organization:free patriotic movement

Lebanon on the Brink - رأي اليوم
By Abdel Bari Atwan - December 24, 2018

▻https://www.raialyoum.com/index.php/lebanon-on-the-brink

(...) The public quarrel over the representation of the bloc of Sunni MPs allied to Hezbollah blew up after prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri refused to appoint any of its six members to the government. A compromise was agreed under which each of these MPs would nominate another figure and President Michel Aoun would select one of these. But this solution unravelled in turn when the Lebanese president chose Jawad Adra as the prospective minister. The other MPs protested that he did not represent them, and accused Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of effectively trying to enlarge its own bloc — thereby giving itself 11 out of 30 cabinet posts and effective veto power over government decisions. So things went back to square one.
The demands for lower taxes and food prices, improved public services and free health-care made by the demonstrators who took to the streets of Beirut largely echo those of the ‘yellow vests’ in France who have shaken up French politics in recent weeks.
Lebanon’s public debt has reached nearly $100 billion and the World Bank estimates that a third of the country’s inhabitants live below the poverty line. These certainly do not include the members of the political elite who have been fighting over cabinet seats and important state posts.
Hariri has now decided to go on vacation until the new year, while declaring that he will remain silent about the country’s growing crisis, on the grounds that “sometimes silence is necessary for others to listen.” But we do not think he will find anyone to listen to him. The choice of Hariri to form a government, in this difficult juncture in the history of Lebanon and the region, is one of the main impediments to the country recovering and overcoming its mounting problems.
Lebanon could be on the brink of an explosion with popular frustration at the status quo reaching unprecedented levels. And if such an explosion were to occur, it would be extremely difficult to control.

#Liban #MichelAoun #Hezbollah

« Hezbollah = Liban », selon le ministre israélien de l’Éducation
Par Le Figaro.fr avec Reuters Mis à jour le 07/05/2018
▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2018/05/07/97001-20180507FILWWW00033-hezbollah-liban-selon-le-ministre-israelien-de-l-

« Hezbollah = Liban », écrit sur Twitter Naftali Bennett, qui est aussi ministre de l’Education et président du parti d’ultra-droite Le Foyer juif. « L’Etat d’Israël ne fera pas de différence entre l’Etat souverain du Liban et le Hezbollah et considérera le Liban comme responsable de toute action en provenance de son territoire », ajoute le ministre. Selon les résultats préliminaires, le Hezbollah (Parti de Dieu, chiite) devrait remporter plus de la moitié des sièges au Parlement libanais.

#Liban

Lebanon feels aftershocks of Saudi-Iran crisis - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/iran-saudi-arabia-repercussions-lebanon-hariri-hezbollah.html

The first possibility is that this Sunni-Shiite conflict — outside Lebanon’s borders between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and in the Lebanese arena between Hariri and Hezbollah — will lead to the rapprochement between the Christian forces. This would result in the main Christian parties (Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement) agreeing on a single candidate for the presidency.

This would significantly tip the balance of power of the presidential elections. It should be noted that such a hypothesis has been circulated within the political and media circles in Beirut in the first 10 days of 2016. Talks have been spreading about progress in negotiations between the leaders of the two largest Christian parliamentary blocs — Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea — to reach a bilateral agreement approving Aoun’s candidacy for presidency.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/iran-saudi-arabia-repercussions-lebanon-hariri-hezbollah.html#ixzz3xDci1

L’intégralité des partis politiques libanais représentés par le 14 Mars et le 8 Mars se retrouvent autour d’une même grande cause nationale : bloquer l’émergence d’un syndicalisme indépendant et efficace. (Après Charbel Nahas, la nouvelle victime du système est Hanna Gharib.)

Political parties sweep Public Secondary School Teachers vote
▻http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jan-26/285301-political-parties-sweep-public-secondary-school-teachers-vote.a

A list supported by the rival March 8 and March 14 coalitions won the majority of seats in the elections of the League of Public Secondary School Teachers Sunday. The list supported by the March 8 and the March 14 alliances in addition to the Free Patriotic Movement won 16 out 18 seats, while fiery union leader Hanna Gharib and a member of the list he formed won the remaining two seats.

The FPM, March 8 and March 14 parties united in one list against one of independents formed by Gharib and backed by the Lebanese Communist Party.

Gharib, the incumbent head of the league, said the rival list was formed with the aim of preventing the emergence of any independent union movement in the country.

“They want to undermine this path adopted by the league which was able to form the Union Coordination Committee; they consider that we crossed a red line,” Gharib told The Daily Star.

Gharib has been the head of the League for over 10 years.

He emerged as a leading union figure in recent years when the UCC, which he also heads, spearheaded protests and strikes starting early 2012 to pressure the approval of a salary raise for the public sector.

Alors bien entendu, quand tout le système politique est confessionnel et mafieux, après que les élus ont purement et simplement conspiré contre le peuple libanais, il est absolument vital de prétendre que telle ou telle confession est « humiliée » par telle autre : il ne manquerait plus que les pauvres développent une conscience de classe…

(Note : un enseignement largement mis à profit en France.)

Aoun’s initiative: To make an opening in procedures, or to breach the system?
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/aoun%E2%80%99s-initiative-make-opening-procedures-or-breach-syste

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/4047943212805617.jpg

MP #Michel_Aoun giving a speech at his residence in Rabieh. (Photo: Haitham Moussawi) MP Michel Aoun giving a speech at his residence in Rabieh. (Photo: Haitham Moussawi)

It is not surprising that MP Michel Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), has once again alluded to the Orthodox Gathering’s electoral proposal with a view to achieve true Muslim-Christian parity in the Lebanese political establishment. However, it was truly surprising that Aoun has called for the president to be elected directly by the people, exceptionally, to vote in a new president – as though the real problem lies there, rather in the powers and role of the president post-Taif Accord.

Nicolas Nassif (...)

#Opinion #Articles #FPM #Henri_Helou #Lebanese_Council_of_Ministers #Lebanese_Forces #Michel_Suleiman #Samir_Geagea #Taif_Accord

Lebanese MP Michel Helou dies of cancer
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanese-mp-michel-helou-dies-cancer

Lebanese MP Charles Helou, suffering from a long bout with cancer, died early Friday, state media reported. The MP, affiliated with the March 8 Free Patriotic Movement, will have has funeral on Saturday at the Mar Maroun church in Jezzine, the town of his birth in South #Lebanon. (Al-Akhbar)

Aounist party keeps schtum over Rai’s visit to #Israel
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/aounist-party-keeps-schtum-over-rai%E2%80%99s-visit-israel

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/AFP_0.jpg

Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai blesses Arab Israeli followers of the Maronite community during a procession from the Salesian Sisters Convent to the Maronite church in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth on May 29, 2014.(Photo: AFP-Menahem Kahana) Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai blesses Arab Israeli followers of the Maronite community during a procession from the Salesian Sisters Convent to the Maronite church in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth on May 29, 2014.(Photo: AFP-Menahem Kahana)

It is rare for the #Free_Patriotic_Movement (FPM) not to be the first to react to issues that directly concern them, such as the visit by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai to occupied #Palestine and meeting with (...)

#Lebanon #Antoine_Lahd #Articles #Beshara_al_Rai #Hezbollah #Michel_Aoun #SLA

#March_8 Reassures the Free Patriotic Movement: No Progress in Cabinet Negotiations Without Aoun’s Blessing
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/march-8-reassures-free-patriotic-movement-no-progress-cabinet-neg

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/9102379683911609_0.jpg

Meanwhile, March 8 sources did not deny the ambiguity surrounding the Free Patriotic Movement, saying, “General Aoun thinks that we have agreed with Hariri on more than the outline. (Photo: Al-Akhbar) Meanwhile, March 8 sources did not deny the ambiguity surrounding the Free Patriotic Movement, saying, “General Aoun thinks that we have agreed with Hariri on more than the outline. (Photo: Al-Akhbar)

Two weeks of positive developments in #Lebanon relating to the formation of a new “inclusive” March 8-March 14 coalition government culminated with an accord over an 8-8-8 ministerial lineup and comprehensive alternation of cabinet portfolios, but on little else. It seems that the March 8 camp’s only concern is to reassure MP Michel (...)

#Articles #Hezbollah #Lebanon #MARCH_14 #Michel_Aoun #Saad_Hariri #Walid_Jumblatt

#Lebanon: Can the #Free_Patriotic_Movement Survive Without Aoun?
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-can-free-patriotic-movement-survive-without-aoun

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/1228545593501914.jpg

How can we talk about change in the leadership without the foundations of the institutions having been laid down first? (Photo: Marwan Tahtah) How can we talk about change in the leadership without the foundations of the institutions having been laid down first? (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)

Figures in #Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) have proposed establishing a “collective leadership” to the movement’s leader, #Michel_Aoun. Though Aoun’s preliminary approval has been all but secured, it remains for the proposal to move from the theoretical to the practical.

Lea al-Qazzi

read (...)

#Articles

#Lebanon: Aoun to Resign in Six Months
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-aoun-resign-six-months

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/CNP_0503_1.jpg

Sources within the FPM say that Aoun has begun discussing the matter in his meetings with party cadre, asking them to think about who is the best person to replace him as president. (Photo: Al-Akhbar) Sources within the FPM say that Aoun has begun discussing the matter in his meetings with party cadre, asking them to think about who is the best person to replace him as president. (Photo: Al-Akhbar)

Leader of the Free Patriotic (...)

#Articles #Free_Patriotic_Movement #Michel_Aoun

Lebanon’s Aounists: Hollow Election Victory | Al Akhbar English
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon’s-aounists-hollow-election-victory

Lebanon’s dominant Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement, led by General Michel Aoun, has made a habit of dressing up their failure as if it were a victory.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Courts Hezbollah
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/04/saudi-arabia-ambassador-lebanon.html

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Awad al-Asiri, has been the focus of attention lately as a result of remarkable political overtures toward internal factions that the kingdom, and its ambassador, had had frosty or nonexistent relations with, particularly the Free Patriotic Movement.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati phoned his Bahraini counterpart Sunday evening to express Lebanon’s respect for Bahrain’s sovereignty after critical remarks by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun provoked an angry response from the Gulf kingdom. Amid the political fallout over Aoun’s remarks, Bahraini Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah alKhalifa said his country had arrested eight nationals in a militant cell with links to Iran, Iraq and Lebanon

The Daily Star

Read more: ▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Feb-18/206849-mikati-calls-bahrain-pm-after-aoun-sparks-row.ashx#ixzz2LEvTrsR

Lebanese Christian leader says escapes assassination
►http://www.euronews.com/newswires/1666844-lebanese-christian-leader-says-target-of-assassination

Michel Aoun, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), was returning to Beirut on Saturday evening when one of the cars in his convoy was shot at in the mainly Sunni city of Sidon, a statement on the FPM website said.

“I have been exposed to three assassination attempts (in the past) and the perpetrators were discovered,” the website quoted Aoun as saying. “This is the fourth and we hope they will be revealed.”

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said a shot was fired at one of several decoy vehicles driving slightly in advance of the convoy carrying Aoun himself. The bullet passed close to one of the people in the car, Charbel told Reuters.

Selon toute logique, Samir Hammoud, le procureur général qui aurait décidé de l’arrestation de Samaha, n’occuperait ce poste que depuis une semaine, succédant à Saïd Mirza, parti à la retraite fin juillet. À vérifier.

Archive : Comment al-Mustaqbal détourne un câble (#cablegate) pour faire à Aoun ce qu’il n’a pas dit.

2011-09-26 How an anti-Hezbollah newspaper spins Wikileaks content | WL Central
►http://wlcentral.org/node/2269

The Lebanese daily newspaper Almustaqbal reported today that the head of Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) in Lebanon General Michel Aoun referred to Hezbollah as a ‘terrorist organisation’ in one of the Wikileaks cables (06Beirut413). Other media outlets reported the story referring to Almustaqbal, and one of them was Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), where the author read this piece news (on their website).

[...]

This is one case where journalists take some cables out of their context to serve their political inclinations and objectives. Almustaqbal missed the point that American Ambassadors or the cables’ authors sometimes refer to Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation as a matter of principle and a style of reporting. Moreover, the cable doesn’t quote Aoun at all saying the term ‘terrorist organisation’, rather it comes in the context of referring to Hezbollah in a report from an embassy to its base.