What were the embassy people arrested for? What did they do to warrant arrest?

"Pro-Lebanon"?

When did this become about picking sides?

Surely we should be opposing both Israel and Hizbullah.

Although apparently the left wing thing to do these days is not to support the working class but any assortment of poorly armed nationalist reactionaries, especially if they're brown and have dodgy views on jews. If anyone who counts themselves as 'pro lebanon' would care to watch this film  http://users.resist.ca/~leaded/ by Beirut Indymedia about the recent repression of workers demonstrations/strikes by the capitalist state, that'd be great. Who's side are we on? Various nationalist factions, capitalist states or the working class?

You can't take sides in an imperialist war, left internationalism ABCs people ;)

As far as I am concerned all those wankers terrorist supporters holding Hezbollah flags should be arrested and put on trial.
Hezbollah it is a terrorist organisation in the European Union, surely it can't be legal to hold one of their flags on the street.

The “Pro Lebanon” title I give the images is on reflection crude and does not some up the character of the protest let alone my own views on this issue. But in my own defense as I was posting images on what is considered a “left” site I felt you would have got the point of the images. I shoot what is in front of me and offer it up for you to view. I do not agree with everyone I documented (far from it)

“Since the Spanish Civil War, when the main traditions of contemporary war photography were formulated, the leading practitioners of the photography of strife and of mass suffering – who are thought to be practicing a form of journalism – have rarely considered themselves to be neutral or dispassionate observers.” - Susan Sontag.

I do not see myself as a neutral journalist even with a NUJ card in my back pocket (kind of why I post on here folks). But if what you seem to need is the political views of the photographer so you have a better context to the images then I am more then happy to give you my views.

This is my position:

“The working class of the region, drawing along with it the poor peasantry, are the only force capable of defeating imperialism, capitalism and the corrupt Arab elites and fulfilling the desire of the Palestinians for their social and national liberation. Conversely they will be the section of the population who suffer the most in situations of armed conflict or war.

“The huge anger that exists against the pernicious role of imperialism needs to be channelled in the direction of building new working class movements and parties, based on the ideas of the removal of all imperialist armed forces, and the overthrow of capitalism and feudalism in the region and a socialist confederation of the Middle East.

“Undoubtedly the prospect of further conflict and war fills workers and young people around the world and particularly in the Middle East with dread because of the terrible suffering it could mean. However, capitalist wars and conflict will see further working class struggles against privatisation and attacks on workers living standards which have already taken place in countries like Iran, Egypt and Israel. Such movements will come to the fore again but with a different consciousness – one that is imbued with a desire for an end to bloodshed and a new society where the mass of the population control the huge wealth that exists in the region.

“This perspective is based on historical experience. At the height of the internecine Lebanese Civil War in 1988, Lebanese workers across the sectarian divide took strike action against the collapse in the value of the minimum wage as a result of the galloping inflation caused by the conflict. Along the "green line", which divided Christian and Muslim Beirut, joint demonstrations took place on this issue. During the same period between half and one million Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv against the IDF invasion in Lebanon.

“However, socialists and activists cannot simply sit back and wait for these developments in the future. A movement for revolutionary socialist change needs to be built, as a matter of urgency, across the region.

• No to the mass terror of the Israeli regime against the Lebanese people. End the bombing of Lebanon. Build mass international opposition to ‘collective punishment’ of the Lebanese people

• For the right of the Lebanese working class and poor peasantry to defend themselves against Israeli state aggression. No to indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian areas. For the setting up of cross-community, armed defence committees under the democratic control of the Lebanese masses. No to the concept of collective punishment of innocent civilians

• Release all political prisoners and captives. All imperialist forces out of the region

• For a mass movement of Arab and Palestinian workers, poor peasants and young people to overthrow the capitalist system which breeds war, poverty, mass unemployment and neo-liberal attacks in the Middle East. For a socialist confederation of Arab states based on a democratically planned economy, under workers’ control and management

• For a mass movement of Israeli Jewish workers to overthrow the Israeli capitalist regime which means endless wars and attacks on living standards. For a socialist Palestine and socialist Israel as part of a socialist confederation of the Middle East in which workers and poor peasants and not corrupt leaders will decide how society is run and where the national, religious and ethnic rights of all minorities will be guaranteed.

 http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2006/07/18middleeast.html

You have been listening too much to the Western media.

"Hizbollah is NOT a terrorist organisation" - George Galloway. Huge cheers from the crowd! And there were 100000.

We are going to get nowhere if we rewrite history to protect Israel. That can only lead to world war three. There is one currently one imperialism, and that is the US which is currently egging on Israel. If we just sit back and accept the media lies we will watch radical organisations get bigger (because they have no choice - they are fighting for their homeland) as overwhelming firepower (a war crime incidentally!) is used against innocents.

The way to step away from world war 3 is for the imperialistic US to stop killing innocents and radicalising their the loved ones. Human nature will always see to it that people protect their territory above anything else - even to the point of becoming kamikaze pilots or suicide bombers. This has been shown time and time again throughout history. It is also common sense.

Stop listening to biased media reports and think for yourself!

Quote: "Hezbollah is not a terrorist organisation" said George Galloway. And there were 100,000.

No by the time George Galloway said that in Parliament Sqaure there were only about 4,000 people still there. The rally had been going on for over two hours by then and most had gone home. You also could fit a hundred thousand people in Parliament Square either! The offical estimate for the demo was 20,000!

i'm not shooting the messenger, the problem is more that your title *does* capture the nationalist, pro-war turn the 'antiwar' movement has taken of late. Personally i think this reflects the opportunistic politics of Galloway, German et al and the obsession with numbers on the streets for their own sake - nationalists, terrorist sympathisers, all welcome.

I think if we're serious about stopping this perpetual cylcle of war i think we need to rethink our analysis of it in class terms. That doesn't mean screening people at meetings for proletarian credentials, but it does mean orienting our theory-praxis towards activities rooted in a class perspective, i.e. not allying with anyone and everyone for the sake of numbers, since after Feb 15th its obvious even millions will not stop the war. Obviously class these days is a fragmented and diverse, and above all unfashionable concept, its not easy but if we continue to allow the radicalising effects of these wars to be channeled into ineffectual marches, support for nationalists and capitalists, we miss an opportunity to build our own class identities and the war goes on.


Incidently i was pretty apolitical pre-Iraq war and the whole experience has been fairly formative politically for me. Given the job the StWC are doing to channel radicalisation into dead ends (in terms of challenging the social (class) relations at the root of these wars), if they didn't exist, the state would have to invent them.

maybe the STWC is a state creation? i am sure twilight has a angle on this one.

The SWP/STWC/Respect do seem to fall into the trap of regarding their enemies enemy's as friends.
The " we are all Hezbollah" placards are just stupid! why not " we are all Human " as most decent people will not jump up to support an oppressive state ( western or other ) on the grounds that it i under attack. denounce the elitist governments and support the people.