The goal of "stopping the war" is no longer a question that can be resolved politically. Something meaningful could have been done before we reached a state of full escalation, but after the tipping point the outcome is now entirely driven by military and geopolitical dynamics.
Lebanese activists are ineffective not only because their tactics are mismatched to the current context, but also because their goals don't match the current state of affairs.
They fall into the same pattern of proposing poorly grounded strategies for forcing either HA or Israel to halt the conflict, without having any credible leverage over either actor. All we get out of it is a never ending cycle of maximalist rhetoric followed by lamentations.
The shrinking of political opportunities during war time doesn't imply that the organizational work that ought to have been carried out during peace time is rendered useless.
Building a broadly legible coalition that can articulate a position that rejects the competing narratives of the belligerents and can develop coherent and organized expressions of this position is difficult but important.
It may not stop the war but lays the groundwork for post-war action. More importantly, it creates the organizational basis for more immediate achievable objectives: minimizing the suffering of the displaced and defusing inter-sectarian hostility.
Generated by Thread Navigator
Press ⌘ + S to quick-export