Re: replying to Sevag

["sevag " <sev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Gary:
        Please allow me to salute all the comrades on the list. I never knew 
that
opening the subject on the middle east and Zionism will cause such a wave
of hatred in between comrades. Please stop it. It is not the
characteristics of our generation to call each others such things. We
watched our ancestors and the ignorance, lets us learn from their mistakes.
        Yes Gary, you are right.
        I was trying to hint at many things in my few and uncomprehensive mails.
Some ppl wondered why the Arab comrades were so silent.Let's start with
that. Ofcourse you all know the tough civil war in Lebanon which lasted 15
years ending in 1990-1991. from 91 onwards things were pretty much the
extension or the reflection of the war. Aleination, intellectual
retardation, fear, hatred....you name it. Lebanon has faced human
development problems. The youth, all those revolutionaries, all the left
has been in a paralyzed situation. 10 years have passed, things are better
now. 3 years ago new leftist groups emerged, one which i am proudly part of
is called NO FRONTIERS, its a small university group, ther are many other
univsity groups in different campuses. The communist party is still there,
the Maoist party exists and is a hard working party, the trostkiyists are
fading away, but yet the left exists.
        Last summer the Communist Party of Lebanon, was celebrating in the 
north,
the celebrations ended in the hospitalization of mnay comrades. the reason
was the muslim groups have attacked them, what did the government do?
nothing....Not to go on with the many examples, i want to conclude on this
part by saying that here in Lebanon, the left is still undesired. The
conservative units in the society have the saying in everything. the
parliament members are elected on the basis of their sect, and the
government institutions are based on secterian divisions and nepotism. Most
channels of political participation, socialization, interest aggregation
and definitely interest articualtion are secterian. Everybody has a share
and does not want to let it go. This means everybody is to an extent happy
with the situation. the evrybody i am pointing at is the bourgiosie, the
leaders (al-zua'ama), the landowners...the worker does not trust a leftist,
he prefers to go to the seikh or the preacher for his demands, which most
of the times he does not get, but still goes there.
        Facing such a situation, the left is looked at to be the atheist, the
hater of god, and in one word, the person who is coming to take our land or
manufactury away from us. Ignorance prevails.
        The left is not in a very good status in Lebanon.
        Someday it will?
        That someday it will rise is not so clear. The instituions are based on
secterianism, the society is a conservative and absolutely refusing any
change. It will take a 100 years if not more, for things to change.The
power of the religious figures is getting bigger and more legitimate, and
the worker thinks that it is not right to claim for things which we as
leftists consider his basic rights.
        Some ppl would say that a revolution is needed. Under such 
circumstances a
revolution will only lead to more chaos. the situation in Lebanon is
getting worse, the solution is problem that the leftists are trying to
figure out.
        Not to forget that the regional condition does not permit a radical
change. The Zionist, not the Jew, is the enemy. The Jews and the Arabs
lived prosperously for so many years. Nobody is anti-sematic. But we are
anti what is happening here, and we see in the heart of the problem Zionsim
as the cause of this catastrophe. We are enemies of Zionism. I cannot
explain more clearly. Nobody has anything against the Jews and today most
of the ppl are calling for Israel and Palestine to coexist (well except
some extreme fundemantlists). But, the problem is not the Arabs, the
problem is the Zionist movement. Hats up to all those Jews and everybody
who are anti-Zionists. Who knows, maybe someday a miracle may happen and
the world order then changes.
        Till then, thanks for reading this, and please enough aggressivenes on 
the
list.

----------
> From: Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: replying to Sevag
> Date: Sunday, February 13, 2000 3:36 AM
>
> Dear Sevag,
>
> Greetings to yourself.  You are 21 then and live in Lebanon.  Live long
and
> prosper! I do hope the Ams44ams affair will not put you or any Arab
comrade
> off from the rational discussion of Middle East affairs. I think it is
most
> important that we try to maintain contact and that we act with as much
> respect and sympathy for each other as is possible.  I posted on
Ams44ams'
> post but by the time I have sent it off events had moved beyond me.
>
> Now for you it is raining non-stop and the sun will never rise.  However
> think of this. In 1933 Hitler became the most powerful man in Germany.
He
> marched to victory over the necks of the working class.  He destroyed
their
> parties and their unions, and all their organisations. Yet in a mere 12
> years his petrol soaked corpse was being consumed by the flames. His
empire
> lay in ruins. It will be just so with the Israelis and their American
masters.
>
>
> Your point about the role of Islam is well taken.  But never forget it is

> modernity that destroys religion.  I grew up an Irish Catholic.  The
power
> of the priests, the nuns and the Christian Brothers was absolute. They
were
> like gods in our town and indeed throughout the country.
>
> At home in Ireland at Xmas I watched a video of the hundred year
> celebration of the local Catholic Church.  It is an enormous edifice
built
> by money extracted ruthlessly from a very poor people.  On the video
there
> was a recording of the visit of the Bishop in the 50s.  He led a
procession
> of priests, brothers and nuns. All the enemy.
>
> Along his route was an 'honour guard' of lay men.  They stood there
> abjectly, craven in their best suits, head bowed as the bishop passed.  I

> recall being present as a boy among the crowd that day.  I also remember
> feeling angry at the way the men looked so down trodden and fearful and
the
> way in which the women clapped so enthusiastically as the bishop passed.
>
> But all has changed. Modernity has at last come to Ireland. Nowadays the
> local clergy slink about the town and are fearful of being thought to be
> child molestors.  It is now a great disgrace in a family if a child says
he
> wants to be a Christian Brother.  The school they ran and where I and my
> fellow students were brutalised is today run by lay men and women. The
> remorseless dialectic has gathered them up in their arrogance and power
and
> has cast them down. The same fate will befall the fundamentalist
dictators
> of the Taliban and the Hejbollah.
>
>
> regards
>
> Gary
> >