[tadamon-l] the McGill Daily: Montreal group builds bridges to Beirut in support of reform

[Tadamon!]

Montreal group builds bridges to Beirut in support of reform
by Martin Lukacs - the McGill Daily

http://mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=4708

With turmoil in Lebanon ongoing, a group of local activists have formed a 
solidarity movement in support of the struggle for social and economic 
justice in the country.

Tadamon (which means solidarity in Arabic) was launched on Sunday at Sala 
Rossa with a screening of Mai Masri's film War Generation and a slideshow 
presentation by independent journalist Stefan Christoff, who worked in 
Lebanon in the summer of 2005.

Lebanon has gone through dramatic political changes in the last year, 
beginning with the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 
February 2005.

Hariri's assassination, which many experts on the Middle East believe was 
orchestrated by the Syrian government, was followed by a spate of killings 
of journalists and politicians across the political spectrum, re-opening 
the rifts of the Lebanese civil war, which took place between 1975 and 
1990.

'War is on people's minds. There is fear that another civil war will 
erupt,' said Dina Ayoub, one of Tadamon's members.

In the wake of these events, the group wants to educate the public by 
combating what they see as the mainstream media's distortion of the 
political situation.

After Hariri's assassination, massive protests broke out in what was 
dubbed by the media as the 'Cedar Revolution'.

But Tadamon believes the media.s characterization of the protests as 
either pro-Syrian or anti-Syrian was oversimplified.

'This was an exclusive categorization of the Lebanese people,' said Sawsan 
Kalache, a Tadamon member. 'It did not take into account the complexity of 
the situation on the ground'.

Tadamon stresses its opposition to foreign intervention.

'The presence of the Syrian armed troops didn't attract the attention of 
international media until it was made an issue for American foreign 
policy,' Christoff said. America has tolerated Syrian presence in Lebanon 
since 1976, but the U.S. has recently accused Syria of supporting the 
Iraqi insurgency.

All the political parties currently jockeying for power in Lebanon are 
known to have been involved in the Civil War, according to Tadamon.

'They all have blood on their hands,' said Kalache.

Unlike these groups, Tadamon is explicitly non-sectarian.

'We are committed to justice for all people living in Lebanon, regardless 
of religion and citizenship,' said Kalache.

Tadamon wants to shift attention to highlight the problems confronted by 
Lebanese immigrants, foreign workers, refugees, and the millions of people 
living in poverty in Lebanon.

Christoff's slideshow revealed the stark disparities that have emerged 
during the post-Civil War reconstruction of Lebanon. While the elite live 
in air-conditioned towers in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, millions of 
people reside in undeveloped areas, some in corrugated iron shelters in 
refugee camps or shacks in the countryside.

The plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is one of the many concerns 
of Tadamon.

'In order to remedy the political structure in Lebanon, the Palestinian 
refugee problem has to be solved,' said Ayoub.

Currently, 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in appalling conditions in 
refugee camps are denied citizenship, social security, and access to most 
jobs.

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