Interview with Raed Rafei, a Lebanese reporter working with the Los Angeles Times.

On Wednesday, May 14th, Lebanon’s government moved to reverse key decisions taken last week aimed at Hezbollah, including a decision to dismantle Hezbollah’s independent telephone communications system and a controversial move to replace a head security personal at Beirut’s international airport with sympathies towards the Lebanese opposition. Today’s government decision to reverse these decisions was announced minutes prior to this interview, creating a backdrop soundtrack of celebratory gunfire from opposition supporters in Beirut.

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

Conflict in Lebanon has spread this past week beyond Beirut, to mountain areas above the capital city, to Tripoli in Northern Lebanon. Throughout Lebanon a tense political stand-off remains between the U.S.-backed government lead-by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and a political opposition fronted by the armed Lebanese political party Hezbollah.

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Hezbollah and its allies may have achieved a swift military victory in Beirut and the Druze mountains, but the political battle for Lebanon will be tougher and the consequences long-term, say analysts.

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Lebanon is currently facing a major political crisis, as armed battles have erupted in multiple districts in Beirut, battles between pro-government forces and the political opposition backed by the Lebanese movement Hezbollah. Currently the Lebanese capital is divided, as opposition forces maintain a hold in West Beirut, having handed control in certain districts to the Lebanese Army, while the western-backed Lebanese government remains in lock down within government buildings.

Today Lebanon’s government has maintained a contested hold on official state power in Lebanon without representation from Hezbollah or other opposition parties for over one year. This week the government announced that Hezbollah’s independent communications network or telephone system operating in Lebanon as illegal, sparking the current crisis. Hezbollah’s independent telephone or communications system is considered to be a critical element to the success of the Lebanese resistance to Israel in successfully halting Israel’s 2006 attack on Lebanon.

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May Actions Against Israeli Apartheid in Montreal.

Join in Actions & Events taking place in Montreal throughout the month of
May 2008, which marks sixty years of struggle against Israeli apartheid.

April 2008.

April 2008: We the undersigned organizations congratulate the Canadian Union of Postal workers (CUPW) for joining the international boycott of Israeli apartheid. We call on workers and labour unions worldwide to join CUPW in creating a strong and effective labour movement in solidarity with struggles against Israeli apartheid and violence.

At the national convention of CUPW, representing over fifty thousand workers across Canada, a strong majority of delegates voted for a resolution in support of the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid.

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Saturday, May 10th, 1pm
Dorchester Square
(Peel & René-Lévesque)
Montreal, Quebec

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We write to urge you not to cancel a joint conference by Comité d’action pour la lutte étudiante boulonnaise (CALEB) and Tadamon! April 21 on Israel and Palestine. Behind this censorship attempt appears to be a false belief that critics of Israel are anti-Semitic, or anti-Jewish to be precise. The Jewish people in Quebec and Canada are divided on the issues of Israel and Palestine. There are many Jewish people like us who support open discussion and activities for Palestinian human rights, and oppose the Israeli occupation and suppression of the Palestinian people.

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ASSÉ, CALEB and Tadamon! denounce the decision of a Montreal college to cancel a presentation critical of Canadian support for Israel. The workshop, scheduled to have taken place today, was canceled after the administration of Collège Bois-de-Boulogne came under pressure from supporters of Israel. This attack on basic freedom of expression is all the more disturbing because it occurs on a campus.

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BEIRUT: In the wake of the summer 2006 war, Beirutis were witness to a curious contest. All over town red-and-white billboards, in Arabic, French or English announced “I Love Life.”

Appearing early in the political wrangle that has riven Lebanon’s citizens into two camps, the ad campaign seemed apolitical. Yet, as it implied the Other are more interested in killing and martyrdom than enjoying life, the ad was explicitly partisan.

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