A ug 3 2006

Armenian Activist Speaks at Boston Rally for Lebanon

Boston, MA – On August 2, around 200 demonstrators gathered in Copley
Square in front of the monument dedicated to the Lebanese-American
poet Gibran Khalil Gibran, to demand an immediate ceasefire in
Lebanon. This was the third rally held at Copley Square in the past
three weeks. The protestors lined Dartmouth street for several hours,
waving Lebanese flags and chanting "stop the bombing now! ceasefire
now!" or "not another nickel, not another dime, no more funding for
Israel’s crime!" and – for those of you who speak Arabic, "bassita,
shou sar, lubnan metl el nar!"

The first speaker was Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner. Then a
number of young people recently returned from Lebanon spoke about
their experiences of this latest war. The last speaker was one of the
organizers of the Armenians and the Left conference. Her rousing
speech, reproduced below, was one of the best received at the rally.
The protest ended with a candlelight vigil.

Thus spoke Alik:

I am a Lebanese-Armenian-American, and I have five questions to
president George Bush.

Mr. President,
Why is it that you endlessly bring up Israel’s right to exist to
support its barbaric attacks that are destroying Lebanon and the
Lebanese people?
Is it because you think Lebanon does not have that same right to
exist?

Why is it that you are so excited about this UN Resolution 1559 that
you so enthusiastically support Israel’s illegal war on a whole
nation?
How come you and your predecessors didn’t give a damn about UN
Resolution 425, which called for the withdrawal of Israeli Forces
from Southern Lebanon for 22 years, and which was finally imposed by
force by the people whom you call terrorists.
Is it because you think the rights of the Lebanese do not matter?

Why is it that the killing of more than 800 Lebanese civilians does
not move you enough to call for an immediate cease-fire?
Is it because they are dark-skinned?
Is it because some of them wear headscarves?

Or do you think that they were used as human shields and therefore
were responsible for their own deaths?
Why is it that you so easily believe that the Lebanese are able to
use their own family members as human shields?
Why do you so easily believe that the Lebanese sacrifice their women,
children and elderly like sheep?
Is it because you do not think they are human?

And finally, Mr. President,
If the bombing of Israeli civilians is terrorism, why is it that you
call the aerial bombing of a minibus driving Lebanese civilians to
safety COLLATERAL DAMAGE?
What about the bombing of Lebanese children who were sleeping in a
shelter, thinking they were safe?
What do you call the bombing of an ambulance with a giant red cross
on its top?
Why isn’t THAT terrorism?
Is it because the lives of innocent Lebanese civilians are less
valuable than those of Israelis?
Or is it because you are RACIST?

And to us, the people who are horrified when they witness the loss of
innocent human lives, the people who are angered when they witness the
destruction of a whole nation, the people who are outraged when they
witness the indifference of world leaders, here’s what Martin Luther
King Jr. would have probably said to comfort us:
"The arc of history is long, but it bends towards Justice."