March 14 - a Rose in the Heart
By: Charles Jalkh/Freedom Fighter

July 23/08

In that Blessed day, the seed of the Cedars Revolution was planted, and a spring of Lebanon was born, only to be suffocated shortly thereafter by the Syrian-Iranian proxies wearing Lebanese masks. The landmines left behind by the Syrian occupation kept exploding in our face. The murderous Syrian-Iranian regimes did not let the new-born enjoy life, as their assassinations and bomb attacks overwhelmed us, culminating in a direct full attack by Hezbollah and company, against Beirut and several other areas of the country in May 2008.

March 14 is blessed, because it united the Lebanese from all socioeconomic classes, from all ethnicities, behind Free Lebanon and human rights. The Lebanese rose en mass to demand freedom and gained it. March 14 forces formed a sacred spontaneous union that can survive any crisis because it is based on our common love for a free, sovereign, and independent Lebanon. Nothing can brake our bond for we are family. Our yearning for free Lebanon is carved by our common sufferings, and sculpted into our joint aspirations.

We may disagree energetically as expressed this week in the Kuntar affair, but we have no other choice but to forgive, while stressing the critical point, that such fall in human values cannot pass un-criticized. Glorifying the actions of a child or civilian murderer as heroism brings harm not only to Israelis, but also to any people, and first of all the Lebanese themselves. Welcoming Kuntar was a cruel unjustified act, just like the words of Syrian foreign minister Mouallem this week when asked about the Lebanese prisoners held in Syrian dungeons, he replied: “They have waited 30 years, they can wait a few more weeks”. A guiltless, totally insensitive and indecent attitude towards the suffering families of the kidnapped Lebanese citizens. The world need to realize that this is the caliber of people that the Middle East has produced as best for generations. Cruel, insensitive, corrupt, and ignorant!

Another floated critique of March 14’s political performance since 2005 is that it lacked a written charter, had no practical planning process, and a disjointed democratic decision making process. It did not want war with Israel yet failed to press for formal peace. Another issue involved March 14’s failure to develop/implement a plan B, which must include self-security, to counterbalance Hezbollah’s terror at the same or superior level of armament, training, and force. Unlike Hezbollah we do not need to brainwash our constituents, because they are already ideological about Lebanon by nature, and never lost their love for our homeland in exchange of a “Fakih-Kabih Emirate” (the Iranian Mullah theocratic police state). Also, since all Lebanese agree that any people have the right to liberate their occupied lands, then we Lebanese possess the right to Liberate the Syrian-occupied portions of Lebanon (Naameh, Kousaya, ct..) by force. We could therefore start an armed resistance against the Syrian occupation, independent of the state just like Hezbollah, protected by the state, and simply practices the same rights that Hezbollah enjoys, after all we are equal citizens, aren’t we?

It is obvious that we do not have common grounds with Hezbollah for a united nation. Perhaps a jointly-agreed partition is a good intermediate solution. However, no party across the political spectrum has declared with courage and clarity, that we need to depart from the defunct “Grand Liban”.

Democracy cannot be practiced through elections under the guns of the Hezbollah militia and in the areas under its control because the state cannot enforce un-coerced free competition. But if we must, continue this masochism, this recurring saga, this 10452 Klm2 artificial non-existence, this Calvary, then let us go into the next parliamentary elections of spring 2009 united. One March 14 electoral program to win back Free Lebanon.

The flame of the Cedars Revolution can never be extinguished for it is a 7000 years old love story. March 14 is mightier than all conquests. An everlasting spiritual reservoir. A cross point in history when a mature people struggled for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. March 14 is a rose in our heart and a dream that shall never die.