We believe in Lebanon

By A Lebanese Freedom Fighter

Syria’s occupation of Lebanon continues today under a new local mask. The Lahoud-Hoss occupation regime has already shown its true ferocious nature by brutally arresting and beating a large number of college students, teachers, and engineers, whose only crime was to peacefully distribute leaflets decrying human rights abuses in Lebanon on the 50^th anniversary of the universal declaration of Human Rights. Our Freedom Loving people continue to struggle for their basic natural rights when the rest of the world is moving towards the 21^st century. The Syrian-installed Police State rules Lebanon with an iron fist, backed by 40,000 Syrian occupation troops and thousands more Syrian secret service operatives.

A Syrian-orchestrated propaganda campaign has attempted, through the controlled media, to portray the Lahoud regime as one of change and laws. Mockery beyond insult. Good cannot come from Evil. We are not naïve to believe the promises of change given by an appointee of a foreign occupation power who maintains a tight grip on all aspects of Lebanese security, political, economic, and social life. Constitutional Laws have already been broken since the instigation of the Taef regime. Since 1972, the Lebanese people have not been consulted about their government in free elections, and the totality of the current occupation regime is nothing but a thin mask for the continuing Syrian occupation with the blessing of the United States of America and Israel. Nothing has changed in occupied Lebanon. Only the local collaborators have been replaced by more obedient and efficient ones.

We believe that true change can only come when Lebanon is liberated from the yoke of the Syrian dictatorship. True change will come only when human rights are respected, popular democracy is established, in a secular and equalitarian state. We are believers in higher values and in Good for our people and all people of Earth. We believe that Evil exists, and that the Syrian-US-Israeli alliance against Lebanon is Evil. We call upon Syria, the US, and Israel, to truly become friends of Lebanon, by recognizing their mistakes, and by lifting the reign of terror they imposed upon our people.

What we want for Lebanon is the same that we wish for all our neighbors and mankind.

We Believe…In God all Mighty

Lebanon is a land where the religions of the Book thrive (Islam, Christianity, Judaism). Eventhough a land of tolerance, and religious freedom, the New Lebanon cannot be represented by and as religions/ethnic groups. We will be a Nation under God, and not under Religious establishments. With all due respect to the churches, they will have to restrict their business to the spiritual affair of the faithful and not intervene in the secular affairs of the state or the citizenry. There should be a total separation of Church and State. Religious bodies are not elected and are not representative in a democracy, and cannot have power over the citizens or the state.

The Love of God starts with personal responsibility, love of family, neighbors, and nature. No Godly advice suggest the slaughter of other people, the rape of their land and resources, the oppression of their freedoms and the denial of their God-given natural rights. That is why we believe that the Syrian occupation of Lebanon is Evil, a Satanic act. Lebanon will be for all God loving people, whichever way they define their believes.

Belief in the Human; the Lebanese Citizen
We do not fight for the political rights of ethnic groups in Lebanon. We are not concerned whether the Maronites have special privileges, whether the Druze have access to the presidency, whether the Shiites have equal opportunity, or the whether Sunnites get a fair share of government posts. This is the confessional language of the occupation, as well as old Feudal and religious establishments in Lebanon. They all do a disservice to each one of us.

We are concerned with the Lebanese human being, regardless of religion, age, gender, economic class, or ethnic origin. From the Nahr El Bared in the North, to the Naquoura in the south, and from the Mediteerannean in the west to the Masnaa on the Syrian border, we proclaim the natural rights for all our people, in equality, love, and compassion to every single soul. We are fighting for all Lebanese; the Maronites, the Druze, the Shiites, the Sunnites.. We hold absolutely sacred the freedoms of religion and expression for every single Lebanese and human being. We all lose when any of our people is oppressed or her/his freedom denied.

We will even respect the rights of today’s collaborators. We will certainly protect their families and all innocent people from arbitrary treatment. The judgment of the people in Free Lebanon must be held without a spirit of vengeance, and all in due process of Law. Unlike the current regime, we do not sanction the arrest or torture of opponents, and we will certainly provide even the collaborators with all the humane treatment and protection of the laws. But the guilty must pay. For all generations must learn right from wrong. In all nations, distinctions are made between good and evil behavior, between bravery and treason, between honesty and theft, between self-sacrifice and murder. The Syrian occupation of Lebanon has practiced evil, employed traitors, arrested, tortured and murdered innocent Lebanese and international citizens, and used collaborators that helped slaughter their own people.

Belief in Independent Lebanon as nation of freedoms
We do not wish to be a part of Syria. We believe in the distinctiveness of our people and nation. We are distinct not because we are ethnically homogenous, but because of our love for freedom in a region ruled by dictatorships. We are distinct in that we are diverse in a Middle East that has know religious states, one-party rule, as well as national and religious fanaticism. We are distinct in that we were the only democratic State in the Arab world. We were the only place with a free press, free enterprise system, free banking, freedom of investment and travel, and large private education. We have lost all our freedoms under the Syrian occupation. Lebanon is being turned into a carbon copy of Syria, a black hearted dictatorship from the dark ages.

We are distinct because while our neighbors practiced torture and genocide, we opened our doors to all the persecuted and took in the weak, the refugees of all faith, color, or national origins. Lebanon deserves better from the world than the current US-Syrian-Israeli troika of domination. We proclaim loudly that our people and all people, have the right to liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. In this aspect, we are truer humanists than the today’s Americans.

Belief in Democracy as a prelude to a state of laws

Law does not exist in a vacuum. Communist Russia had arbitrary laws to enslave its people for 70 years. JaruZelski of Poland used the law to oppress the labor movement and imprison and torture thousand of Polish people when they demanded independence and freedom. In the same manner, the Lebanese puppet regime uses laws, enacted through its police state, and a rubber-stamp Syrian-appointed parliament to jail and torture thousands of our people, to gag and control the press, to dilute the identity of Lebanon by nationalizing hundred of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians.

Laws and Power come from the people and must serve the people. The Lahoud occupation regime started its reign with a lie and by breaking the laws of Lebanon. Lahoud’s oath to preserve the constitution and protect the territorial integrity of Lebanon was superceded when he called for the continuing occupation of Lebanon by the Syrian dictatorship in the name of solidarity with Syria. A man that lies under oath, on the sacred books, in front of the people, has no honor and anything can be expected from him. The beginning of return of law to Lebanon, can only occur after the removal from Lebanon of the dual Syrian-Israeli occupation. Only then would laws enacted by a freely elected parliament have any legitimacy. Only then, would the aspirations of the Lebanese people be fulfilled and the rights of the individual protected. Only then can we say, that laws are made to serve the people, and not the other way around as is the case now under the Syrian occupation. Occupation by definition is a violation of all natural and international laws. It is a barbaric act against the civilized and freedom loving Lebanese people.

Belief in Balance of Power and Freedom of expression

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. A balance of power protects us all from tyranny and from arrogance. We must learn our true size in politics as well as in nature. We reject the cult of personalities such as the ones practiced in Arab world and specifically Syria. We believe in an independent judiciary, a free press, a freely elected legislative body, and a freely elected executive. Even the press receives the vote of the people when they reward its stands for the truth. All power must come from the people in an open, peaceful, and civilized process. Change must be allowed to occur peacefully otherwise no progress can be achieved and social explosions are certain.

Belief in Peace and neighborly love
We believe in Peace in the Middle East and everywhere on this planet We seek active participation with our neighbors towards creating a better future for all our people. Planet earth is too small to think of ourselves as small islands. We urgently need to end the state of war and move forward with a warm peace. We should not be content to achieve only tranquility on our borders, we need active engagement. Cultural and economic exchanges negotiated through a process respecting the sovereignty of each nation. We need a civilized cooperation in the manner the European Union conducts its business. We need democracy and rule of law in all nations. We need the ability to form business partnerships that operate under the sovereign laws of each nation.

We need to love one another, to care about the rights of all humans living in the Middle East. Peace will be real, when an Arab is willing to give his life to protect an Israeli. When Syrians acknowledge the historical crimes their government committed in Lebanon. When Israel recognizes the rights of the Palestinians to live in peace and dignity. When all Arabs acknowledge the right of Israel to exist and live in freedom and whatever distinction it may chose. Only then, shall we be truly accomplishing peace for all our peoples.

Belief in Social Justice and Equal Opportunity

Free Enterprise must be tempered with social justice. Capitalism is a blind and greedy power if not directed by higher humane values. Even in the United States, laws have been established to outlaw monopolies (Sherman Act), and to protect the workers and the environment. Redistribution of wealth is facilitated in capitalism through equal access to education and guaranteed access to public corporations. We also Belief in Individual effort and rewards. Lebanon has ancient traditions in free trade and entrepreneurship that date back to the Phoenicians. The Syrian occupation has burdened Lebanon with 23 billion dollars of foreign debt, but we are not phased. All we need is freedom and she shall make Lebanon again, the paradise of the Middle East.

Belief in the Sanctity of Mother Earth

We believe that we are all children of God. In His all Wisdom, the All Mighty has placed us on this Earth with a common plan for all of us. Man erected tyrannies that abused the people and poisoned Earth. We are facing ecological, economic, and social problems that affect the Lebanese, Israeli, Palestinian, Syrian, and Jordanian people. We all breathe the same air, drink the same water, and our Heavenly Father rises his sun on all of us. It is Evil to deny the Lebanese people, and all people, the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Our belief in Lebanon is unshaken, absolute, and eternal. We shall rise again!

Long Live Free Lebanon