March 14 leaders finally got the green line to unleash their angry masses.
Coming soon…
The Facebook event has been around for a while. Thousands of Lebanese grass root activists had committed themselves to taking down the streets to commemorate the third anniversary of February 14, the day when Prime Minister Hariri was assassinated. But something important was missing.
March 14 leaders where holding back from an all-out public call to mobilization, which everyone knows is the real crowd turner in Lebanon. Mr. Hariri, Mr. Geagea, Mr. Jumblat and Mr. Jemayyel were apparently giving talks a chance. If an agreement was reached, then perhaps February 14 could have passed as a low key event with mellow crowds (which would be large nonetheless)
But something happened that let March 14 abruptly re-think their plans. Sources close to the Future Movement told me that worldwide February 14 commemorations were expecting March 14 Mps to attend, but they cancelled at the last minute because Mr. Hariri asked them to stay in Lebanon to maximize turnout. The call for mobilization by March 14 honchos was strong and portrayed high stakes.
Apparently, there’s now a big diplomatic “push”, lead by the Saudis against Syria, that was designed to “Stir things up” against Syrian blockage. According to today’s pan-Arab Alhayat:
????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? «????? ?????» ?? ???? ??????? ???????? ????? ??????? ?? ????????? ?????? ??? «????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ?? ????????? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ????????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ????????». ????? ??????? ?? ????????? ?? ??????? «?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ????????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ?????? ???????».
Click here to read an automatic translation of the article to English.
In short, this is all about a renewed Arab-French effort to send Syria the message that they’ve had it with all its stalling. The idea is to make a big push for Lebanon by a combination of March 14 street action and Arab threats to boycott the Damascus Arab summit. Still the question remains: will it work?
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I've been blogging about Lebanese society, business and politics since February 2005.
..will it work?
No.
Wrong action, wrong time and street protests should be shelved for now.
Another catastrophe waiting to happen.
“My crowd is bigger than your crowd, and we color-match better with the Lebanese flag.”
This is another opportunity for the M14 leaders to lay blame on the other side and stall for time while decisions for the country are being made in foreign capitals whose interests could care a hoot for the well-being of this nation.
There is no hope. Even when the time comes that some sort of resolution happens it will have been made for us while we act as the unwitting executioners of someone else’s decision.
So stop posting nonsense and naïve political commentary masquerading as serious analysis that make it seem as if we are in control of our destiny. This event, like the previous ones before it will come to pass and the best that will come out of it will be more pics of young Lebanese women, desperate for a party, whose biggest challenge will be new sexy places on their bodies to tattoo the worn-out Lebanese flag to show how much more cool than their M8 counterparts they are. And lest I forget, Jumblat will thrill us more with more new ways to liken Bashar to more ferocious or disgusting animals.
Another pointless charade.
Nothing will change. However, they have to do it for local consumption. March 14 has been accused of giving in too much recently…Here’s another chance to fool their sheeple!!!
Strong comments from Saad Jr. today: “We’re ready for confortation” from Naharnet’s brief of his press interview! As for change, we have beat this horse dead too long. Nothing changes unless they have a plan to move into electing a prez the same day!!!
I don’t understand the rational behind this move. What are they trying to proof, that they still represent the majority? That the free Lebanese are fed up with the status quo and want to move forward? That we want to send a stronger message to Syria and its lackeys? It’s pointless and I am afraid this time the turnout won’t be as strong for the people feel let down by M14 leaders.
My suggestion to M14 rather than mobilize the masses in the streets exercise the damn fricking right given to you by the people. You are the majority so start acting like one, confront the opposition by using the 50+1 vote and stop wasting time.
Lame. Too late for street protests. The ball is in the court of parliament and the legitimate government. If these bozos had gotten off their asses and voted for a president, like they were supposed to…we wouldn’t be here today.
If anything, the masses taking to the streets should be demanding that every imbecile MP from both sides be stripped of their post and pistol whipped for deriliction of duty.
Jay says: My suggestion to M14 rather than mobilize the masses in the streets exercise the damn fricking right given to you by the people. You are the majority so start acting like one, confront the opposition by using the 50+1 vote and stop wasting time.
WE HAVE BINGO! Ladies and gentlemen!
The people already spoke. Rather than taking to the street and disrupting commerce and livelihood, they VOTED for you fucks to go to parliament and do your job. We shouldn’t have to take to the streets again. We’re not the ones holding up the election.
No 50+1 vote, no Michel Suleiman, nothing will change; at least not before 2009.
One thing that worries me is the risk of trouble during the demo, spirits are still very high after 27th of Jan. I do not think calling the people to take to the streets was a clever idea.
No 50+1 vote, no Michel Suleiman, nothing will change; at least not before 2009.
One thing that worries me is the risk of trouble during the demo, spirits are still very high after 27th of Jan. I do not think calling the people to take to the streets was a clever idea.
Marillionlb
Since mobilizing your crowd for a street demo is obviously an important factor in Lebanese politics, I hope all you political wannabes out there who want to create a fresh leadership take notes on how it is done, so you can duplicate this for yourselves.
I don’t know if it will work.
But it is quite needed, in my opinion, to calm down the Nasrallah/Aoun rhetoric. They claim to be more than 50%. This will give an idea of who is more than 50%.
Remember that March 14 2005 worked!
So nothing is impossible.
But at the time the Aounists were in the same current. Now they are against it. The question is how many Aounists desisted?
Note: it’s funny that the Aounists laugh at Joumblatt because he changes course too often. Yeah……