great pics of the lebanon demo on your flickr page. well done.

i don't know about others who were on the demo, but i am certainly not "pro-lebanon". i am not pro palestine. i am not pro israel. i am pro people. i believe in the right for the people of lebanon and palestine, AND israel to be able to live together in peace. it is the states and the bosses who are manipulating the people, feeding off their fears, feeding off their anger, on all sides. it is the bosses and the state that cause wars and it is the ordinary people who have to fight and die in those wars.

lebanon is an authoritarian state, as is israel, and the palestinian occupied territories are terrorised by both israel and their own religious leaders. let's get our analysis straight. fuck israel, fuck hisbollah, fuck hamas, power to the people. neither party, nor god, nor master, nor state...

For anyone with any illusions about being 'pro lebanon' or any nation for that matter, please watch Indymedia Beirut's documentary on the repression of recent working class demonstrations/strikes:  http://users.resist.ca/~leaded/

this is a left site, we are aloud to say the 'c' word. Pro-working class, proletarian internationalism, no borders no nations (A)

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

and I'll keep saying it until everyone understands.

Please, please obscure people's faces when you post pictures of protests. Especially when they show people coming into contact with the police because on that photo series I can see at least one photograph that could land someone in court for assualting a police officer.