Hezbollah Again Postpones General Congress
By: An Al-Monitor Correspondent in Beirut Posted on March 20.
إقرأ باللغة العربية
Hezbollah was supposed to hold its general congress at the end of last year,
but it was postponed until this spring, and then postponed again to next
September. The main reason for these repeated delays is the situation in
Syria, and Hezbollah is inclined to set its priorities in accordance with
these developments. It goes without saying that Hezbollah is strategically
affected by the situation in Syria. The group is linked to the Syrian regime
through a strategic partnership, as part of the Iranian-led "axis of
resistance" in the Middle East.
Summary :
Hezbollah's decision to again delay its general congress may be linked in
part to regional developments, including Bahrain and Syria, writes an
Al-Monitor correspondent in Beirut.
Original Title:
Hezbollah Delays General Congress and Prepares for Restructuring
Author: An Al-Monitor Correspondent in Beirut
Hezbollah, given its preoccupation with monitoring the events in Syria, was
forced to postpone the congress until later this summer. If Hezbollah had
held this congress — which would be the party's 10th annual congress —
according to schedule, it would have been a special occasion, given that the
date coincided with the 30th anniversary of the party's birth. In fact,
there are two different dates marking the birth of Hezbollah. The first is
the date that the formation of the party was announced. This occurred on
Feb. 16, 1984, when the party's spokesman at the time, Ibrahim al-Amin,
announced the party's political charter in a message titled "The Open
Letter." In this document, the party responded to the question, "Who are
we?" The second date that could be considered the "birth of the party" is
when the group launched its covert resistance mission against the Israeli
occupation in many areas throughout Lebanon in 1982.
Since 1986 — when the party held its first general congress — Hezbollah has
held nine consecutive general congresses. During the first congress,
Hezbollah defined its internal structure, which clarified the role of its
internal institutions and the mechanisms for electing party officials. These
officials range from the secretary- general, who is the head of the party,
to the members of the Shura Council, which is the highest leadership body
and is headed by the secretary-general. They also include members of the
"jihadist council", which deals with military and security decisions and
comprises seven members, including the secretary-general. It should be noted
that the party's most prominent military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, was a
member of the jihadist council until his assassination in 2008.
This first congress saw the election of the party's first secretary-general,
Sheik Subhi al-Tufayli, who remained in this post until the election of
Hezbollah's second secretary-general, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1991. After Musawi
was assassinated at the hands of Israel in 1992, Hassan Nasrallah was
elected his successor and to this day remains in office.
According to the party's rules of procedure — outlined in its first charter
— the secretary-general can only be nominated for this post for two terms.
This article, however, was amended a few years later, allowing Nasrallah to
remain in his post for an unlimited number of terms. Yet at this time, there
are leaked reports from within party circles that Nasrallah will not seek an
additional term as secretary-general in the congress to be held this coming
September.
This does not mean that Nasrallah intends to give up his powers, but rather
that the party's leadership structure will change in a manner that shifts
the extensive powers currently entrusted to the secretary general to a new
post under the title of "Supreme Guide." This post will be awarded to
Nasrallah, while the post of secretary-general, with decreased powers, will
go to one of the party's nonreligious figures. The most likely candidate for
this post is MP Mohammad Raad, who is currently the head of Hezbollah's
parliamentary bloc, in addition to serving as a member of the party's
political office.
Sources close to the party told Al-Monitor that this restructuring is still
the subject of debate within the party. Others have suggested an
alternative, which would involve transforming the secretariat-general into
an institution, no longer headed by a single figure.
There is an objective and strategic reason that has led Hezbollah to
postpone its 10th general congress for the third time in less than a year:
the events in Syria. The party prefers to wait until the situation in Syria
becomes clear, because this would help it realize how it should restructure
its new leadership, and the nature of the main ideas that will be included
in its political charter at the internal, regional and international levels.
Those observing the internal workings of the party have noticed that the
unexpected events in Syria have caused the party much confusion, and
subsequently it is inclined to wait to restructure its internal leadership
until it becomes clear where the developments in Syria are heading. Here it
should be noted that Hezbollah cooperates with the Syrian regime in terms of
exchanging services and protecting strategic interests, equivalent to a
raison d'être in a number of aspects. The party depends on Syria as a
geopolitical lung, providing Hezbollah with weapons, and protection in a
number of different ways.
Secondly, over the past few years Hezbollah has seen a significant growth in
its organizational structure, representing a threefold increase of what it
was during its last general congress in 2009. There are recent developments
that have led to this growth, most notably the emergence of internal
security challenges represented by the appearance of Lebanese forces with
conflicting political views. The conflict between the two sides has reached
the point that rounds of fighting could break out at any time, similar to
what happened on May 7, 2008, when Hezbollah took control of Beirut and
crushed opposing Sunni Lebanese militias that it felt were threatening it
with arms.
In recent years, Hezbollah established a military wing to respond to what
the party considered internal security challenges. This wing includes the
so-called "Resistance Brigades," which have thousands of members. Hezbollah
wanted to ensure that there was no organizational link between the military
wing and the party's primary "jihadist body," which was characterized by a
complex structure and is exclusively responsible for preparing for a
confrontation with Israel.
The bottom line in this regard is that the emergence of new political and
military wings within Hezbollah's structure, means that the party will need
more time to prepare for its upcoming general congress. This is particularly
true given that Hezbollah is currently preoccupied with a complex political
and security situation both domestically and throughout the region.
The third reason for the postponement of the 10th general congress is
related to the second reason mentioned above, and this is related to the
party's attempt to add new institutions and organizational ranks to its
structure, which would enable it to absorb more members within a partisan
framework. The party now has hundreds of thousands of members, including
both active members and those with a certain organizational link (it is said
that there are 300,000 members). These members are distributed among various
partisan sectors, including students, professionals, economists, military
and security elements and financial advisors.
Today, the party needs to create new divisions within its organizational
structures, which — according to a leading official speaking to Al-Monitor —
should be more flexible and effective, and less bureaucratic. This same
leader admits that, according to a wide segment of Hezbollah's leadership,
it suffers from many cases of corruption. This is something that cannot be
rectified merely through repressing corruption and creating and expanding
internal "accountable, legitimate authorities" (equivalent to the concept of
civilian judicial authorities), but also must be addressed through
developing a comprehensive regulatory vision.
There is yet another highly-important reason, and this is that the party
needs to take the necessary time to prepare the political statement that it
will present at the 10th congress regarding the Arab revolutions. Hezbollah
sources admit that there is a type of political and intellectual confusion
regarding this topic. The Arab revolutions dealt a severe blow to the idea
of Islamic unity that the party has called for in all of its documents. This
is particularly true given that the Syrian popular movement, to which
Hezbollah is opposed, entails a sectarian conflict between Sunnis on the one
hand and Alawites and Shiites on the other.
Similarly, the popular movement in Bahrain, which the party supports, is
interpreted in the Gulf not as a reform movement, but rather as an attempt
by Iran to stir Bahraini Shiites to protest against the Sunni governance
that exists in the Arab Gulf states. Hezbollah is studying the position that
it will take during its 10th congress regarding the Arab revolutions with
much caution. The source of Hezbollah's caution here stems from its
strategic alliance with the Syrian regime on the one hand, and its desire
not to let its conflict with the Islamic movement in Syria damage its
already fragile relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on the
other.
There are those who believe that the party's desire to avoid any
embarrassment when it comes to taking a historic position on the Arab
revolutions in an official statement issued during its 10th congress, is one
the important reasons that has led it to decide again and again to postpone
this congress.
Read more:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/hezbollah-delays-general-c
ongress.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6659#ixzz2OBvxjGey
==========================================
(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS
PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment