Lebanon tears apart
Socialist Organiser1984 1984-02-16Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 16 →
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for a one-day national stoppage.
But in a letter sent to a DHSS branch official replying to the demand that the day of action on February 28 be made a one-day strike, Alistair Graham, general secretary of the CPSA, wrote:
"I do not believe 'that calling a one-day strike for that day would be very helpful. It would allow Mrs Thatcher to go out on the attack and demonstrate that the Civil Service trade unions were once again taking industrial action rather than looking after their wider responsibilities."
Every letter and circular that arrives from union headquarters on members desks US, British and Italian troops are to withdraw from Lebanon. The Lebanese government has resigned. It looks like the Lebanese army has effectively disintegrated and collapsed.
Yet Lebanon's Maronite President, Amin Gemayel, has said that he does not intend to resign.
All the interventionist powers - the US, Israel, Syria - and the reactionary Arab regimes are eager to support him in an attempt to rescue and slightly restructure the Lebanese state.
But it is unlikely that they will be able to carve out a basis for agreement. The US and the Lebanese Phalange are willing to see changes in the structure of the Lebanese state - the removal of religious information from people's identity cards, and a 50/50 balance between Muslims and Christians in parliament rather than the present six-five balance in the Christians' favour.
But they are not prepared to give up the basic sectarian framework of the Lebanese state. Gemayel himself said: •The important thing is not person but the institutions"
The Syrians will accept Gemayel as long as they keep their influence in Northern Lebanon. The Israelis, on the other hand, have stated quite bluntly that they will keep their forces in southern Lebanon.
More and more it becomes clear that Lebanon is now effectively partitioned.
Amidst the cynical diplomatie bargaining, Lebanese reality is summed up in the follow. ing statistic. The Lebanese government spent £2.3 million on aid to West Beirut last year, and £48 million on shelling it! gar House was reached before other bodies with an interest in taking over the yards [the British subsidiary of Bechtel and a consortium involving Howard Doris and Gotaverken Arendal] had had a chance to make an