The south is saturated with the emblems of Hizbollah and its political ally Amal, as well as by a culture of resistance that too often looks like a culture of martyrdom. Flags and banners from Hizbollah and Amal hang on parity with the Lebanese flag to mark the south off from Israeli ambitions. Beside them are large pictures of the main leaders—the current head of Hizbollah, Nasrallah, the vanished Imam who helped give the south its voice in the 1970s, Musa Sadr, and the military leader of Hizbollah who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008, Imad Mughniyeh. There are also pictures of important Iranian and Shia leaders such as Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah al-Sistani, and Ayatollah Khamenei. Smaller images of dead Hizbollah fighters are in every village, reminding the people that it was their blood that won them whatever sovereignty they enjoy now. Crude and enormous statues of crushed Israeli tanks and helmets overwhelm the roadways. It is impossible to miss the ubiquity of Hizbollah. Writes Vijay Prashad.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:32:05 +0000
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