You Call That a Crowd?

by

By Edward

In what is an anything-but-dull duel of street rallies, the anti-Syrian citizens of Lebanon responded to last week’s pro-Syrian (Hezbollah-sponsored) march with what is, by all accounts, a much, much bigger pro-Democracy rally:

Hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators chanted "Freedom, sovereignty, independence" and unfurled a huge Lebanese flag in Beirut on Monday, the biggest protest yet in the opposition’s duel of street rallies with supporters of the Damascus-backed government.

Crowds of men, women and children flooded Martyrs Square, spilling over into nearby streets, while more from across the country packed the roads into Beirut — responding to an opposition call to demonstrate for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

"We are coming to liberate our country. We are coming to demand the truth," said Fatma Trad, a veiled Sunni Muslim woman who traveled from the remote region of Dinniyeh in northern Lebanon to take part.

The assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri exactly one month ago sparked the series of protests against Syria, the dominant power in Lebanon.

The throngs fell silent at 12:55 p.m. — the exact time Hariri was killed four weeks ago by a huge bomb in Beirut. The silence was broken only by church bells tolling and the flutter of flags.

Regardless of how one feels about whether Bush’s invasion of Iraq spurred on this series of events, you can’t help but be impressed by the human drama of it all. Constant reader Macallan has a diary where folks are posting links to images over on Tacitus.

11 thoughts on “You Call That a Crowd?”

  2. but this is great news suggesting that maybe things are going in the right direction.
    The idea of “the right direction” and the expectation that we’re supposed to focus on the positive and downplay the negative, though, does make me feel as if we’re a nation of cheerleaders in training.
    A bit of “team spirit” left over from Bush’s Yale days, perhaps?

  3. “that maybe things are going in the right direction.”
    Along with Matt Y, I am not so certain as what the “right direction” is. Intending no defense of terrorists and thugs, a Hizbollah with the responsibility of governance and incentives to compromise and moderate might in the medium term lead to greater stability than a Hizbullah alienated and excluded. Ditto with Hamas, Baath and Sadr in Iraq, Muslim Brotherhood(?) in Egypt.
    Not a program or recommendation, just something to think about.

  4. “Constant reader Macallan”?
    That’s the best you can do?
    Come on, I expect better. Some suggestions:
    Evil Incarnate Macallan
    Sucketh and Ruineth Mightily Macallan
    He who shall remain nameless, but he eats kittens and steals old folks SS checks
    Constant Painintheass Macallan
    Work with me here…

  5. Seriously Self-Deprecating Macallan
    Potentially Masochistic Macallan
    Once-in-a-blue-moon-stumbles-upon-a-good-point Macallan
    any better? ;-pp

  6. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks ‘Constant Reader’ is as much admonishment as an appellation. I swear I have other hobbies!

  7. “Constant Reader” is an allusion to a book review column by Dorothy Parker which she wrote under that alias…and given that I adore Ms. P…from me at least it’s a term of endearment.

    “Constant Reader’s best-known review was of A. A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner. Milne’s whimsy had always nauseated her. When she came to the word hummy, her stomach revolted. ‘And it is that word “hummy,” my darlings,’ she wrote, ‘that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader Fwowed up.'”

  9. “The idea of “the right direction” and the expectation that we’re supposed to focus on the positive and downplay the negative, though, does make me feel as if we’re a nation of cheerleaders in training.”
    I think these are two separate issues. I don’t know if there is single right direction, but I don’t have any trouble thinking that certain things are a right direction and others are a wrong direction.
    As far as focusing on the positive and downplaying the negative, we should focus on the positive to make it better and more likely while focusing on the negative to make it less likely. Focusing on one to the exclusion of the other makes for bad policy. For me at least, the complaint is that the media tends to focus exclusively on the negative.

  10. For me at least, the complaint is that the media tends to focus exclusively on the negative.
    Reminds me of this excellent program Ted Koppel did on Nightlight once where he illustrated very convincingly that when folks insist the media is focusing on the negative in Iraq, they don’t know the half of what could be being reported. Friend of mine currently covering the war in Iraq says there are definitely things to be happy about (fewer bombings, folks in Fallujah returning to their homes), but that the day-to-day reality is so much more Mad Max like than we really get a good picture of here.

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