Lebanese citizens can resist the growing foreign occupation of their country if their "leaders" have the necessary courage to confront foreign occupation. A few times in the past-- in 2013, 2015, and 2016-- Lebanese civil society mobilized against a widely viewed corrupt political class that is divided according to its regional and international loyalties, which collectively have plundered the country. For example, if necessary, they must take to the streets and resist Lebanon's Parliamentarians unconstitutionally and regularly extending their terms without having to face voters' assessment of their lack of performance at the ballot box. Meanwhile, in Pavlovian fashion many Lebanese politicians unite to fight against civil society in highly competitive local elections, as was the case in Beirut during the last election in 2016.
According to Marc Geara, a candidate on the Beirut Madinati list in Lebanon's municipal elections of May 2016, "The Lebanese are ripe for independence from leaders (and foreign installed proxy militia-ed) who have been unwilling to provide their constituencies with a minimum level of services. We feel that the ingredients for emancipation are available and that they only require a catalyst. Will that catalyst be civil society, which may eventually be transformed into a united political force for change? The challenge is difficult, but it is worth a try!"
Iran's people, who are much like Lebanese and Americans in this observer's opinion, may be allies with the people of Lebanon as they seek their Independence. Increasingly Iranians are rejecting their imposed Ali Khomeini Supreme Leader of Iran absolute dictatorship in favor of human rights and democracy and engaging with the outside World. Several of this observer's Iranian friends wish Lebanon well and object to Iran's involvement in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bahrain and elsewhere in this region.
In a protest in Tehran last week against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, some in the crowd accused Khamenei of sending Iranian money to Iraq while "Iran itself is full of poverty and corruption, of young men who steal, and women who sell their bodies due to poverty and the high cost of living."
The video which was tweeted on 11/20/2017 by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Reuters' correspondent on Iranian affairs, on November 20 showed one protester shouting:
"To whose pockets has our money gone? Does Khamenei notice that he is sending our money, Iran's wealth, to the ruins in Iraq and Syria? Why should our wealth, the money that belongs to us, reach Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria? Iran itself is full of poverty and corruption, full of young men who steal and women who sell their bodies due to poverty and the high cost of living. Why does our leader plunder our money, and send it to others when Iran itself is in ruins."
One lovely bright student who this observer met and spent time with at Mohammad Beshesti University north of Tehran last year sent me a message from the American civils rights -anti-Vietnam era: "Remember Dr. Lamb: A people united cannot be defeated. Whether in Iran or Lebanon!" We wish our friends in Lebanon Allah's blessing on their prayers for achievement of Independence."
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