What we need to learn from Hezbullah.

[Fovea]

Ok, stay with me here for a minute while I lay out where we are.

In 2001, the Democratic Party was subjected to a terrorist attack by an as of yet uncaught terrorist, though evidence points to someone with access to military strains of Anthrax.

Assuming that no one in al Qaeda is working at fort dix, let us say that it is more likely that someone affiliated with the Neocons was responsible. If that can be proven true, it far outweighs the reichstag fire as an illegitamizing act of war on the part of the neocons, abrogating them to the status of a terrorist state.

In the wake of Sabra and Shatilla, the Hezbullah rebuilt as a political organization of significant strength in Lebanon. It did so by providing humanitarian assistance and a measure of stability to the Lebanese after the Civil War, and Israeli occupation. This built up a well of goodwill in the population despite the military presence, which traditionally, in this highly prismatic culture, represents security from the other armed militia down the road.

We, as Americans are only recently in the wake of Katrina, beginning to understand the dilemma of the resident of a 'developing' nation. In a modern pluralist, defracted society, you can more often than not trust institutions to fulfill their functions non-preferentially. But in prismatic societies, neither the traditional deprecated and corrupt cultural institutions, nor the official corrupt government institutions, whose role they ape, can be trusted to fulfill the needed role. In these nations, often the only effective instituions *are* the extra-legal ones, because they are the only institutions not subject to the bite. Instead, they are subject to arrest or massacre.

In light of the unilateral, extralegal, state terrorist actors in all three branches of government, what can we as Democrats do?
We can learn from the sucessful insurgents.

So what can we learn from the Hezbullah.

First--
We need to become direct actors among the people. We need to push for organized labor, universal health care and education.
Like the Jackson County Democratic Party in the late 19th century, we need to be seen as being four-square for the interests of the working person, and we need to support their aspirations for their childern, and their hope for a secure later life. We need to fill the gaps left by the criminal Rethuglican mis-administration any way we can. And we need to stamp the powdered milk carton-- this life saving food is a gift of the Democratic Party. This bus pass so that you can get to work this week is provided by the Democratic Party of <insert State name here>. And any business that contributes gets to stuff a flyer in the package, as it were.

Sexond--

Like the Hezbullah worked with Syria, we need to find our natural allies in the EU, Russia, China, and work multilaterally toward restoring human values and human dignity to government world wide. Canada would surely help us fight the good fight. And that brings us to the actual fight. I am not advocating assasination or terror, but I do think the time has come for individuals to defect from our corporatist terror state. You don't create Democracy at the point of a gun. You create democracies elsewhere by doing it right here. They don't hate us for our freedom, they hate us because we are free to prevent corporations from subverting their governments, and we do not.
The Hezbullah shell the Israelis as a deliberate provocation. Then, when the Israelis roll accross the border again, they cannot repel them, but they can wear them down. And boy, Lebanon was the mother of all debacles, it may have even slowed the invasion of Iran by a week or two.

More importantly, they force the Israeli government to show itself for the terror state that the Hezbullah claims it to be.

The non aligned world knows the difference between a truck full of Kate rockets, and the full force of the United States war machines in the hands of an amoral proxy. Was the Hezbullah right to attack Israel? No. Was the Hezbullah highly successful. Yes. Was doing the right thing better than winning? Here is the question. Who was the victim here in the eyes of the world? Our NeoCon oppressors know no restraint. They do not regard the nicities of legal institutions and they find the Constitution quaint. What, I ask is beyond the pale in stopping them? It is not up to the UN to stop the NeoCon/corporatism, it is up to us, the putative owner/operators of our government.

The Rethuglikans will have to mount the GOTV effort of all time to get the election within stealing distance. They showed us how vulnerable these are last cycle. They need far fewer voting machines and much longer lines in republican districts. I predict a high failure rate in vehicles carrying red district voting machines. Many of these failures may result in spontainious combustion.

Mega-church busses will, in particular, experience multi systems failure, and lots of photo shopped photos of local pastors engaging in biblical behavior will show up around the web. A large number of jump drives with database tables will enter voting booths.

Posters of Repug benefactors in bed with Jack Abramoff will appear in targeted districts. The jobless will be hired and fed to put them up on telephone poles all over. The Democratic Party Free Health Clinics will work they butts off. And voters will be registered, documented, and supported.

That my friends is what the Hezbullah knows that is really dangerous to the Barons of this new gilded age. They support the people, and they fight back. And guess what? They learned it from F.D.R., Harry Truman, and Tom Pendergast.

It is time we do our part. Keep a wooden shoe packed in your backpack or briefcase, for an opportune moment.

[PresidentWar]

1. We need Hezbullah in New Orleans

From what I hear about how quickly they came to the aid of bombed Beirut, assessed damage, and got rebuilding going, I'm sure they are light years more useful than President Nero.

[Fredda Weinberg]

2. I'd say you need to learn what a "terror state" is

We don't need Hezbollah to learn "think global, act local." And if you look for allies in our adversaries, don't be surprised if you're used, just as the Lebanese people were.

[PresidentWar]

4. I know what a terror state is. I live in one.

And, the Gods willing, I won't be after 2008.

[Fovea]

7. If it sounds like a love letter to hezbullah

then turn up the hearing aid. I am not advocating their positions or strategies regarding Israel. I am merely saying that they were extremely successful in a fluid chaotic situation. They certainly made misjudgements, but they showed surprizing resiliency under attack.

They also made their points on the stage of the world press.

What I am saying is that we need to reconnect to our natural constituencies, and address their needs as much as we are able.
We need to get to grass roots level concerns and offer real solutions.

We also need to fight at the level of Karl Rove and Katherine Harris to win the next election. We should omit no happy occaision to gouge an eye, or knee a kidney. Because that's the fight we are in.

[Jim Sagle]

3. Hezbullah Undergroumd! Ya gotta love it.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[MADem]

5. Fourteen lousy seats in Parliament out of a total of 128

Yet they act like they are the GOP Moral Majority.

Up until Osama did his thing on the Towers, those fuckers had the record for killing more Americans (many of them my good friends) than any other terrorist entity.

They're assholes. They have coopted the government of Lebanon, they wipe their asses on the people, tromped all over the Christians, Druze and Sunnis, and use the population as shields to promote their own agendas while serving as proxies to Iran. And they aren't universally adored over there. The Israelis may be hated, but many factions regard Hizb'Allah as right behind the Israel-US alliance in the "Major League Assholes" category.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/08/25/2003324751
Rifts emerging over Hezbollah's role in Lebanon
A Lebanese editorialist said that Hezbollah went to war with Israel without considering what the rest of the country wanted
...But since a ceasefire took hold 11 days ago, sectarian dissent has slowly swelled.
Druze, Sunni and some Christian leaders blame Hezbollah for provoking Israel and are demanding the group submit to the national government.

"The situation has become dramatically worse since July 12," said Michael Young, an editor at the Daily Star newspaper. "The perception among non-Shia communities is that Hezbollah went to war without consulting with anyone."

Some quietly suggest Israel should have gone further to crush the militant group.

"I wish with all my heart this war had not ended," one Christian woman, who asked not to be named, said in the southern city of Tyre....

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/Navariednews.asp?dismode=article&artid=1456629121
In south Lebanon, Sunni Muslims express disdain for Hezbollah

MARWAHEEN: They pushed, shoved, shouted and cursed one another. In the end, posters of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah would not be plastered around this tiny Sunni Muslim village in southern Lebanon mourning the loss of 23 of its own, slain in an Israeli air attack during the month-long war with Hezbollah. "Why do you want to put up an image of someone who is killing us?" one man screamed as a mob of dozens waved their fists and thrust open palms toward Nasrallah supporters clutching posters of the bearded and bespectacled Hezbollah chief. "We don't want to see it!"

Though everyone here blames Israel for the 23 deaths, many place equal blame on Hezbollah for bringing their fighters into the region and drawing Israeli fire. Such displays of anger illustrate the complexities of a nation where Shiite, Sunni, Christian and Druse beliefs exist in a tumultuous mix that boiled over during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Open criticism of Hezbollah is rare in predominantly Shiite Muslim south Lebanon, where yellow Hezbollah flags fly over demolished houses and posters of Nasrallah adorn almost every utility pole and shop. Anger is more common in a handful of Christian villages where residents blame Hezbollah and its capture of two Israeli soldiers July 12 -for Israeli reprisals that destroyed large swaths of this country....


And of course, the US gets tossed into the mix as well:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0815/dailyUpdate.html
Lebanese anger at both US, Hizbullah grows after truce
Some Lebanese feel they were used as pawns in the conflict.
As many families in Beirut and southern Lebanon began to return to what was left of their homes Monday, the shock of the past few weeks was giving way to anger at all of the parties involved in the conflict. While many reports from traditional media reflect Lebanese hostility towards the US, Lebanese bloggers are accussing Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hizbullah, of using the country, and its people, to further his own agenda....But in the Lebanese blogosphere, there also has been a strong outpouring of anger aimed at Hizbullah. After Mr. Nasrallah gave a speech Monday where he "declared victory" over Israel, the anti-Nasrallah sentiment was particularly visible....

[Igel]

6. It helps if you can import a ton of money--

millions from Iran and overseas charities, funds from Syria. With logistic support and advisors.

It helps if you have a network of preachers in fundie communities that hear the same message every year, about how oppressed they are and how people are lying in wait to kill them because your listeners are so righteous. And that it's your religious duty to support the Party of Allah, mentioned by name in the sacred writings held dear by your audience.

A few hundred million dollars a year to help about 1.3 million people, in an area where you've basically kicked out the government.

For the US, that means 100 million people to help. We're talking billions of dollars from overseas governments.

So the dems should find someplace--let's say the NE US and California--to kick out social security, welfare, and the like, and replace it with overseas aid. Having our own militia there would be a cool thing to keep order and kill collaborators with the external enemy, say, Mexico.

Sounds like a plan. Make the plebes rely on the dems for things, and buy their loyalty; preach to them in their churches that God-fearing Americans will support the dems. All we have to do is find somebody to donate $10-20 billion a year for the next decade, at a minimum.