Liberty's Light is Burning in Lebanon

Fire of Liberty


It seems the opposition movement in Lebanon is growing. Much like the people in Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War, the Citizens of Serbia, and the democrats of Ukraine who cast aside their "old masters", the people of Lebanon have had enough and are ready to remove the heavy hand of Syria from their throats. For the first time in quite a long time, the Maronite Christians under Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has merged with a Druze Muslim Walid Jumblat in calling for Syria's complete and unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon. Such a call for Syria getting out of Lebanon seems to be gaining some steam in the streets of Beirut, where thousands of people have launched a protest campaign against the government and its master Syria. Throughout these streets, tens of thousands ,drabbed in red and white, marched carrying posters honoring the late PM Hariri as well as signs and banners calling for "Independence" and "Syria Out." This display of bright colors is reminiscent of the "Rose Revolution" of Georgia or the more recent "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine.


One can truly understand the desire for Liberty & Freedom in the hearts of the demonstrators in the streets. Take Youssef Mukhtar for instance, this 47 year old engineer put it best when he stated:

"Enough bloodshed and disasters. It is the 21st century, and people should be able to govern themselves. The situation has become unbearable and we have to regain our country."

Such actions seem to have gotten the attention of Junior Assad in Syria. According to the Amr Mussa, head of the Arab League, Assad promised to implement the Taef accord and begin a withdrawal from Lebanon. Unfortunately, Assad's words are mere tokens because they only want to remove the heat from their feet. Of all people, the Lebanese are well aware of Syria's false promises. With the signing of the Taeb accord in 1990, the Syrian government promised to withdrawal all of its troops by 1992 but still remain in Lebanon some 13 years later. The best bet is for the people of Lebanon to stand up against the Syrians and continue their protest. The World has their eye on Lebanon and we are behind your movement 100%. It's time to bring Lebanon in from the cold and restore it to its grandeur that Fouad Ajami noted in a February 17, 2005 Op/Ed in The Wall Street Journal:

Lebanon (my birthplace, I should add) may never have been as pretty as its tales. It may never have been the "Paris of the Mediterranean," and its modernism may have been skin-deep at times. But it was and remains a vibrant Arab country of open ways, a place for refugees and dissidents, a country where Arab modernity made a stand, and where Christians and Muslims built a culture of relative compromise.

Keep up the good fight, the Fire of Liberty is shining its light on you. To learn more on the happenings in Lebanon, check here, here, .