March 13, 2005

Tale of two demos

I know a lot of people have posted about this already but I have just seen this on the excellent Peace Palestine blog. It's a Ha'aretz article by recovering Zionist, Meron Benvenisti, about the ludicrous claims being made by the war party about George Bush's "crusade for liberty and democracy." Benvenisti looks at the changes in the Middle East via the recent demonstrations in Lebanon:
What symbolizes the "spirit of democracy" that is blowing strongly all over the Middle East? Is it the demonstration by the opposition, which led to the downfall of the Lebanese government, or is it rather the "demonstration ofthe million" two days ago, which demanded the continuation of the Syrian presence in Lebanon? Judging by the attitude toward it, the first demonstration - which has been called the "Cedar Revolution" - is seen as an event that compares to the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine and the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia, and as proof of the victory of the doctrine of democratization of U.S. President George W. Bush and his spiritual mentor, MK Natan Sharansky.

On the other hand, the second demonstration is described as a forced call-up that was organized by the Hezbollah terror organization and members of Syrian intelligence. And some also see the demonstration supporting Syrian subjugation as proof of democracy.....

But the great crusade to impose liberty is being conducted cautiously, and in a hope that it won't be taken too seriously; it's only good as a slogan. After all, the political allies of the United States happen to be tyrants who have no intention of giving up their power, and the countries that have established any sort of democratic institutions, and in which a civil society is developing, are not necessarily the chief supporters of the United States.

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