Hezbollah journalist speaks in Bristol

bristol | peace | press release Monday February 25, 2008 17:44 by info@bristolstopwar

Whoever hides behind the name ‘Bristol Blogger’ seems to have joined David Cameron in wanting Bristolians not to hear Ibrahim Moussawi – the editor of Al Intiqad, newspaper of Hezbollah. Nationally, the Stop The War Coalition has issued the statement below. Come to the meeting on Friday evening to hear him yourself, along with Hassan Jumaa, President of the Iraqi Oil Workers’ Union

See http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/687947 for details of the meeting

The leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, argued in Parliament that it was "vital" that Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government prevent Ibrahim Moussawi from entering the United Kingdom to attend the World Against War conference organized by the Stop the War Coalition in December2007. To support his call for a ban, Cameron claimed that Moussawi is the "head of the viciously anti-Semitic TV station Al-Manar," which is affiliated with Hizbullah. In fact, while Moussawi has headed Al-Manar's foreign news desk and hosted a political talk show, he was never in charge- and he left his job at the station more than three years ago.

To hear Moussawi describe the campaign to prevent him from travelling to European countries sounds not unlike Oceania's attempts to stamp out "thoughtcrime" in George Orwell's novel, "1984."

"Governments", Moussawi argues, "should not censor what people have to say and confiscate the right of intelligent people to decide what to hear or not to hear. I'm a staunch defender of political freedoms and freedom ofspeech,"

Moussawi categorically denies the accusation that he has promoted "anti-Semitic" views. "I would challenge anyone to provide evidence of any word that I have said that is hateful or anti-Semitic," he says, adding that he himself has been a victim of discrimination and has therefore made a special effort to eschew any form of prejudice. "I have nothing against Jews. I have nothing against any human being, whether because of religion, gender or political affiliation," he explains. "I'm a human being who believes in dignity, independence and freedom. I'm a bridge-builder and I've always been an advocate of dialogue and discussion." In February 2005 he invited five Jewish rabbis to a conference in Beirut and hosted their visit.

"I want to refute this notion that there is a 'clash of civilizations’. I believe that all over the world, people want the same things. We all want to be with our families; we all want to come back to our kids at the end of the day and bring bread to their tables and give them a good education, to live in harmony and peace."

Of his family, Ibrahim said that he had two sons; the first has the name Ibrahim, the second Jesus. If he had a third son he would name him Moses.

One thing that Moussawi seeks to combat is the very notion that Hizbullah is a terrorist organization. "I would say that we are in the midst of a war of terminology. It is a war of definitions that we should pay attention to.” Far from being a terrorist outfit, he argues, Hizbullah is a legitimate resistance group that is fighting to regain occupied land like the Shebaa Farms and to secure the return of prisoners held by Israel. "Many people try to demonize the resistance, but resistance is the right of people under occupation," Moussawi says, a claim supported by the UN Charter.

Moussawi has a response for those who would question the idea of inviting a Hizbullah media man to an anti-war event. "Who can talk about [the need to] stop the wars and [achieve] peace more than those who are suffering from the occupation and the atrocities and the massacres and the aggressions? We want genuine peace. We don't want compromises and we don't want to go again and again to the same vicious cycle every 10 years or five years, where you make a temporary settlement and you end up with another war coming. The roots of the problem, the roots of the cause of the problem, should be addressed."