FRENCH president Emmanuel Macron stepped up his blatant interference in Lebanon on Sunday when he issued Lebanese politicians an ultimatum that they must form a new government in six weeks – or else.
With imperialist arrogance, Macron delivered his ultimatum at a news conference devoted to Lebanon at which he threatened Lebanese leaders with sanctions if they refuse to submit to his diktats.
Lebanon has been in absolute crisis under the impact of the worldwide crisis of capitalism, a crisis made even more acute following the massive explosion in the port city of Beirut on August 4th that killed over 154 people.
This explosion unleashed a wave of anger amongst the people of Lebanon furious that the government had stored the equivalent of a nuclear bomb in a residential area. This anger expressed itself on the streets with mass demonstrations demanding the resignation of the government.
The existing government was forced out of office by the widespread uprising, and Macron was determined that a puppet government of his choosing should replace it.
Desperate to cling on to power, the Lebanese government turned to Macron as president of the former colonial power (France) who immediately intervened to promise billions of dollars in aid to prop them up as long as they followed a ‘roadmap’ of his design.
All efforts to form a government to Macron’s liking failed after his choice of Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib resigned on Saturday unable to come up with a government that would openly bow down to Macron.
On Sunday, Macron vented his anger at this failure saying Lebanese political leaders had ‘decided to betray’ this commitment to form a government by September. He warned those he holds responsible for failing to form a new government subservient to French imperialism threatening: ‘The price will be high’ for them if they fail to do as they are told.
Macron also accused the Lebanese authorities and political forces of favouring ‘their partisan and individual interests to the detriment of the general interest of the country.’
Taking aim at Hezbollah, Macron said they must make it clear in the next few weeks if they will help implement his roadmap or not. If they refuse, Macron claimed it would prove Hezbollah is ‘dictated to by Iran’.
Macron wants Lebanon to be dictated to by French imperialism. His arrogance was met with defiance and anger by the Lebanese people who took to social media to vent their hatred at his ‘colonial mentality’.
Behind all Macron’s bluster and threats lies the weakness of French imperialism desperate to reassert itself as a power in the region – a region that is seeing huge splits with France embroiled in a conflict with Turkey over influence in the Mediterranean and Libya.
The people of the region will not forget that it was the imperialist intervention of France along with Britain that overthrew the legitimate government of Colonel Gadaffi in Libya and tore the country apart. The same attempt at regime change was attempted in Syria.
In its weakness and desperation French imperialism is prepared to lash out, causing enormous damage to the lives of millions in Lebanon and throughout the region in an effort to restore imperialist rule.
The Lebanese people will never accept a return to colonial rule by France. They must turn to their allies in the French working class who face the same enemy – a weak desperate capitalist system that can only survive by attacking the working class at home and trying to re-impose imperial domination on the people of Lebanon.
The time has come for French workers to come out in support of the Lebanese people by organising to bring down the Macron government and replace it with a workers’ government.
The socialist revolution in France will join with the Lebanese masses, led by the working class, in the fight to overthrow the bankrupt bankers’ regime and bring in a workers’ government that will nationalise the banks and all of the major industries and use the incredible wealth of the ruling class to rebuild the country.
Socialist revolution in Lebanon will also be a giant leap forward for the Palestinian struggle for an independent state.
