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March 11, 2005
The death of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister and symbol of Lebanon's post-civil war regeneration, has sparked a democratic political movement in Lebanon:
Stavros
The political desire for national liberation by the Hariri demonstrators is clearly expressed. Robert Fisk's commentary describes this desire:
'Never has a Lebanese government been so shunned by its people. Never have the Syrians faced such united opposition from the people they claim to "protect" with their 15,000 troops and their intelligence services. Rafik Hariri's family angrily turned down the offer of a state funeral from their pro-Syrian Lebanese President. Instead, the funeral of the murdered former prime minister yesterday turned into an independent march in which hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians who were fighting to the death in the civil war walked together in shared mourning and friendship.
There was not a gun in sight. Not a shot was heard. Down to the Martyr's Square---the old front line which divided this country for 15 years of war---they walked, shouting: "Syria Out, Out, Out."'
The Hariri political movement was countered by the Hizbollah-organised pro-Syrian demonstration last Tuesday, which drew half a million people. Did this massive demonstration assert the legitimacy of Syrian as an occupier of Syria by the Lebanese street? Or are the Lebanese Shia political demands more complex? Do they interpret "the right of the Lebanese people to determine their future free from domination of a foreign power to mean freedom from the domination of the United States and Israel and not Syria? Or all three?
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