Five days for Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein in the Nation on March 9:

This type of bald colonial interference is already threatening to turn Lebanon's "cedar revolution" fairy tale into a nightmare. By all accounts, most Lebanese would like to see Syria withdraw from their country. But as the hundreds of thousands who participated in the March 8 pro-Hezbollah demonstration made clear, they are unwilling to have their desire for independence hijacked by the interests of Washington and Tel Aviv. By linking Lebanon's independence movements to American designs for the region, the Bush Administration is weakening Lebanon's secularists and religious moderates and increasing the power of Hezbollah.

Beirut today, March 14:

Hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators chanted "Freedom, sovereignty, independence" and unfurled a huge Lebanese flag in Beirut on Monday, the biggest protest yet in the opposition's duel of street rallies with supporters of the Damascus-backed government.

Crowds of men, women and children flooded Martyrs Square, spilling over into nearby streets, while more from across the country packed the roads into Beirut - responding to an opposition call to demonstrate for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
.....
[Today's] protest easily topped a pro-government rally of hundreds of thousands of people last week by the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah.

Naomi Klein has come to be interesting only because she represents a broader mindset: of all those with seemingly only one single preoccupation in this world. It is this same preoccupation which dictates that Klein should again present the US 'narrative' of democratization in Iraq as a 'new story'. On which see here. As the people of Iraq with respect to democracy, so those of Lebanon with respect to independence: they are evidently 'unwilling to have their desire for independence hijacked' by single-issue Western leftists. (See also here and here. Hat tip for the Nation column: MD.)