A popular demonstration took place today at the invitation of the Lebanese Communist Party on the occasion of Labor Day, setting out from Barbir Square to Riad El Solh Square in Central Beirut, where the Party’s Secretary-General Hanna Gharib delivered a speech in which he underlined that “the secular state project is capable of saving Lebanon from its crises.” He said: ‘From the heart of Lebanon, from Beirut the city of Lebanese national resistance, you are demonstrating today in commemoration of the first of May, the International Labor Day…From this city, you salute the workers of Lebanon, Palestine, the Arab world and the world at large…To all the communist, labor and leftist parties, to all the hardworkers who live off their sweat through physical and intellectual work, to those who are subject to persecution and confront the forces of capitalism, extremism and racism, including the refugees, the displaced and those living under the effect of occupation, particularly the workers of Palestine and its resistant people.” He went on, ‘You are demonstrating today to preserve the sacrifices and the achievements you have made on the path of liberation and change, as work is being done to liquidate them at the hands of the parties of the authoritarian-financial alliance system…The parties to the system are trying to evade responsibility and impunity, and blame the consequences of the failure of their policies on workers, wage earners, and the overwhelming majority of our people.’ Gharib referred to the continuous lies of the system’s parties until the collapse befell the Lebanese, exposing the authority’s schemes and their plundering of public money and all the sins they committed. ‘They are not ashamed to repeat what they did with their destructive policies, by portraying the crisis as being that of electing a president and forming a government, when it is actually a crisis of their sectarian political system and its dependent rentier economy,’ he said. ‘They persevere in their dependence on their guardians abroad for fear of being exposed by their outside alliances who blackmail them, so they scramble to provide guarantees and concessions in order to preserve their class interests and political power,’ he added. However, Gharib considered that outside contacts with affiliates and guardians abroad will only lead to failed settlements that have kept Lebanon captive to the vortex of crises that soon return to exploding once again. ‘All sectarian formulas and settlements that you seek are rejected, because they have only built failed states that generate this ruin that we live in…Delusional are those who believe that the solution and rescue will come at the hands of those who brought the country to ruin, for only the alternative national project is able to salvage Lebanon, which is threatened with its fate and existence,’ Gharib underscored, pledging to pursue the struggle to achieve the national project proposed by the party. “From the demonstration of the first of May, we renew our call to all national, secular and progressive opposition forces, to all trade unions and those operating within social, youth, women and civil frameworks that are fighting for these rights and demands, to intensify efforts to converge, work together, escalate confrontation, close ranks…and follow up on the dialogue that has come a long way towards preparing for the launch of a national and democratic political front according to a joint program accompanied by the escalation of confrontation in the street and in all sectors and regions,’ Gharib concluded.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon
