Friday, December 09, 2011

Letting down the working class in Lebanon

My mom (a Sunni Beiruti who staunchly supports Hasan Nasrallah) was furious was Hizbullah for their stance on economic reform in the Lebanese cabinet. She was furious that they let down the great Marxist minister, Sharbil Nahhas.  I told her but they have a history of letting down the poor and the working class in Lebanon.  They never ever championed social justice in Lebanon.  It is not in their agenda.  The Party in its last political document identified with "third world" struggles but was mostly talking about foreign policy.  Progressive in the West should get this point: just because Hizbullah fights Israel--and fights it very well--does not mean it is a leftist or progressive party.  It is not, and it proves it over and over again.  Sharbil Nahhas is the best minister that Lebanon has ever known, and he should have expected betrayal from the sectarian Shi`ite partners: Amal and Hizbullah.