Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 41)
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- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 41)
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consideration to only a fraction of the
teachers’ grievances. Then, on
November 2nd, the teachers suspended
the strike after reviewing the results of
their meeting with the Interior Minister.
They evaluated the strike as very
positive in terms of the unity exhibited
between public and private school
teachers. Concerning their demands,
they had received pledges for wage in-
creases, payment of transportation
costs, medical benefits and amendment
of the regulations concerning dismissal.
However, the teachers’ statement called
for vigilance as these were only pro-
mises. December 12th was set as the
date for possible resumption of the
strike, if concrete results were not for-
thcoming.
GENERAL STRIKE
Literally all of Lebanon ground to a
halt on November Sth, in the long-
heralded general strike. Though food
shops began limited openings over
the next few days, major economic in-
stitutions, including the country’s
international airport and harbor, re-
mained closed for five days. The fifth
day of the strike, 100,000 Lebanese
converged for a three-hour demonstra-
tion in Beirut - the biggest anti-inflation
manifestation ever. At the same time,
there were large demonstrations in
Sidon, Tripoli, Tyre and the Bekaa.
Shouting «No to hunger, No to the
war», people from East and West
Beirut met at the city’s divided center.
West Beirut residents clambered over
civil war embankments to join
demonstrators on the other side.
The same evening, the General Labor
Confederation suspended the strike on
the grounds that the government had
pledged to set up a committee to study
ways of strengthening the Lebanese
pound (which had most _ recently
plunged to 700 to the dollar). While the
suspension elicited some surprise since
the strike had been intended to last
longer, this reflected the realities of
such struggle in the current Lebanese
situation where there is no single power
or body competent to fulfill the masses’
demands. As a result of the General
Labor Confederation’s meetings with
various officials, some things were
agreed upon: a sliding wage index;
monitoring of school fees by the
Education Ministry so that these cannot
be manipulated by school owners; im-
plementation of the law for importing
medicine and establishing a fund to in-
sure reasonable prices for medicine;
allocating £1.5 billion to the Housing
Bank for loans to citizens; and the ex-
pansion of the joint transportation
network. Obviously, while useful, these
measures do not constitute a solution to
the crisis. Efforts to stabilize the
Lebanese pound can take a long time to
implement even if agreed upon. Even
this is doubtful, for real solutions
would infringe on long-established
traditions of laissez-faire and bank
secrecy.
The progressive labor leader, Elias
Haber, dealt with some of these pro-
blems while evaluating the general
strike in an interview with Al Nida
newspaper, November 15th: «The
August demonstration at the Central Bank: «We want to eat, we want to live.»
socio-economic
desired results... were not achieved. We
say that economic, social and political
reform is needed, but to safeguard
working class unity, we decided to sus-
pend the strike. Controlling the cur-
rency is very important in the current
situation, and it takes a long time to
agree on means for control. As a union,
we had to suspend and wait... like a
warrior pausing to gather strength to
continue the battle.» Haber pointed to
the mass movement as the reserve force
for further struggle if solutions to the
social problems are obstructed. He ad-
ded, «The unachieved currency control
is closely linked to national dialogue
and reconciliation without which ro
serious measures can be enacted.»
Haber explained that some forces
within the trade union movement were
aware that to really make an impact,
the political ceiling of the struggle
should be raised. This would lead to
continuing the general strike until
ousting the president and current
government, and forming a transitional
government, with the participation of
the trade unions, to monitor the process
of reform. However, other forces were
afraid of the risks involved in continu-
ing the strike; some were afraid of
unleashing the masses’ full capacities,
or were subject to pressure from the
political forces dominating certain
areas. This prevented the «continuation
of the strike which could have changed
things in a way that would have
positively impacted on Lebanon’s
stability, unity and reform.» In view of
the lack of concensus, the strike was
suspended, until the upcoming 3rd Na-
tional Union Conference which will
outline the future actions of the labor
movement.
Whether it is resumed or not, the
importance of the general strike is the
fact of its being the largest mass
manifestation in Lebanon’s post-
independence history. As such, it ac-
curately reflected the depth of the
crisis, bringing
together, for the first time, people on
both sides of the political and confes-
sional divide. It stands as a milestone to
be carefully evaluated by the pro-
gressive forces in planning any future
popular action.
dateline: November 20th. e@
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- Democratic Palestine : 27
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