[Marxism] Hezbollah, union federation call simultaneous general strikes

[Andrew Pollack <acpollack2@xxxxxxxxx>]

This news is doubly significant. First, because of the parallel union
 federation strike against Siniora's neoliberal policies. Second,
 because the strike comes two days before the start of the Paris III
 "donors" conference, which is the banks' means of getting their hooks
 deeper into Lebanon's economy. This conference has been rightly opposed
 by the opposition because it will guarantee further indebtedness of the
 country. What's more it seeks to impose the typical conditions demanded
 of neocolonies, in this case the privatization of the electrical and
 telecommunications sectors -- the very sectors which Venezuela just
 announced it would renationalize. Different front, same struggle!
 Andy
 
 w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
 Last update - 17:25 20/01/2007
 Hezbollah-led opposition calls for anti-gov't strike in Lebanon
 By News Agencies
 H
 Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition called on Saturday for a general
 strike next week as part of efforts to step up its campaign against the
 pro-Western Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government.
 
 The group, led by the militant Shi'ite Hezbollah party, said the
 strike, which would start Tuesday, would be a response to Saniora's
 failure to meet the "legitimate and rightful demands of the people."
 
 "The opposition is resorting to its popular base as a means for
 escalating the peaceful and democratic protest, and calls on the
 Lebanese to freely express their national and political choice," said
 the group's statement, faxed to The Associated Press.
 
 It also said the government had "belittled and scoffed at the massive,
 democratic, well-mannered and civilized protests and sit-ins in
 downtown Beirut," launched Dec. 1.
 
 The opposition has staged the daily street protests and set up hundreds
 of tents outside the prime minister's office, paralyzing Beirut's city
 center to press for stronger political power, or to force Saniora to quit.
 
 Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah announced on Friday that the
 opposition would wage an "effective, important and very big action" to
 pressure Saniora to cede power.
 
 Separately, Lebanon's powerful labor union federation on Saturday
 called on its 350,000-strong rank and file to also go on strike
 Tuesday, to protest Saniora's planned tax hikes that are part of his
 economic reform program.
 
 "Let's make January 23 a day of showing popular willpower and a day of
 protest against injustice and oppression," said the union, which has
 supported the Hezbollah opposition.
 
 The Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its supporters, including
 the National Patriotic Movement led by Gen. Michel Aoun, a Maronite
 Christian, have staged massive protests and daily sit-ins in downtown
 Beirut, 100 meters from Saniora's office.
 
 The opposition wants a national unity government in which it would have
 veto power to block passage of bills by Saniora, such as one on setting
 up an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of
 former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, assassinated in a truck bomb
 explosion last February.
 
 Hezbollah opposes the tribunal, called on by a UN Security Council
 resolution. UN investigators have implicated Syrian intelligence
 officials in the attack, and four pro-Syrian Lebanese intelligence
 officers are under arrest in Lebanon in connection with it.
 
 The calls for a general strike came just days before a Jan. 25 Lebanon
 donors conference in Paris, designed to attract foreign financial
 assistance, badly needed after the summer Hezbollah-Israel war that
 severely hurt the Lebanese economy.
 
 The opposition has criticized the Paris conference, claiming the donor
 money and loans - which local analysts set around $5 billion - would
 only increase the national debt and further weaken the economy.
 

 
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