FPM Celebrates Lebanon's Liberation and Return Day in Tampa, FLorida
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 21:39:44 -0700
Communique - For Publishing
The Free Patriotic Movement of Tampa- Florida held a the "Liberation and Return Picnic" on May 7, 2006 marking the first memorial of the return  of General Michel Aoun to liberated Lebanon. The event came in the first anniversary of Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, and the sixth anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon. Free Patriotic Movement (FPM)supporters and their friends enjoyed the barbecue and their "arghileh"under Florida's sun. FPM -Tampa distributes a communique about the struggle of their underground group since the Syrian final invasion of Lebanon on October 1990, until the country became free last year.
Free Patriotic Movement – From Underground Resistance to a Modern Political Party
In 1989, the Syrian army controlled most of Lebanon with local militia forces that emerged in the previous fifteen years and allied themselves with the Syrian forces enjoyed controlling regions of the country over its disintegrated political and security structure. Some of these militias started their own states within a state, burdening people with taxes and surrendering the areas they controlled to their instant interests. The Syrian army surrounded the hinterland of the Lebanese interim government, which defied the Syrian forces and declared a War of Liberation against Syrian occupation on March 14. The people of Lebanon then found in their government hope for restoring their freedom from Syrian occupation and their dignity from militia control.
Popular support for the Lebanese government increased until the Syrian forces launched an offensive on the government headquarters on October 13, 1990, exiled Premier Michel Aoun, and enjoyed full control of Lebanon.
An underground peaceful resistance started from the simple acts of defying the occupation with young men and women discretely distributing leaflets and spreading liberation messages on walls. The freedom movement grew with more joining its cause and demonstrations becoming more popular every year, especially on the anniversaries of March 14 and October 13. The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) defied abduction, torture, and persecution for along sixteen years, with the slogan: "Freedom - Sovereignty -Independence." While over a third of the Lebanese population was forced to leave their homeland, the FPM became more organized and joined their efforts with theLebanese in diaspora and the international political efforts of the exiledPremier. Their struggle culminated with the popular Cedar Revolution in March 2005. The Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon late April 2005 and the Premier, General Michel Aoun, returned with hundreds of exiled on May 7, 2005, to a free, sovereign, and independent Lebanon.  The FPM was organized under a modern-form, democratic-style political party, with a platform agenda of change and reform in Lebanon. The tens of thousands of educated and intellectuals vowed to bring Lebanon to the place it deserves in the civilized world through their expertise and dedication, just like they were in restoring its freedom with sixteen years of commitment to liberation.
FPM – Tampa, May 7, 2006
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Antoine Faddoul
FPM-Tampa
(813) 966 4462
tonyfaddoul@gmail.com