Baroud, is not the NGOs, and Baroud is not involved in the power struggle of these NGOs that scavenge for funds and try to recruit people as "volunteers" (or the NGO term: free labor). Yet so far, these freaks of new capitalism had done better results than others (as much as I hate to admit it), even though at a very very slow pace whereby several top NGOs had scandals being leaked out.

Then 14th of March and 8th of March came out. The remainder of my friends were scattered between those two blocks. My "comrades" of each side accused me of treason for the Lebanese cause because I refused to join them. They accused me of treason for betraying the Palestinian cause. As far as I remembered: Being revolutionary Marxist doesn't mean I was a die-hard nationalist like the latter two. Each of the comrades of each block cut their connections with the other, after they had their blood mixed on the floor from beatings during demonstrations. Of course, they both boycotted the "non-nationalist camp" like me on a social level. By die hard nationalism, this is what I mean: half of the Lebanese are racists to the other half and vice versa (at least party affiliated people). Hence, at a one point, there was no difference between the stands of the Lebanese Communist Party and crazy Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement or the Democratic Left and Saad el Harriri (ultimate symbol of capitalism). That bogged me down.

Then the July war broke out, and I was involved extensively with relief activities in the war. There, I forgot all those lefty bureaucracies, treacheries, and other things. I poured my heart out in activity. I was convinced my activities were breaking the media black-out imposed by Israel on the world. I did great even. I saw the war join some friends, but the great divide remained between the comrades. Heck, some comrades enjoyed how Israel bombed Dahhieh with the hope that Hezbollah learnt a "valuable lesson". Others turned relief work into business (Does Lebanon Aid ring a bell to anyone?). As for our group of relief activists and media warriors, the movement became short-lived as the power-struggle came into existence. At that point, I lost hope, I was shattered.

It was around early 2006 that I started to blog, I decided to start reconstructing the history of Lebanon, Palestine, or anywhere as they happened. I thought that was the way. Then I started to meet other bloggers, some of them to this day do not know who I am. Others were wonderful, and blogging became a means to express my frustration. Yet, even blogging, what can it do on day to day basis except fuel the anger, and feel helpless against everything. I no longer crave for a demonstration. When Nahr el Bared bombardment took place, I spent it quarreling with other friends who were bravely active there (although to do a mini-save, I did announce their campaign). The quarrels were based on the fact I wasn’t participating. To be honest, the 2006 war took out my energy, and the disappointments kept slapping me on the face; work wise or activism wise. I couldn't tolerate another crap from anyone. I was totally drained. By then 11 years of activism was too much for me. We used to take one step forward, and three back.

Then I started to look elsewhere, where in the world the left is doing great? The man we hailed as a hero ended up turning as a dickhead, yes I am referring to Hugo Chavez. Of course, I love it every time he threw the Israeli ambassador out and cut ties with Israel; yet his blind support to anyone that opposes the United States got me punched in the stomach. How could he support Iran then while a lot of comrades were rotting in prison, our feminist sisters' lives are under threat. That didn't click in my head (and not to forget the more recently renewal of his mandate). The Trotskyites of Great Britain are fighting each other, and the only articles I enjoyed to read are the www.marxist.com. To be more exact, I adored their theoretical articles.

Hence, every time I believed we can do change, I was slapped. The unity of the Christians, Muslims, and Jews of Palestine/Israel was shattered as more Jews are becoming zealot fanatics and actually believe that God has chosen them and the great divide is growing as Hamas is gaining more popularity (because Fatah are bunch of sell-outs and leave the Palestinian proletariat with no option).

The Lebanese politicians are still there, and corrupt as ever. Heck we have new ones (in addition to the old) after the Syrians withdrew. Nothing can be done so far, and last year's mini-civil war became part of the amnesia within the people: a new "history" that will be distorted to suit the needs of the Politicians.

Zionist monopoly of the media keeps the US citizens away from knowing the truth in the middle east. Heck, alienation there is worse than here. To my laughter though, a lot of US citizens that I chatted with (or met) actually believe that the BBC is "Pro-Islam" because it reports all events (now how can that be?!)

What ought to be done? I am experiencing what Marx exactly warned... alienation from the cause due to the brutality of capitalism and its offspring (actually this part of the sentence is Lenin's): nationalism/sectarianism.

I still believe in the class struggle and the Marxist doctrines, but currently, the upper class are standing victorious over the divided alienated proletariat.

MFL

PS: Did you know that several "comrades" thing China is the real People's forthcoming Union? (Shoot me please!)

The New Philosophy of Martyrdom

Ok, one thing for sure, it is dying as routine has struck a year and half stagnation. A lot are losing hopes of everything, and mass mobilizations are shrinking in size (well unless Hezbollah command their supporters to hit the barricades). Nevertheless, the overall political mobilizations have been shrinking in size, and even members from the Democratic Left Movement and Lebanese Communist Party (the two current cartoonish comical parties) have been expressing disappointments and de-activating themselves. In fact, when I stood against the hilarious Democratic Left, they mocked me and some went as far as to accuse me as a Syrian agent. Now, a majority of the ones I know are apologizing to me (after 4 years) and some even thanked me for keeping the line of return active. This does not mean that these members became progressive, oh no, they are stuck in the whirlpool of being trapped in 14th of March coalition and in their endless “epical” heroic battles against Syria and Iran.

Having said all that, what is the New Philosophy of Martyrdom? It is of course from my concept not related to Jihad nor anything else that is religious. It is process whereby one reactionary leader gets his/her agenda through by claiming to defend an influential figure’s ideas. This probably first appeared when Lenin died, Stalin self-proclaimed himself as defender of what he invented as “Leninism”, whereby he iconized Lenin (despite the fact that Lenin wrote extensively against iconization) and argued that whoever opposes him, opposes the glorious Lenin. Now Lenin died a natural death, but the process in Lebanese politics became active. We probably first witnessed that in Lebanon when Antoun Saadi was executed, different party members self-proclaimed themselves as the defenders of his radical ideas. After only 9 years of Antoun Saadi’s death, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party suffered from its first split.

A more clearer activity appeared when Imam Moussa el Sadre disappeared. AMAL movement was suffering from disorganization, lack of members, and lack of alternatives to rebuild. When Moussa el Sadre disappeared, AMAL movement members started to preach how they are defending el Sadre’s ideas, and of course, that was accompanied with over inflating el Sadre’s character/role in real life. AMAL movement after 1978 increased to incredible dimension even el Sadre himself didn’t expect to gather so much members.

A third one would be the assassination of Kamal Junblatt. With Kamal Junblatt, Walid Junblatt gambled a lot on his father’s name to also pursue his own goals. The fact that till 2005 he revived the concept of Syria killing his father makes it hilarious. Currently, a lot of PSP members call Kamal Junblatt as “the Teacher”, and some of them praise Walid Junblatt as the true heir, because Kamal Junblatt now is downsized to simply anti-Syrian and disregarded his socialist beliefs, his war against Zionism, and his solidarity with the Palestinians. (Even some try to erase the fact that the Progressive Socialist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party were allies and their military men functioned sometimes as a single unit during the two year war).

A fourth one would be the assassination of Bashir Gemayel. Rewriting history on how he struck a deal with Sharon to get the Israeli Defense Forces to Beirut and install him as a Lebanese President, he was perceived as a hero by his followers. He was shortly assassinated with an explosion. The logo “Bashir Hayy Finna” (translation Bashir is still alive in us) is widely used by Phalange and Lebanese Forces supporters. Even Karim Bakradoni, with his short-lived flirtations as head of the Phalange Party with the Syrians, tried to link Bashir Gemayel to loving the Syrians. Jaajaa, Amin Gemayel, and other figures remain till this day at any chance to mention Bashir Gemayel to enforce their ideas on their supporters.

In any case, how does this apply in our community now? Ever since Rafiq el Harriri died, and along with him the economist Basil Fliehan, the philosophy of Martyrdom reached a new level. Directly after Harriri’s death, Samir Qassir and George Hawwi were assassinated, and eventually Joubran Tuieni followed them. The idea was to link all people assassinated under different circumstances and place them under one umbrella: anti-Syria. Hence, Kamal Junblatt, Bashir Gemayel, Mufti Khaled, and Rene Moua’awad were all associated with Rafiq Harriri, Samir Qassir, Bassil Fleihan, George Hawwi, and Jubran Tuieni. The difference between the former and the latter that the former is the fact all died at separate political circumstances at separate times during the civil war. Syria at a one point flirted Kamal Junblatt, Gemayel’s father, and of course Rafiq el Harriri and others. This means that 14th of March sought legitimacy in fighting Syria’s influence ever since Kamal Jumblatt was assassinated, despite the fact that Walid Junblatt allied after 4 years with them in the face of the Phalange/Lebanese Forces/Ahhrar/Israel. From Kamal Junblatt to Antoine Ghanem (the last target is still disputed regarding the assassinated General), the names has been placed into a single umbrella to face the opposing camps. Hence Aoun is fighting Pierre Gemayel Jr. and Samir Qassir. In fact, Samir Qassir never dreamt in real life that his name would be that inflated and used, but media inflated his martyrdom to fully retaliate on Pro-Syrian parties. The same applies about Pierre Gemayel Jr., he was hailed as the heir of Bashir and Pierre (Sr.) Gemayel.

While Hezbollah claims the 1300 civilians to be their own martyrs, 14th of March balanced out through their claim over all the names since Kamal Junblatt’s death. The on-going assassinations of the politicians within 14th of March camp reinforces their philosophy on the grassroots level. However, it should be noticed that due to the stalemate between the government and the opposition, each martyr dies gets less and less media attention compared to Samir Qassir, George Hawwi, Joubran Tueini, and Rafiq el Harriri. Walid Eido and Antoine Ghanem’s death got least media attention while the pro-14th of March media played and replayed the life stories of the early assassinated politicians.

A brief example of the new philosophy would be me going head to head with a stupid Democratic Left member:

Me: I seriously cant think a leftist should be part of 14th of March because it is too nationalist, and too liberal economically.

DLMer: Why? Because you disrespect Samir Qassir? Join us and don’t let his name be stained.
Me: What does that has to do with this?
DLMer: Because if you are not with us, you hate freedom, and you are not Leftist, Samir Qassir died for Lebanon and DLM. For Qassir join us!
Me: More like join you, and worship Elias Atallah and play ping-pong between Elias Khoury & Ziad Majed versus Elias Attallah And in the end, none of them is leftist, whatever happened to ‘long live the workers’!

Hence, the debate goes on and on. Bottomline is, DLMers tried to apply this philosophy; they are only successful in recruiting partly through the Samir Qassir foundation. Yet, their number shrank from what was supposed to be 5000 members to barely 340 participating in internal elections last year. I used the DLM excuse because it always amuses me. All the other parties are doing the same. Some PSP members almost think Kamal Jumblatt died 3 years ago (technically they are living it “we are seeking to avenge the First Teacher”).

Harriri is a more logical example. Before he died, everyone was complaining from taxes and unemployment. When he died, suddenly he became the angelic saint blindly, while the majority of the Sunnis became mobilized towards 14th of March. This media transformation can’t seize to amaze me how the transformation occurred. His movement’s station Future TV, daily replays historic moments from his life. His death became the political torpedo not only to oust the Syrians out of Lebanon, but also a missile spearhead to attempt and shoot the Syrian Baathi regime in Damascus. His “tomb” became a pilgrimage and history again was re-written disregarding the bad side of what happened in relations to Rafiq el Harriri. Now we see every liberalization of a sector, Seniora (Previously hated and dubbed MR. TVA in reference to value added taxes and all taxes as a matter of fact) blesses it “for the memory of my good friend Rafiq el Harriri. Soon we will enter the World Trade Organization to bless Rafiq Harriri’s memory!!!

Yet, this philosophy allowed the Government to gain recharged support from the International Community every time one of their politicians die to the extent Nasrallah himself complaint that the International Community gave the government too much support to be ‘simply ousted’.

Again, for respecting the dead people, cherish their ideas and not inflate them for private uses.

MFL

Elias Attallah TV

I met with two friends linked with Junblatt's PSP, they were mocking Elias Attallah as more PSP than "Walid Baik" himself when he appeared last week on Future TV. What he is trying to do, topple We'am Wahhab on my hate list?

Investigating the Lebanese Left (Part III): Opportunities and Threats

Check Part I and Part II

Opportunities and Threats

The most powerful tool to build a progressive platform which emancipates the proletariat despite race, gender, color, tendency, nationality, and religion is knowledge. Without knowledge, no radical movement will take place. The Democratic Leftist Movement (DLM) tried to do a last minute patch-work and ended up supporting any party in face of Syria.

The first step in understanding how to build a movement in Lebanon depends on a two-fold dimension in terms of knowledge. The first is understanding the history and its political/sociological/economical actors through out the history. In the end, a person would come to you and say: “why do I need to understand what Presidents Helou or Shamoun did back in the 1950s and 1960s? I care about the present!!”

In a summary, the present is due to the result of the past. The whole current crisis is nothing but one pit-stop among several pit-stops, and more would come. The present is the result of the past. Whatever happens, from a Marxist historical point of view perspective, it can be analyzed in order to evaluate the present and even predict the future.

The second dimension understands the whole world in terms how it functions. As Zinoviev stressed on the notion (at the 2nd Congress of the Third International), the Capitalists got their own international, we need our own international to face theirs. Capitalism has been evolving, while class difference has been on the increase. This has been the case through out the world, and not only Lebanon (although it is funny how the DLMers think that class difference would shrink once Lebanon enters the WTO). The whole world is interrelated as what Immanuel Wallerstein would call “the grid” or our simpler definition: a Matrix. Each nod effects the other. For example, Mexico’s economy crumbled down in 1994, most of the countries received shock-waves as a result of this collapsed economy. Chavez won elections recently in Venezuela, it had its impact in the Middle East. Over 3.6 Trillion dollars rotate on daily basis, and the WTO refutes to integrate the Tobin Tax (taxation on Direct Foreign Investment) on the basis that this is intervention on the freedom of the market, which to them comes a priority over stable markets. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the global and local dynamics from a Marxist perspective in order to build a progressive revolutionary platform (unless the Anarchists want to say Anarchist, but I know even they rely on our methodology to criticize Capitalism).

This of course involves the knowledge of what each leftist school preaches. For me, for example, Social Democrats in the 21st century seized to be leftists as their entire economies are based on what Schroeder said in his final term as “hailing Blairism as a third way” which has nothing welfare oriented rather privatization and market liberation. For me I say I am a Socialist, because as comrade Serrati said at the Second Congress of the Third International (1920): “I say I am Socialist because there is no Socialism but Communism”, I agree, the rest have evolved to become Social Democrats (who afterwards evolved towards the Right-Wing”.

This leaves me with two schools who at least preserved their revolutionary aspects, the radical schools of Communism and Anarchism. A lot of reactionary trends distorted these two schools’ aims (despite my heavy disagreement), but the core essence is their aims. For me, Stalinism is not even within the leftist school, it is a form of distorted socialism merged with Nationalism, one-man-show program, and selling out the Proletariat for Party gains. Tony Cliff called it State Capitalism; Ted Grant called it simply reactionary. My primary focus would be on Marxism in facing Stalinism and some “ultra-revolutionaries” who think the left is about supporting Hezbollah or liberating Palestine.

Again, as I mentioned earlier (in Part I), no one has a clue what is Marxism but self-proclaim themselves as Marxists, and some call themselves leftists because they think secularism is a leftist ideology). In any case, the world itself shrank in size, just as competition forced capitalism in less than a century to make the world small (specially with the breakdown of the Soviet Union).

The Internet itself created a large universe and made the world smaller. A lot of us use the messenger for example to exchange information and experience with comrades from all over the world. We are blessed with the greatest archive to exist in the Marxist History. Actually even the Anarchists use the archive called: “Marxist Internet Archive” (MIA) (link: www.marxists.org) which includes all forms of information on Marxism and other thinkers, as well as historical analysis and much more diversified topics. The immense material of the website makes us fortunate in order to inherit their experiences and victories, their errors and defeats, and most importantly, we learn from them. The DLMers would say such information are irrelevant to the current situation, excuse me Mr and Ms DLM, how the heck you define yourselves as the left, if you have no clue whatsoever about what the left is really about. Another person, from the LCP, would come and say: “these material are fascinating and nice to know about, but that is it”, wrong again, how about trying to find out why their party crumbled down to ashes, and more importantly why they are Communists? Why uncountable numbers sacrificed their lives while singing proudly the International?

Communication between the different comrades over the world has always been present, but at a much slower pace. Furthermore, the revolution in mass media paved way to expose Marxism to more people than ever. Contacts between the active internationals, such as the Defense of Marxism, Committee for the Workers’ International, International Socialist Organization, and the International Socialist Tendency, have taken place. In fact, I established contacts with all of them. My advocates however are the Defense of Marxism, for they have been successful to spread in 3rd World nations such as Pakistan, and the heroics of Lal Khan and his fellow comrades. The CWI have been rather controversial during the July War, but they have been also active in Palestine and Israel, while Comrade Yossi in Israel has written one of the finest pieces in attacking Zionism and shedding light on the Zionists’ shameful racist history.

Yet, different problems rose while communicating between the Internationals and the 3rd World Countries. Some of them failed to understand the situation of the nations on domestic level. For example, the IST were trapped in a certain Cliffite framework despite the fact Tony Cliff himself at a one point was rebelling against all stagnant figures. The IST blindly were trapped in the anti-Imperialist perspective, and believe that the RESPECT coalition can take place elsewhere as simple as that. Allow me to be clear, Galloway’s famous interview with Sky News was fascinating because he did shed light to the situation we are living in, but he is no revolutionary as the Palestinian Jew Tony Cliff. We can’t just blindly raise our finger against any anti-imperialist maneuver against the US. Hezbollah are not a solution to Lebanon, specially for their Proletariat. Moreover, we will do wrong the Proletariat to simply support any feudal or sectarian feudal system for in the end, our goal is the emancipation of the Proletariat. Already all Internationals agree that al-Qa’eda are much worse as a regime than the United States administration, and will never qualify as an ally (thank heavens for that). The IST have some hard working members in Lebanon, and they are willing to get their hands dirty to achieve their goals, but again, they should avoid to fall into the fiasco of the Opposition/Government, for in the long-run our goal is to establish a new pillar of a Marxist Movement out of the ashes of the old. I had several disagreements with them, but at least they are much better grounded than the rest. Patience is virtue, and it is not necessarily at our life time establish a revolution, rather if we can pave way for the next generation, or even the next five generations, then that route should be followed. Europe and its circumstances can’t be exactly replicated. I should note that the affiliates with the IST in Lebanon coexisted a powerful relief network which hit rank 3 during the July War after the Red Cross and Karitas.

The CWI and ISO have established contacts with several Lebanese activists, and they too are well-grounded in the ideology. When discussing with an ex-member of the ISO, I was fascinated how similar we thought, sadly that was on the individual basis. The organizations have been in conflict for a while (and they in turn against the IST) for petty syndicate laws, and then worked on increasing the gaps in order to establish their own influential spheres. These too followed were affected up to a certain extent with the powerful character with Cliff, but they expanded their sphere on others as well. Most importantly, when we say we are Trotskyites, it does not mean we worship Lev Davidovich Bronstein aka Leon Trotsky, but we separate ourselves from the Stalinists and their reactionary movements. Some of the comrades in the previous three internationals fell in the error of transforming Trotsky as an icon. All three internationals should be aware not to follow a superior attitude of the West (usually undermining the Comrades intentionally/unintentionally capabilities or rush them to be active).

The most as I mentioned have been my favorites have been the Defense of Marxism. I established contacts with couple of members from North America by chance. Our logic have been parallel, and I could not have agreed more with any international. I just wish that all the internationals drop their petty clashes, and unify for the sake of the Proletariat, but sadly that can never happen. The Defense of Marxism have been utmost patient, stressing on establishing the clandestine nucleus in Lebanon, and no matter how many years it took, the clandestine nucleus should be formed and solid. It should be based on the sciences of Marxism, and all members should be ready to expand the sphere and be practical on grassroots level. No matter how many “comrades” of the DLM or LCP that tell me this is a waste of time, and real emancipation starts from above, I would reply that this is not the way of the revolutionary, this is the way of the reactionary reformists who would do nothing but sell out on their supporters. I seriously doubt that life in Tsarist Russia was better than Lebanon now, but with mass building via establishing secret debate circles in different locations, then spreading to different streets, after the clandestine was forged, they eventually became prepared till the Bolsheviks’ revolution was isolated, and treason rose from the inside under the bloody reign of Stalin. Patience was what needed. Lenin and Trotsky refuted to reconcile with any person who deviated one step away from Marxism, and eventually they both took that beliefs to their grave. Lebanon at least allows freedom of expression (unless a feudal/sectarian politician is targeted), and chances are much easier with the availability of internet, because the success of the clandestine depends highly on the success of the flow of the communication. If there is no flow of communication, no progressive movement can ever form, whether from a horizontal or vertical management perspective.

The Independent Leftist Movements did their impact for almost a decade within the leftist sphere in Lebanon, but as I mentioned them in Part I, they were meant to create space in the absence of radical parties, not someone stupid from the DLM telling me that I have to be 14th of March to join their glorious shrinking movement or an LCP telling me we have to support Hezbollah in order to oppose the CIA agents in the government. What is even sadder, almost none of the “comrades” know that Lenin was not only a revolutionist, but also one fascinating economist. These acclamations are the cowards’ path to either attain opportunities to become leaders, or to avoid the real path of hardship and pain of establishing the underground vanguard party which will REALLY seek a better life for the Proletariat. We, as “leftists”, who I define as the revolutionaries, need to establish activist space to be existent, currently, we lack that mechanism, while the different factions of the left (be that Communist or Anarchist) clashing with each other and among each other. There is a saying that is popular in Lebanon that goes: “Every six comrades gather up, they open a store” indicating to what extent the left is divided.

I must stress to the revolutionaries, in case any clandestine should begin, the deadliest enemies would be those who claim to be leftist. The LCP, ever stuck with the greed to be the axis of the Lebanese left, would fight to the skin any potential radical movement to be active in Lebanon (and I assume that is the case elsewhere) not to exclude the right-wingers DLM with their hypocritical logic that “either you are with us or you are a Syrian Baathi agent.”

A lot of proposals have been given regarding the unity of the left, but the problem is where do we begin and how do we begin? Are the Durzi sectarian Progressive Socialist Party of the feudal/Sectarian lord Walid Junblatt leftists? They lost whatever socialism they had when Lebanon crumbled into militia cantons after 1984, and eventually dissolved the Lebanese National Movement. Someone proposed that the SSNP – Ina’am Raad faction can be tagged leftist, since he aimed to transform the party from a Syrian Nationalist to radical socialist party (and tagged by several current SSNP a traitor)? Are those Arab Nationalists who attempt to revive Arab Nationalism which inspired the Stalinists in the 1960s leftists? What about the DLM, whose sole foundation was to construct a unified left but ended up as puppies to Sa’ad Harriri and Samir Jaajaa? What about the PFLP of George Habbash’s faction? We all know the PFLP-General Command ended up to be a Muslim based rather a Socialist based perspective? George Habbash’s faction was Stalinist, mixed partial Marxist revolutionary goals. This faction is highly controversial as Leila Khaled’s famous operations still win the hearts of the plenty in the Arab World (including mine to say the truth, I really respect her courage).

The last to call for the unity of the left was the Lebanese Communist Party. Yet, experience taught us that the current leadership (as well as the post-1990 command) want nothing but hegemony of the left. On the last celebration of the Birth of the LCP, its general secretary Khaled Hdaidi called for the unity of the left in Lebanon, but afterwards the LCP’s star Ziad Rahbani delivered the most Stalinist speech ever heard: “If you are not part of the party, you are a parasite.” (I guess I am a parasite in that case so are tens of thousands as well). My analysis as well as others of the fellow comrades, the LCP did such an initiation to get the free lancers in working on the project separately, while the LCP isolates them and achieves political hegemony over them. If the LCP want to establish real unity, they should start with doing serious revision within themselves, as well as their Democratic Youth League.

About four years ago, there was another attempt to achieve a similar unity, which was called the Leftist Platform. The project, like the Khat el Moubashar (Direct Line) started with great hopes, but barely lasted two months. It at least brought the first real attempt to unify the left, while its cadres were the youth. Green activists or Socialist based Gay right activists even joined, along with the Independent Leftist Movements, Trotskyites, Communist Students (an off – shoot from the LCP and ended up dissolving itself within the DLM), as well as other freelancers. The disastrous result was they fought with each other, and the Leftist Platform collapsed. It should be noted that they were all youth during those meetings, and the only old person was none-ever but the clown Elias Attallah trying to establish hegemony like he did now with the ridiculous DLM.

Other left-wing organizations became active in Lebanon despite the fact they are not 100% leftist such as Green Line. Green Line started as a tiny NGO which grew to become one of the most powerful grass root organization on the ground not only to protect Lebanon from the environmental damage generated by Capitalism, but also to be a pioneer in facing corporate globalization. They may lack a revolutionary platform, but at least they achieved some down to earth goals on the ground, and they got radical factions that oppose any negotiations with the WTO and go straight against it.

Another group, left-wing in nature, and radical, but still has a long road to go is ATTAC. ATTAC on an international scale is diversified and suffered major blows. I will not dwell on the status of ATTAC on the international level, but will focus on Lebanon. Each group of ATTAC throughout the world has its own autonomy, some have been reformists others have been revolutionary. ATTAC Lebanon has been catching my attention lately with their released brochures, and seems they adopted the revolutionary side. They would prove important in Lebanon for alter-globalization activism and in the absence of any experienced movement in such a domain. After further investigation, ATTAC started with the wrong people opening it as a social club till the radicals established the real alter-globalization movement in Lebanon. Time will tell if they can have any impact or not specially the current generation has to a challenge to clear the blunders of the older generation, but based on the brochure I read, I think they might be on the right track, but still, like Green Line they are not a revolutionary party, specially the Proletariat’s Party. Their activism is based on supporting alter globalization movement and fix the system. They like Green Line are potential activist space for the time being.

The third category are Helem, the first NGO established in the Arab world whose task is to defend the rights of the Homosexuals/Queer/Bisexuals individuals to exist equally as those who are tagged as “straights”. Helem means in the English Language as Dream. Probably they did one a hell of an entry in the Lebanese Scene when they demonstrated against the US invasion of Iraq. While all traditional parties were demonstrating, a group of independent leftists, half of them reformists in nature, along with the Gay Movement did a symbolic parade that topped the news in the campaign, spearheaded by the different factions of the Leftist Platform, under the Banner of No War! No Dictatorship! (ie No to the invasion and no to Saddam). The Rainbow flag appeared the first time in Lebanon under much controversy, specially homosexuals/bisexuals were and still are persecuted on social level (and sometimes police level). The topic of Helem would deserve another post on its own, something I will hope to do soon. I will mention briefly some inputs I gathered on that NGO. It definitely takes courage to establish such an NGO despite the Arab or religious atmosphere (be that Christian or Muslim) we live currently; I would also like to add that a lot of the leftwing themselves face difficulty to digest such activists, specially those who embrace socialism/anarchism as the path to emancipate the society. Sadly, some gay activists became isolationists and focused on establishing themselves as a minority against the “straights”, or believe that the only solution to establish their existence is through gay coalitions. The left-wing gay movements tend to believe that the only way to achieve salvation to the society is through the emancipation of the society as a whole, similar to the left-wing feminists.

There have been a fourth NGO that aims towards Secularism, the Civil Society. This aims in promoting secularism, such as the “Conference of Secularism”, under the Patronage of the “Red Priest” Gregoir Haddad, but even within these activists, people fell into the error of opposition/government or 8th of March versus 14th of March. Within the movement, there have been secular activists who went against both trends, who are against both. Yet, secularism alone can’t be simply shoved into society. In any case, as I mentioned in my first part, being secular does not make you a leftist. Most of the hard-core business oriented business elites are secular usually in nature. The movement has been isolated, but at least it is like the others provides a miniature space for activism.

I stated some of the several “space” movements that aim to achieve couple of left-wing goals, but each is focused on a tiny aspect of the overall problem. They have been active but sadly they are not revolutionary parties. They can’t do change, they can only hinder what Capitalism will eventually bombard the people in Lebanon.

The most important factor dominating the Lebanese Left is the informal connections between different left-wing activists. To say the truth, Lebanon is not such a big place, and almost everyone knows everyone. Those informal nods are probably the closest thing to do an activity, as it appeared during the July War. A person wants to know something or needs a favor; Comrade X would give him Comrade Y for info. That is the case in Lebanon, but rarely anything works on a political level. I already displayed on a national scale how all such projects crumbled down without achieving any permanent results. Those networks are usually beneficial on academic or personal level, and sometimes like the whole nation is running in such a system, employment level (and not that much too). Those informal connections usually come in handy to break the ice between different organizations, but at the same time almost all the organizations (political and social) have something against the other, and end up scavenging in a competitive form, for glory. That is the case in most of the time, sadly. If there is a general interest to really rebuild the left in a progressive manner, then these informal contacts would prove handy.

The left has a long road to go through, and their members refuse to do the first most important thing to become at least leftist (depending on the school): Learn your history, and learn your ideology. That is why I am not affiliated with anyone in Lebanon because 90% each is scavenging against the other, specially on the political level. Platforms do not attract people, it is dogmatism that brings people, and not that many in the “Lebanese Left” since Sectarian elites are doing a better job, while the “Left-Wing” are caught up to encourage this sectarian movement or that.

In the end, the Proletariat are suffering, while clowns like the DLM would tell you: “The Proletariat would be victorious if 14th of March triumphs” while the LCP would go on an anti-thesis level: “The Proletariat would win if the CIA affiliated government is trashed.” To the DLMers, either disband or change your name. To the LCP, either learn what Marxism is really about or simply join Hezbollah. The radical ones in all political and institutional ones should leave those reactionary movements and form at least a unified revolutionary front.

No War But Class War

MFL

Investigating the Lebanese Left (Part II): Its Current Status

The Current Status of the Left

Check Part I
Communism as a rule bases itself as the spearhead of the Proletariat, embodied by the people’s vanguard party, in order to attain the goals and interests of the working class. The Lebanese Left has been far from attaining this goal, and when the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) was winning its battlefronts, the clash with the Christian Militias was not based on Class Struggle, despite the fact their Platform was based on demolishing the confessional system, application of transparency, placing supremacy to civil law above personal law, achieving optional civil marriage, and transforming the public sector from a 6:5 equation (6 Christians – 5 Muslims) to a merit system. Probably 1975 – 1976 was the peak for left-wing movements; however, this also includes the alliance to the PLO whose leader Arafat was establishing a state within a state inside Lebanon to strengthen his own forces.

The current situation is disastrous for the left. For starters, anyone claims to be leftist. I remember in the year 2000, members of AMAL movement and Future Youth (Sunni Harriri’s supporters) told me that they are leftists. The current bi-polarity has demolished any chance to attain a progressive left-wing based activism. For starters, the current bi-polarity is based 100% on mobilizing the masses in a sectarian manner which has forced the supporters of the Sectarian Parties (Lebanese Forces – Free Patriotic Movement – Future Movement – AMAL – Hezbollah – Progressive Socialist Party – others) to become more sectarian with a survival logic: “either they win politically and throw us out on a social level or vice versa.” No current progressive platform can be implemented and worse, be heard. I have been accused to be insane by both reactionary camps, while the term ‘traitor’ has been tagged on my forehead ever since I loud and clear declared that I oppose both camps. Worse, each camp accuses me with affiliation towards the other camp. Having described the situation on a personal level, I am sure that would provide my readers with a glimpse on the social disease from which the Lebanese are suffering from.

The Democratic Leftist Movement appeared on the scene quickly because its leader, Elias Attallah, was shoved by 14th of March and won him the Parliament (a plan of 14th of March leaders to establish hegemony on the politically assassinated). The problem is the DLM directly endorsed their platform, even on the economic level. Their logic is “being leftist is being supportive of 14th of March”. They rely on Monot St. nights for recruitment and they are still shrinking in size. They over-exhausted the memory of Samir Qassir and now people are leaving them.

The Lebanese Communist Party has been tackled a lot. The LCP is facing competition between two reactionary Stalinist Leaders, under the names of Khaled Hdaidi (current General Secretary) and Sa’adallah Mazra’ani (2nd in Command). The LCP strangely did a minor comeback on the LCP level or the Democratic Youth League (اتحاد شباب دمقراطي). The Youth League was given to a non-party affiliate to manage that section. In any case, last year, the LCP and its different branches called for a demonstration on May Day (May the 1st, known as Workers’ Day) and gathered 15,000 participants. Yet, it has to be recorded that most of the participants are non-party affiliates, such as Dr. Fawwaz Traboulsi. Ever since May Day, the LCP returned on the negotiation table with other parties, mainly those affiliated with 8th of March. Part of the success of the LCP miniature comeback is due the artist Ziad Rahbani’s revival on the political scene and swearing allegiance, in a Stalinist perspective, to the Party. When the first demonstration occurred, the DLM succeeded in mobilizing 5000 members on daily basis.

Whatever has been spoken does not reflect the reality of the left. The Left in Lebanon is far greater than that. Its numbers vary between 130,000 to 150,000 left-wing activists. Some people estimate up to 240,000 , but there is unknown number of how many left wing activists. The tip of an iceberg appeared when George Hawwi (General Secretary from the late 1960s – 1988) was assassinated in the elections of 2005. There couldn’t have been an event that gathered large numbers of activists that surprised all other parties. Most of the participants were non-party affiliated, although their parents were at a one moment members of the Lebanese Communist Party or the Order For Communist Work (OCW). In Down Town alone, the number of participants was estimated to exceed over 60,000, during the funeral ceremonies, while in Teghreen (Hawwi’s home town), the number of people alone exceeded 100,000. Such numbers were last scene in 1973-1975, specially in a rally that occurred in 1973 in the South which gathered 76,000 in the honor of Farajallah Helou (who was melted in acid by the hands of the Arab Nationalists of Nasser in Syria). The number that showed up during George Hawwi’s clearly reflected the number of free lance activists that are inactive due to lack of space. If such a number were active in a single institution with a progressive organization and platform, a lot can be achieved for the Proletariat over here as well as everywhere else (we apply Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution Theory).

Most of the ex- Party members of the LCP and OCW were dumped into the garbage bin once the civil war was active. A lot of the members, based on my interviews with ex-members, received their training in the Socialist Camp. Several other comrades turns out they can speak Russian perfectly well and when drunk, they reply “Da” rather “yes”. The party lost its grip when the Soviet Union collapsed (and a good thing too in order to build a true Proletariat movement). A lot of OCW simply scattered among different Right-Wing party members who are mostly now figureheads of the Government as well as opposition. Some names would include Hassan Krayem (with DLM), Ahmad Fatfat (with the Harriri), and Mohammad Beydoun (AMAL). Actually, most of the late Rafiq Harriri’s advisors were ex-OCW members. The DLM for example are behaving as scavengers to leech off those scattered comrades under the banner of “World Trade Organization is Social Justice for Lebanon”.

A lot of activist groups tried to build their own autonomous groups. The Anarchists are trying to establish their own groups, but ended up in failure. I will tackle those in the next post about chances and opportunities. The fact that the left is distributed between both capitalist reactionary camps does not mean the end of the story, for the battle continues.

In any case, the Left is far from the revolution. This does not mean we are a hopeless case in Lebanon.

Investigating the Lebanese Left (Part I): Its Problems

Introduction

As I stated in a lot of posts through out my blog, the left suffers from several problems which leads to the conclusion in a similar way Rene Descartes stated couple of centuries ago: it is dangerous to construct new material on a building with an old infrastructure. Best Solution is to me is to tear down all those leftist schools in Lebanon and start from scratch. It is too dangerous to construct new schools based on the old. For example, the Democratic Leftists started as an off-shoot from the Stalinist Lebanese Communist Party, the Independent Leftist Movements from the universities, and Communist Students. They mixed their ideology with the right-wing elitest economies of Harriri and Politics of Junblatt in order to survive within 14th of March. Sadly, being secular is not enough to be classified as leftist, despite the fact few of them claimed that Tony Blair is a leftist. The goal of this post is to investigate the causes of the left and how it collapsed in Lebanon, and what are the different prospects and dangers for the left to be revived (if the term left is logical, since I only believe in revolutionary Communism).

The Beginning of the Lebanese Left

There is no definite idea what year the Lebanese Left started in Lebanon; however, the early records show that the Lebanese Communists started their activism in the early 20th Century in terms of Union movements. By 1910, a translator according to “Parties of Lebanon”, was the first to translate the term Socialism into Arabic as Ishtirakieh. The Lebanese comrades used to move through out Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, and played their role in forming Socialist based trade unions. By 1917, the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Petrograd and Russia provided a moral boast in Lebanon and conveyed a clear message: if the mighty Tsar can be ousted outside his throne in Russia, the same can be repeated in Lebanon and Syria. Then there was no Lebanon, rather, there was a minor autonomous province in Mt. Lebanon, under a governor with an Ottoman citizenship.

1917 was also an important year for the Lebanese, because the Armenians started to arrive towards Lebanon, due to the butchery of the Ottoman Empire in performing one of the bloodiest genocides on the Armenians. The Armenians were more interactive with Europe than the Lebanese/Syrian Communists. They already had membership in Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebnekht’s “The Spartacus League”, a revolutionary school which opposed the reactionary reformists in Germany at a one point of time.

By 1922, contacts between the Lebanese/Syrian Communists were established with the 3rd International, then Stalin’s goons Yaganovich, Kirov, and Bolganin and others did not fully destroy the Bolsheviks. The Communists were distributed between Syria and Lebanon, just as borders were heavier when the British finalized their acquisition over Palestine and borders were constructed. Jordan was also carved out of Syria as compensation to King Abdullah the First (actually to persuade him from not restoring kingdom of Syria which is brother Faysal the First, became the first King over Iraq) and swayed both sons of Shareef Hussein to forget about the Middle East and settle for these two nations (since the British broke their word when they encouraged Shareef Hussein to rebel agains the Ottoman Empire).

With hopes and activism taking place, in 1925, a meeting of five comrades took place in Beirut and decided to build a Lebanese – Syrian Communist Party. Eventually both parties would split up, specially with the return of the Stalinist Khaled Bikdash from the Soviet Union to Syria and established authority over the Lebanese faction. It should be noted that the first demonstration against the French in Lebanon occurred on May the First 1925, which included 7000 comrades demonstrating against the French mandate. The glorious event witnessed the participation of the Armenian comrades who arrived to Lebanon, spearheaded by Artin Madayan, of the Spartacus League, and that triggered the building of the Party. The comrades already were active and established the first red cell in Bikfaya, where the Tobacco Union was formed. They were forced directly to work underground, because France and the newly born Soviet Union disagreed.

Ever since, the Lebanese Communists fluctuated, sometimes boomed, sometimes collapsed, till post Civil War, they suffered from almost total paralysis.

Problems of the Communists/Leftists in Lebanon

The first problem of the Lebanese Communists was the deviation from the revolutionary ideology. They were mass oriented, and recruitment was booming, the first confrontation occurred when the Lebanese Communists endorsed Arab Nationalism as an identity of Lebanon as a nation in the face of the French Mandate. This created by 1926 several confrontations with the 3rd International, which by then Stalin was beginning to annihilate the Bolsheviks. In the Marxist Ideology, we do not believe in any form of nationalism, rather we believe in the will of people to determine their fate. Now if any Zionist want to yell at me about their freedom, we do not mean expelling Palestinians outside their homes and promote a racial ideology. A Proletariat (those who do not own the means of production and suffer from Alienation towards the world due to their work) is a Proletariat wherever you go, be that a Jordanian, Mexican, Israeli, US, French, Russian, Chinese, or anywhere else of the world. The goal of the Communists is to emancipate the Proletariat towards a unified front against their oppressors. We do not believe in any ideology, rather we perceive any form of nationalism as an elite created bourgeoisie which divides the Proletariat through out the world (except in the Market).

The Second problem is not keeping the logic of class struggle in their platforms. The comrades created fabulous platforms, but they were not Marxist based, rather they are Lebanese oriented, which limits their goals to Lebanon as a setting. This problem we still suffer from it now, members of the Democratic Left or Communist Party would travel outside Lebanon and become inactive because they are not Lebanon, rather joining the first progressive Socialist movement in their area and be of assistance to emancipate the Proletariat. After all, we the revolutionary Marxists are Internationalists, and henceforth we do not disagree with our fellow revolutionary activists wherever we are. The problem is that the Communists in Lebanon drifted away from class struggle (actually a lot of the LCP wonder naively if there is class struggle, while the DLM embrace the World Trade Organization to “save Lebanon from the claws of the Baathi Syrians”.

Third, by 1936, the Palestinian crisis has spilled chain reactions through out the Arab World. The year 1936 is a famous year of the revolutions. In Syria, the Atlas nations, Iraq, and several nations, different insurrections occurred, while Lebanon was facing a political turmoil between the French and the Lebanese elites. Palestine in specific witnessed the Palestinian insurrection which started as a one year Demonstration then a two year revolution. The Palestinians could not tolerate anymore to witness British brutality or Zionist butchery against them. They rebelled under the banner of Arab Nationalism. This caused a rebound in the Arab world as they endorsed Arab Nationalism as a salvation to the crisis. The British were forced to move 20,000 soldiers to Palestine while Odre Wingate initiated the secret training of Zionist Night Squads (which will become the core of the Haganah and the Israeli Defense Forces). The British transfer of soldiers is considered to be the greatest military transfer before World War II. Partly of Arab leadership corruption trying to bargain their way with the British on Palestine’s expense (hence crippling the revolution half way), the Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi, and Iraqi Monarchs participated in messing up the Palestinian Revolution. Prior to 1939, Ben Gurion was willing to accept a partition plan while after the 1939 insurrection was crushed down to pieces, he decided to push the Yishov into taking the whole Palestine, annihilating it, and bring Israel to existence, even though according the UN partition plan, the Jews were still a minority even on their Jewish side of Palestine.

The Lebanese Communists, like all Communists, indorsed Arab Nationalism as a means of salvation against European Imperialism. A unified Arab Strong Nation is more than enough to end the Palestinian crisis as well as face Western Imperialists. The problem is that if that nation occurred, a new form of Imperialism would occur, and the Arab Nation in the minds of the Arab and Lebanese elites was not endorsed in a revolutionary class struggle Soviet style federation. Worse, on a later stage, Nasser’s experimentation of Socialism, accompanied with corruption, will bring forth the rise of the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt. This created massive conflict with the Stalinist, now Moscow based, headquarters. Even the Stalinists opposed the concept of Fatherland or nationalism till World War II erupted and pushed Stalin to promote the “Mother Russia logos”, exactly the opposite of what Lenin and Trotsky did despite the odds against them.

Fourth, with Stalin capturing the Soviet Union, and annihilating the 3rd International, all revolutionary Communist Parties became pawns for Moscow’s foreign policy. They had to abide by Moscow’s policies. Whatever Moscow wanted, the LCP had to follow, some comrades were even secretly interrogated by the KGB, such as George Hawwi himself. Stalinism struck the Lebanese Communist Party, which was already suffering from the brutal character of the Syrian Based Stalinist Khaled Bikdash. Farajallah el Helo (as time will tell later) was melted in acid bit by bit) under the blessing of such a character, Jamal Nasser, and the Syrian Baathis (different than al-Assad’s model of the Baathi party). The danger of Stalinism has transformed whatever Marxist ideas the “comrades” were dedicated to achieve towards a “A No Party But the Party” logic. The Central Committee dictatorship, spearheaded by the General Secretary was dominated in the Lebanese Communist Party, like all other revolutionary parties. The Party seized to be mass oriented, despite the fact it restored its popularity by 1970, whereby the Socialist Kamal Junblatt (his Lebanese version of Socialism) unified arms with the Communist Coalition and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (with its socialist oriented leader Ina’am Ra’ad).

Jamal Nasser’s unity with Syria caused maximum damage to the Communists in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon. The Communists in Lebanon were executed, persecuted, and they were forced to go under cover. The fate of the Communists in Syria and Egypt caused them to be totally annihilated. Meanwhile, two new Arab style of Communism were about to rise. A small cell of George Habash’s Liberation Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were founded by students from the American University of Beirut, and the Lebanese Communist Party’s Stalinism proved too much and caused a faction to split up and build the Order for Communist Work.

The PFLP automatically suffered a split, but they were active wherever they were, and like the LCP, they endorsed Arab Nationalism and mixed it with Communism, in the name of Liberating Palestine. The new faction (after one year) PFLP-General Command was led by a more reactionary figure, Jibreel.

The OCW was however a different case. It started as an off-shoot of Arab Nationalism, then became mixed with Maoism (another form of Stalinism a la Agricultural model), and a variety of revolutionary Marxism. Actually, between 1958 - 1975, a certain view of Arab Nationalism was constructed from a left-wing perspective, to which Junblatt's Progressive Socialist Party, LCP, and OCW affiliated themselves to. Arab Nationalism and Communism do not mix, if anything Arab Nationalism, specially Nasser's version, dettered the Communists, and caused the Muslim Brotherhood to rise.

Dr. Fawwaz Traboulsi would become the first Arab to translate Trotsky’s and John Reed’s books into Arabic, and a come back to genuine Marxism was restored till again the Civil War and the Israeli invasion would cause the OCW to drift again, while its leader Mohsen Ibrahim would impose his one man show figure. The point is though, the OCW had with it at a one time, the greatest thinkers of Lebanon combined, before all losing faith and sold out on their goals. Most of the political parties in current times have their main figures coming from the OCW, and I will leave their names as a surprise as I will do another post on their names and where they ended.

Back to the point and not drift away from item four, the Communists suffered a lot due to the fact of Stalin and his goons taking over the Soviet Union, and transforming the USSR from a voluntary Union to a dictatorship empire.

Problem five is lack of full knowledge of the Marxist Ideology and their experience. The majority of the Communists in Lebanon are not aware why they celebrate May Day. They are not aware how the Proletariat (with Marxist and Anarchist nucleus cells) organized the Chicago Hay Market demonstrations in 1886. They are unaware how the 2nd International organized the first global solidarity movement in 1889 raising the red flag through out the world as a solidarity for the Proletariat and in honor of the fallen ones. For example, a stupid Democratic Leftist member told me: “if Che Guevara was alive, he would have supported 14th of March”, which is not true since Che Guevara would believe in the revolution (despite his errors on the ideological level), while a member of the Democratic Youth League (the LCP’s youth party) would tell me that Che Guevara would support Hezbollah against Israel, which is also not the case at all. Che Guevara would support the people’s revolution against both, the Zionist leaders of Israel, and the religious leadership of Hezbollah. To be more exact, Che Guevara’s last years were involved extensively in reading Lenin and Trotsky’s books while attacking Stalinism and denouncing it in terms of any relations to real Communism. The Communists today lack any knowledge, some comrades would read The Communist Manifesto, and then sweat bullets, others naively read Mao’s Little Red Book and then self-glorify themselves as doing an achievement.

That is the problem, there is no guidance to understand what is the meaning of Communism, the sciences devised by Marx and Engels, how the ideology is constantly updated, and most importantly, the Party is not everything. In case the party is corrupt (such as the LCP and DLM), then the comrades can dissolve it and dump its Stalinist leadership. It is rather shameful that members of the LCP do not know the meaning of Dialectical Materialism or Historical Materialism, or what is the impact of the World Trade Organization, rather they support Hezbollah blindly because they “are resisting Israel” or “fighting US imperialism”. This a lie. No Party can be built without having full knowledge of their ideology be that Anarchist or Communist (I would say these two since the other schools of the left are reformists). As Lenin said: “A revolutionary party is guided by a revolutionary theory”, but sadly, there is no theory to guide the LCP, and specially not the DLM.

Moving to Point 6, the Stalinist Nature of the Party taught the comrades to rely heavily on the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union collapsed, as it should have been, in order for the real Marxist movements to be revived (even though Lebanon has been a hard case, while Palestine has been even harder). The LCP and OCW performed wonders against the Israelis during the 1982 invasion. They, along with Ra’ad’s SSNP, blocked the Israelis from entering West Beirut for a whole month, which taught the rest of the world that the Israeli Army can bleed. More interesting, the heroics of the secular resistance front, founded by the LCP and OCW, and joined by the SSNP, to kick out the Israelis from West Beirut, and afterwards force them to retrieve towards the South (where Hezbollah and AMAL along with the Resistance Font bombarded the invaders with all kinds of operations). The LCP and OCW started the resistance to Israel, and played a crucial role. However, the comrades did not understand why they are fighting the Israeli Army from a Marxist perspective, all they had in their mind that they were the evil Zionists who kicked out the Palestinians from their houses. They never understood that their secular resistance was vital to block any resistance fronts from being transformed into religious whereby their warriors would go to heaven, They never understood that they should be representing the demands of the workers, and worse, they should never ever have allied with the rest of the reactionary parties (even though they themselves were reactionary as well). With the death of the Soviet Union, the party crumbled down, and a lot of people abandoned the OCW and LCP (as well as the PFLP) to join more reactionary movements, whether religious or right-winged.

Seventh, desperation struck the comrades. Two brilliant artists dominated the sphere of art in Lebanon, their names were Marcel Khalifi and Ziad Rahbani. Marcel Khalifi played fusion Jazz with oriental music, while Ziad Rahbani, at an age of 17, started writing musical plays from a Communist perspective. Rahbani’s plays were a hit, and still are, and some people compare his character to a God, due to his genius eye of capturing the turmoil of the people in a most comic way. The Problem with Ziad, as always, he was a Communist in spirit, but in reality also a Stalinist (and his latest speech at the Foundation Memory of the LCP proves it). His disparity triggered a lot of the youth to become desperate and simply sit at Cafes and imitate Ziad’s famous characters instead of opening the books of Rosa Luxemburg or Paul La Farque and learning what the meaning of revolutionary Communism is really about. The leftist leaders never allowed for real change, and fought at every moment potential progressive movements.

When the Civil War was over, while the LCP was at its worst moments, a new wave of Leftist movements was triggered in 1996-1997. Suddenly, people read about independent leftist movements, not affiliated with any party, popped out of the blues in university, and some won elections at their areas. The most well known two student groups are the No Frontiers Group (based in the American University of Beirut) and the Direct Work Group (based in Balamand). The problem again with those revolutionary groups, they lacked a fixed organization. They were, as I read, horizontal, and anything horizontal without a fixed ideology is a double edge sword. By 2001, those leftist independent groups, which included a variety of leftists ranging from Anarchists and Social Democrats to Socialists and Communists, scattered over 11 universities (mainly private and slightly public). Most of them collapsed either on their own, or due to the interventions of the Democratic Left and the LCP. Each is seeking to carve their way and blocked any potential growth for these groups. Actually, there was an independent group which was supposed to carry the concept of these university groups, which was called the Direct Line, but it crumbled down quickly due to power struggle and lack of organization, you can’t have a revolutionary movement without the revolutionary theory. The good part about these groups, they provided space for comrades to attain organizational experience and become future cadres, and the bad news is that they were limited to universities. I think currently the remaining groups are in Balamand and AUB, I am not sure though about the rest.

Moving to point 8, there is a problem of people supporting Communism or even the left in general from a hereditary aspect. Some of the old guard members of the OCW and LCP told me that the Communists as a coalition prior to the Civil war had about 60,000 between members, trade-unionists, and sympathizers. A lot of their children became communists or left-wing supporters from their parents. Taking into consideration of earlier problems discussed, we are aware of the deformed ideology inherited by the children, and in most of the cases, they proceed into deforming the ideology. In such a case, the youth embrace a wrong logic which does not reflect Marxism as it is, rather, a deflected form of Communism.

Point 9 reflects on the hopes and destruction of the capacity of the comrades. In a matter of speaking, almost everyone is exposed to Marxism in school. In school, for example, students in the history courses study the Bolshevik revolution and to what extent the Bolsheviks had to fight their way to sustain it between 1917 – 1924. In other courses, for example Philosophy, Cultural Studies, and Sociology, Marx and Engels pop up more frequently than others. In terms of Political Economy, World Affairs, and Globalization, Marx, Lenin, Bukharin, Trotsky, and Engels, as well as other thinkers (advocates of the dependency theory) appear. Despite the fact that Antony Giddens’ book is reductive, and Marx and Engels (as well as others) are not properly dealt with, the passion for changing the current reality rises within the youth. At later age, the youth do not pursue properly Marxism properly and disregard it as a childish dream. There is a saying in Lebanon that is very popular: “If you are not a Communist before the age of 18, you do not have a heart. If you are a Communist after the age 23, then you are without a brain.” 90% of those who disregard the sciences of Marx, Luxemburg, and Lenin is due to the fact they have no idea about what is really class struggle (imagined usually as people running to the streets with swords fighting the bourgeoisie), no clue about the oppressive nature of Capitalism, and no proper idea what are really the demands of the ideology (or as far as the left for the matter, such as a group of Anarchist Feminists who think that Anarchy is about Homosexuality).

The myth of Che Guevara has been incredible in Lebanon, the one man army who inspired revolutions through out the world, and in Lebanon Che Guevara has been a hero not only for the leftists, but also as far as for the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, but very few bothered to read about his books. Others put that dictator, Stalin’s pic, on their wall, and next to it Che. Sadly, Stalin made one a hell of an impact in Lebanon from the perspective of the man who saved the world from Nazism. This is not really quiet true. Stalin was in alliance with Hitler till 1941, and worse, when Hitler invaded the USSR, Stalin for the first six months suffered a nervous breakdown to the extent orders came out of the Kremlin without carrying his signature, rather from one of his goons. Worst ever, Stalin’s ruthless machinery is responsible for the death of their people due to brutality and the no-retreat command (any soldier in the battlefield takes couple of steps backwards, the commanding officer has the authority to shoot that soldier). The “Red Army” did enter Berlin prior to the US army, but what the comrades in Lebanon do not know that the US could have entered before the Red Army, but preferred to wait for them in order to enter Berlin together. The Red Army entered quickly when reaching Berlin to install the Soviet Flag on Hitler’s Palace. Last but not least, none of the Lebanese Communists know that 81% of the Soviet weaponry was merged with US technology (source: Khrucheve Remembers By Rouchenko).

The Lebanese Communist Party and other factions gambled on these myths, in order to recruit. Once the youth enter the LCP, they are either disgusted from proceeding with activism and from further enhancing their knowledge on Marxism, or they become Stalinists from the perspective of “No Party But the People’s Party”. Moreover, the LCP itself has a huge history of heroism in resisting the Israelis, and along with the OCW, they played a role in building the Resistance Front and expelling the Israelis from West Beirut in 1982. All of those tributes are “humped” by the reactionaries. Today, we see in a disgusting manner the Democratic Leftists marketing Samir Qassir in events to recruit to their own and justify their alliance and allegiance to Samir Jaajaa and Saad Harriri. This leads to the following logic: No Space For the Comrades to be Active and Enhance Themselves.

Another problem we notice in the LCP and its antithesis DLM is the fact they sell out on their beliefs while gambling on such heroics, achievements, and myths. That is the problem, the LCP is almost regarded as an extension for Hezbollah, despite the fact Hezbollah disregards the LCP in elections. The LCP keeps promoting the resistance ideology and live on past glories, and that is the problem with the LCP. They do have nice programs for the reform of the public Lebanese University, but that is it. Their lack of ideology does not permit them to enhance their members’ capabilities, and worse, it destroys it. The same is true with the tiny miniature faction, the Democratic Left Movement. The DLM started as an alternative to all reactionary leftist movement that would create a space for the comrades and would accept any of the left-wing schools (Anarchists – Communists – Social Democrats – Green – Feminists – (strangely Stalinists) – Socialists – others. Elias Attallah and his rival, the opportunist Ziad Majed, took hegemony over the movement (which had 5000 registered members till it shrank down to 600), and promised their opposition, during the build-up, with juicy titles without the intention of doing any changes. After the assassination of Samir Qassir, their logic is: “The Only Way to be a Leftist is to Be 14th of March”, and the sad problem is they really self-glorify themselves in that perspective. In any case, the DLM will crumble down once the 14th of March triads (Jaajaa – Junblatt – Harriri) would toss Elias Attallah out of their candidates list to the Parliament.

End of Part I

Samir Qassir and 14th of March Concert

Now, 14th of March named a Square after the late Samir Qassir. Of all those who got assassinated, Samir Qassir probably was the strongest academically.

The Democratic Leftist Movement, of which Samir Qassir constructed, have went bankrupt. They are not leftists, and they will never be as long as they adopted the right-wing's line, and worse goals. Yet, they claim to be leftists. They are probably gambling in this sectarian line-up to recruit the seculars among the Sectarian parties which are gathered for 14th of March. I mean between the Marounstan preacher, called Jaajaa, or Sunni land, or Durzistan, they can pick up the scraps to their side to face Hezbollah Land or Psycho Aoun.

The Democratic Left remained shrinking in size, and will never be the same number as they started (supposed to be 5000, now barely 400 members). They rely on the muscles of their stronger allies while their members defend even as far as Bashir Gemayel, who George Hawwi wanted to assassinate during the Israeli invasion.

Every now and then they try to abuse the memory of Samir Qassir and try to recruit to their ranks and files. I have to mention that last year at a one point, all the members were executive committee, so ironically they needed to invent a central committee for the executive committee (go figure that out). Now, they got the perfect chance. With the opposition still going to strike, and none of the 14th of March are organizing an event, they are the only faction to do so, and are gambling a lot of attendence will take place. However, most of the left-wing will boycott the event as insultive to Samir Qassir and another promotional event to 14th of March rather Samir Qassir.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect, 14th of March. The day a lot of Lebanese hit the street in the quest of a better life, while the politicians hijacked the event to transform the Bristol Coalition towards 14th of March coalition (the Bristol Coalition was carved out by Samir Qassir). There will be a lot of attendence to celebrate 14th of March in the concert, and the DLM will try to recruit in the name of "defenders of Samir Qassir's ideas" will end up indirectly preaching Harriri's grand plan which is the Neo-Con doctrine, something Samir Qassir haven't wrote anything on. Since there are no 14th of March groups doing anything on that event except them, they will try to harvest it. They have been trying hard to counter the weight of the other reactionary stalinist party: the Lebanese Communist Party, specially for the past couple of years the Stalinists did a come back.

To be exact, the DLM are behaving like AMAL did when Moussa el Sadre disappeared. AMAL's recruitment boomed after el-Sadre disappeared while they promoted his ideas and themselves as its defenders. Bottom line, the DLM sank to the level of the Lebanese Forces, AMAL, and all the rest. Elias Attallah wanted his own LCP to rule and he got it. The first generation to join were supposed to have an independent Democratic Leftist Movement, but they ended up in a brainwashed LCP "a la 14th of March" style under the leadership of Elias Attallah. His opponent, according to my birds, told me that Elias Khoury stopped participating totally with the reactionaries. Those who dreamt of a free movement now are parrots to Elias Attallah. Attallah himself abuses his historic friendship with Qassir for his own purposes, and the majority follow.

They already got weaker factions inside the movement, but they too are reactionary while the progressive became political free lancers. The movement itself is destined towards destruction, and was supposed by now to have broken up into several pieces, but remained intact due to the Parliamentary chair, held by Elias Attallah, who got it by the muscles of Saad Harriri. Once they fail to attain the chair, the DLM, like all reactionary "left" wing will scatter to different trends.

Someone should remind them that this whole war is nothing but class struggle.