Forum discusses Lebanon upheaval

Joyce Chediac, a Lebanese-American journalist and activist, spoke to a diverse audience at an International Action Center forum in Los Angeles April 22 on “Upheaval in Lebanon—what U.S. progressives need to know.”

Joyce Chediac

Chediac characterized the “democratic opposition” in Lebanon as bourgeois. The so-called grass-roots protests that the U.S. government and media exalts were fomented and organized by wealthy capitalist forces. Chediac told of an instance of a Lebanese woman coaching her Sri Lankan maid to chant in Arabic at the protests. The example helped illustrate the class character of the protests.

The largest demonstrations in Lebanon, not covered with the same enthusiasm by the U.S. media, have been against U.S. and Israeli intervention and have shown appreciation for Syria’s role there.

The group Hizbollah—who it is, who it represents and what are its contributions— was a major part of the discussion. Chediac described how this “Party of God” is a broad-based mass movement and is carrying out a progressive program for the poor and disenfranchised of Lebanon. This explains why it is a target of the U.S. and its corporate media.

The U.S. war in Iraq, the potential for unity against U.S. imperialism among the Arab countries, particularly between Syria and Lebanon, was a focus of discussion after Chediac’s presentation. Audience members from Congo, Korea, Iran and Brazil enriched the discussion, comparing the role of U.S. imperialism in their countries with the role of the U.S. in Lebanon and the Middle East.