Musings on yesterday's elections in Lebanon in France

It sure looks like yesterday was a good day for the USraelian empire as some of its most obsequious stooges won the elections they were participating in: Sarkozy, Cohen-Bendit, Hariri, Siniora and Jumblatt all did unexpectedly well. Not only that, but the Far Right also did rather well in the EU elections - always a good thing for Washington.

In France, the Anti-Zionist Party's list lead by Dieudonne only got 1,3% of the vote in the regions were it was running and the main Jewish organization in France, the CRIF, has already expressed its delight with this result.

Disappointing as it may be, that result must be seen in the following context:

a) The media blackout about the Anti-Zionist Party (PAS) was total. Even the (previously ostracized) National Front was given more time on the air. The PAS got literally nothing. Zilch.

b) The PAS had about one month to organize and to print only a few posters. All the other parties had years to prepare.

c) It is likely that there is a large proportion of PAS supporters among those who did not vote this Sunday and since the French law makes the voter registration process a slow process (with lists made up in March of each year only) it is a safe bet to assume that a lot of PAS supporters did not get to vote this time around.

d) The PAS undeniably lacks a competent campaign organization. Not only did they not succeed in systematically organize themselves, but they even committed rather stupid blunder like having Ilich Ramírez Sánchez aka "Carlos" call in on a press conference by Dieudonne and his supporters from the jail he is sitting in to express support for the list.

The reality is that the Anti-Sionist Party is not a real "party" at all, at least not yet. It is rather something of a club created by a group of outraged friends of Dieudonne who were joined by various anti-Zionists elements who might have been full of enthusiasm, but would could not compete against the Tsunami of pro-Zionist propaganda of the French state and corporate media, or even break against the wall of silence placed around the PAS by the French Ziomob.

I spent a couple of hours with some PAS supporters on a website hastily turned into a discussion group, and while nobody was too happy about the results, most were also quite confident that for a first try with a month old "party" and without any money this was not too bad either.

The key issue now is whether Dieudo and his friends will have the staying power to turn this one-time event into a real grassroots movement. Resistance to the USraelian Empire has always only been successful when it was based on a grassroots base of support. That is what made the difference in Iran, Venezuela, Lebanon, Bolivia and many other countries and that is the only way the iron grip of the Zionists on France can be slowly weakened. This is a long-term process which will take many many years, and only time will show if the PAS of Dieudo will have the ability to plan its future for the long term.

The situation in Lebanon is quite different. Several well-informed observers have noted that Hezbollah had little to gain and much to loose by unseating the Three Stooges from power in Lebanon. Proponents of this theory make a good case and this kind of "deliberate election loosing" is something which has been done in the past (I have always suspected that Putin and his supporters waited as long as was needed for Eltsin to become really universally hated before making their move). Still, it is hard for me to believe that Hezbollah could in any way let such obnoxious agents of Israel as the Three Stooges say in power one minute longer than was needed.

I also note that Hezbollah did not loose anything. It was Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement which lost votes, not Hezbollah. So did Hezbollah really want its allies Amal and the FPM to loose or, at least, "not win" these elections? I don't know, of course, but I am dubious.

Moreover, it is well known that thousands of Lebanese were flown in from abroad and that the CIA and Israel supported Three Stooges were given lavish support by their masters to make sure that the elections went the "right" way.

My guess is that yesterday's defeat has less to do with sly Hezbollah tactics as it does with bad old Lebanese corruption politics. That, and the sad fact that a substantial segment of the Lebanese population is willing to vote for those who are obsequious allies of the country which left Lebanon in ruins in 2006 and many times before. Call them corrupt, immoral or plain stupid, but the sad reality of Lebanon is that Hezbollah's worst enemy is neither in Israel nor in the USA, but in the back offices of Lebanese banks and business centers.

I am in no way a Marxist, but Lebanon seems to be a good illustration of the fact that class consciousness is a powerful factor in politics. How sad, really.

One thing is certain - both the French and the Lebanese will pay dearly for their vote. In France Sarkozy has been given free reign to engage in even more pro-American and pro-Israeli antics, and in Lebanon the tensions between the various groups will only get worse. In fact, the Israeli bosses of the Three Stooges have not waited even 24 hours before demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah. While the Three Stooges are unlikely to try that again - last time was humiliating enough - we can expect a covert operations galore by the Empire to further destabilize Lebanon.

For those who, like myself, love the French and the Lebanese yesterday was a sad day. Let us all hope that at least through the (now inevitable) pain to come will at least serve to unmask the empty promises of the Imperial proxies in power.