Lebanon eyewitnesses tour West Coast

WW photo: Judy Greenspan

Two women activists recently returned from Lebanon brought a strong message of optimism to meetings in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

The “Eyewitness Lebanon” program in San Francisco on Oct. 15 featured LeiLani Dowell of Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST) and Samia Halaby of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition-New York. This was the final stop on their West Coast tour. Both had gathered evidence to present to the Campaign for Accountability for U.S./Israeli War Crimes in Lebanon. Dowell and Halaby documented the massive rebuilding effort undertaken by the Lebanese people since the withdrawal of Israeli troops, thanks to the support and leadership of Hezbollah.

Earlier that week, in Los Angeles, the International Action Center hall was filled with people eager to hear about the experiences of the two. Their rare reports, both inspiring and enraging, used photos and video to create an exciting presentation followed by questions and comments. In addition, Larry Hales gave a powerful presentation about the police brutality struggle in Denver that was very well received by the multinational audience, a quarter of whom were Black women. San Diego activists also met to hear these reporters.