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Why we are going to Lebanon |
By Walden Bello
INQ7.net
Statement of Dr. Walden Bello, member of the Philippine Contingent of the International Civil Society-Parliamentary Peace Mission to Lebanon, Aug. 10, 2006
Today, the 30th day of Israel's military offensive on Lebanon, the number of Lebanese who have died as a result of Israeli air strikes and ground attacks has reached 1,020, the number injured 3,508.
The Lebanese High Relief Committee has also disclosed destruction or damage to 29 vital installations, 6950 private homes, 160 economic establishments, 600 kilometers of roads, 73 fuel stations, 73 bridges, and 72 overpasses. (Daily Report # 16, Lebanese High Relief Committee).
The three of us, Representative Mujiv Hataman, Mr. Herbert Docena and myself, are
leaving for Lebanon this evening as part of an International Peace Delegation of 15 people. The main reason we are going stems from the horrific statistics I have just cited.
We are going in order to add to the global demand for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. At a time that governments have been stymied in their efforts to curb the Israeli war machine, international civil society must step in to do the job. Our delegation is one of what will undoubtedly be a growing number of civil society missions to Lebanon to increase pressure for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israeli aggression.
We are going also to express the solidarity of nations throughout the world, including the Filipino people, with the Lebanese people as they undergo this traumatic period. Perhaps more than relief supplies, the support and solidarity of people from throughout the world are what will see the Lebanese people through these dark days.
We are also going to investigate first-hand the scope of the human suffering and extent of material destruction that has been visited on that poor country so we can report this to the outside world. We are talking about translating statistics we read about in the newspapers into concrete human experiences of grief and despair that people everywhere can relate
to, that can bring the immediacy of the experience of living through the horrors of the Israeli assault to people outside Lebanon.
Finally, we will also be looking at the plight of Filipino workers in Lebanon and assessing how effectively the Philippine government is, in fact, dealing with their situation. We want to make sure that the millions of pesos allocated for alleviating their plight are in fact going to that purpose. We want to talk directly to them to ascertain their needs and how we here in the Philippines can assist them directly, outside official
channels.
Let me just end by saying we cannot stand by idly as a country gets dismembered. Countenancing aggression in Lebanon and in Iraq will simply encourage the perpetrators of aggression elsewhere.
Thank you.
Walden Bello is professor of sociology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and executive director of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South. |
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