Broadcasts from Beirut VII: Rami Zurayk professor, activist in Beirut: Land and People.

A Tadamon! interview project aiming to highlight progressive voices from the ground in Lebanon on the ongoing conflict, voices independent from major political parties…

May 2008 saw political turmoil in Lebanon reach its most violent peak since the end of the official end to the Lebanese civil-war in 1990. A negotiated political treaty has brought temporary peace however fails to address the poverty at the core of this tension.

This interview with professor Rami Zurayk in Beirut presents a critique of the recent Doha agreement. Critics argue that the Doha agreement is a testament to how mainstream Lebanese political leaders continue to neglect the ongoing economic crisis, compounded by Israel’s military attack in 2006. Lebanon’s agricultural areas in the south were particularly devastated, leading to major internal displacement following Israel’s attack, as farm lands remain strewn by thousands of cluster bombs dropped by the Israeli military.

(more…)

Call to support the first major student union in Quebec or Canada to back
the international campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel…

Montreal May 2008: Across the world grassroots movements struggling in opposition to Israeli apartheid are marking the 60th year of the Palestinian Nakba (”catastrophe”) – 60 years of dispossession, ethnic cleansing and exile for Palestinians resulting from the creation of the state of Israel.

A grassroots response in opposition to Israeli apartheid is growing throughout the world sparked by an appeal launched by Palestinian civil-society organizations in 2005 for an international campaign directed at the government in Israel, a campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions. This critical campaign is modeled on a successful international campaign similar in nature that played a critical role in bringing an end to the apartheid regime in South Africa.

(more…)

Photo essay from Carole Kerbage.

Beirut May 10th 2008: Barbour district Beirut witnessed harsh armed battles.

As Lebanon’s political crisis moves to a temporary negotiated solution, tensions remain high after intense street level clashes in recent weeks between pro-government forces and the Hezbollah-backed opposition. Street barricades struck across Lebanon’s capital city have now been removed, as Lebanese political leaders return to Beirut after arriving at an agreement in Doha, Qatar.

This photo essay documents recent events in Beirut’s, featuring images captured at street level within recent weeks. Lebanon’s current political struggle extends back to an intense national political history, in a nation still recovering from a 2006 Israeli bombardment that left over 1000 Lebanese civilians dead and major elements to the countries national infrastructure destroyed. Lebanese photographer Carole Kerbage has documented Beirut’s streets in the past week and now features photographs from Beirut on Tadamon!

(more…)

Graffiti for Future Movement, founded by the assassinated Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In May 2008 the streets in Beirut and throughout Lebanon witnessed military clashes between armed forces backing the Lebanese opposition lead by Hezbollah and the former Lebanese government supported by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. In May the walls on the streets of Beirut expressed the level of political split of Lebanon.

Street level graffiti is now common throughout Lebanon’s capital as rival political forces take their political struggle to the city walls in Beirut. This photo essay from Farah Kobaissy documents the writing on Beirut’s walls, featuring images captured at street level within recent weeks.

(more…)

Photo: Beirut from above.

A Tadamon! interview project aiming to highlight progressive voices from the ground in Lebanon on the ongoing conflict, voices independent from major political parties…

An interview with Nada Bakri, correspondent for the New York Times in Lebanon, who comments on the recent political deal reached in Doha, Qatar resulting in an official end to the recent political crisis in Lebanon. As Lebanese leaders have agreed on a power sharing agreement, people on the streets in Beirut remain skeptical that the recent agreement will result in long term stability as it reinforces the sectarian nature of Lebanese politics.

(more…)

A Tadamon! interview project aiming to highlight progressive voices from the ground in Lebanon on the ongoing conflict, voices independent from major political parties…

An interview with Lebanese political commentator and professor Karim Makdisi offering a critique on the recently signed political agreement on Lebanon’s future signed in Doha, Qatar as without long term substance. As media outlets across the world followed closely the most recent political conflict in Lebanon, seldom was the countries major economic crisis mentioned, with a national debt at around $45 billion, Lebanon maintains one of the highest per capita national debts in the world.

Neo-liberal economic policies adopted by successive movements after Lebanon’s 15 year civil-war have left the country in economic ruins. As the western-backed government and the Hezbollah-lead opposition battled for political power in Lebanon throughout recent months, both mainstream political movements seldom placed the growing poverty rates, crumbling economy and staggering emigration rates front and center.

(more…)

Photo: Lebanese woman admits Israeli military destruction in south Lebanon 2006.

A cluster bomb dropped on Centre Block on Parliament Hill could also reach in its spread the East Block, Senate, Supreme Court, Sparks Street pedestrian mall, Ottawa Visitors Center, and parts of the Wellington and Metcalfe thoroughfares. Such is the range, and randomness, of the weapon.

Made up of hundreds of “bomblets” that scatter when a bomb is dropped, cluster bombs not only kill and injure civilians during attacks, but “continue to take life, limb and land from them long after the conflict has ended,” according to the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), a network of over 250 non-government organizations in 70 countries, including Canada, that is calling for a complete end to the use of these weapons.

Such is the case in south Lebanon since the summer war of 2006. The UN estimated that of around four million cluster bomblets dropped by Israel during its war with Hezbollah, up to one million remained unexploded, “contaminating fields, schools, rivers and homes.” These have led to the death or maiming of nearly 200 civilians since the conclusion of the conflict.

(more…)

A Tadamon! interview project aiming to highlight progressive voices from the ground in Lebanon on the ongoing conflict, voices independent from major political parties…

As negotiations in Doha, Qatar continue between national political leaders in an effort to reach a settlement to the contemporary internal conflict in Lebanon, Tadamon!’s Ola Hajar spoke with veteran journalist Anthony Shadid. This interview focuses on the impacts of U.S.-driven policies in the Middle East within the context of the ‘war on terror’ and their specific impacts on Lebanon, also this interview focuses the U.S. position towards Hezbollah’s role in Lebanese politics.

(more…)

BEIRUT: Palestinian refugees across Lebanon staged rallies on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the conflict at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp during which they stressed the need to reconstruct the camp and realize their right to return to their homeland.

(more…)

Photo Christian Minelli: Palestinian youth flash victory sign in southern Lebanon.

Marwahin: Hundreds of Palestinian refugees headed to Lebanon’s southern border with Israel on Wednesday marking 60 years since the creation of the Jewish state and exile from what was once Palestine. “We want to return to our country. We desperately miss our country’s soil,” said Mahmud Mahmoud, aged in his 70s, who was wearing a traditional Palestinian headdress.

(more…)