CKUT Radio: Hariri, Lebanon & the Economics of Poverty

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Rafik Hariri, former Lebanese Prime Minster, was killed along with 14 others in a massive bomb blast in downtown Beirut on Monday February 14th. In the wake of Hariri's death, extraordinary political pressure on an international and internally within Lebanon has been directed toward Syria to withdraw their 15,000 troops stationed in Lebanon.

With Hariri's passing, there has been little focus on the perpetual economic crisis in Lebanon, in which upwards of 40% of the countries population is living below the poverty-line. Many link Lebanon's current economic crisis with Hariri's neo-liberal economic policies in post-war Lebanon.

Hariri stepped down as Prime Minister in October 2004 in protest of the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon, joining the political opposition who are now blaming Syria for Hairir's death. Hariri played a central role in Lebanon's post civil-war period, with his involvement in the 1989 Ta'if Accord and also the central role which he played in Beirut's re-construction after the 15 year long civil-war ended in 1990.

Listen to an interview with Dr. Samah Idriss, a co-founder of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel and also serves as the editor-in-chief, of Al-Adab, a Lebanese arts and culture magazine based in Beirut. Dr. Idriss focuses on the ways in which Hariri's neo-liberal economic policies in the post civil-war reconstruction period effected Lebanon's working poor majority and the approximately 500 000 Palestinian refugees currently residing in Lebanon.

-> For more information and analysis on Hariri's death and the current political climate in Lebanon visit the Independent Media Center of Beirut online at: http://www.beirut.indymedia.org

This interview was produced for CKUT Radio in Montreal by Stefan Christoff, who is a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. For more info: http://www.palsolidarity.org