All 2 entries tagged Lebanon

Why the far left are idiots

I love lefties – they're so quaint. A few months ago, as I was passing Grey's Monument in Newcastle, I stopped at a stall to sign a petition calling for better treatment of asylum seekers in Britain. The stall was being run by a group calling themselves Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (That sentence has finished, by the way; the second exclamation mark is part of the name, so don't think I'm excited by it. Can an exclamation mark which is part of a proper noun legitimately be used to end a sentence?) I thought, "how nice: it's not every day you find a progressive organisation campaigning on the street and not spouting discredited Marxist dogma".

A few days later an email arrives from these fine, if bearded, do–gooders, thanking me for signing their petition. I almost bashed out a reply straight away to the effect: "Why, you're quite welcome, my friends. Godspeed your message of peace and understanding. One day our politicians will realise what an asset these brave, hard–working refugees are to this country. These people who dared to speak up about the wonders of liberal democracy in their dictator–led countries and were forced to flee when faced with brutal persecution…" before I read on:

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! is the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Group and supporters of the paper are involved in various campaigns.

Go figure. As far as I know, Communism still has something of a bad rep, so I thought that if one were to set up a pressure group with an anti–racism, anti–imperialism platform – a platform with very broad appeal in this country, surely – one would drop any association with Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot that might have a negative effect on public support for one's cause. Anyway, should they somehow gain sufficient support to topple the capitalists and establish socialism, the RCG would run into an ideological paradox when the inevitable purges cause Britons to seek asylum elsewhere.

So I didn't send my planned reply (because I only thought of it for the purposes of this blog); nor, however, did I bother unsubscribing (because I was too lazy; the same reason I'm still getting Razorlight emails). Which means (fast–forwarding to now) I've been getting emails about this Lebanon thing. The RCG/FRFI people have been badgering me to attend the picketing of the Israel–supporting Marks & Spencer. I was going to email them back suggesting that, as the current conflict is equally Hezbollah's fault, to conduct a survey of Lebanese takeaway owners in the area and boycott those who have sympathy for the Shi'ite militia. However, I read on and noticed that the demostrations had been called by a group calling themselves Victory to the Intifada! (The exclamation mark is not part of the name this time, by the way.)

Now, supporting the oppressed Palestinians and the creation of their own state is laudable. However, the only way this will be achieved without resorting to completely destroying Israel is by peaceful means. That means an end – not victory – to the Intifada. The Intifada involves the suicide bombing of Israeli civilians. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the deliberate slaughter of innocent people of a certain nationality/ethnicity a bit racist? If it is, then what is an anti–racist organisation doing consorting with a group that supports such activities?

There you go: a Communist anti–racist organisation supports victims of dictatorship and promotes racist tactics. The far left are idiots.

For a sense of balance, I also think Israel are bang out of order in Gaza and Lebanon – while they have a right to defend their country, a >100:1 civilian:militant collateral damage ratio is shocking.

Daniel Wilson Craw : 29 Jul 2006 17:47 |  Tags: Asylum Seekers Communism Hezbollah Intifada Israel Lebanon Palestine Politics |  Comments (33) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

You know what really grinds my gears?

I hate it when this happens. I'm in a great mood, having ridden the crest of an anti-hangover all day at work and thinking that the world is great, then I come home and watch the news. Yesterday's big story the Hemel oil inferno has all but blown over (pun intended, though not so sure if it worked) which is a shame as it was quite ironic coming days after the Montreal agreement, and no one actually died.

But by this evening two new current affairs had developed which really tested my faith in human nature. Another highly respected anti-Syria Lebanese politician has been assassinated and "thousands" of white Australians have been rioting and attacking people of a Mediterranean/Arab appearance. For fuck's sake.

The first story is depressing. Syria's denied any involvement and denounced the murder, but they've already been implicated for Hariri's death, so fingers will be pointed again. Weird timing, what with a new UN report out, which makes one wonder if Syria are really that stupid to bump off Gibran Tueni when they did. Either way, it's another Middle Eastern problem the world could do without.

What's more surprising is the number of latent neo-Nazis there are in Australia. I couldn't believe the pictures in the 10 o'clock news – I was actually cheering the police on as they truncheoned the skinhead shits. It's a bit scary on a personal level too as my cousin is half-Egyptian, though he's on the other side of the country in Perth. But what made me even more angry were the words of one redneck cunt, to the effect of "it's our land". Okay: firstly, it was never your fucking land in the first place and secondly, have you ever seen a fucking map of it? It's huge. There's room for immigrants, believe me. Cunt.

Basically, not a g'day for the Lebanese.

Daniel Wilson Craw : 12 Dec 2005 23:32 |  Tags: Australia Lebanon Politics |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem