George Hawi

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George Hawi ( جورج حاوي in Arabic) (1938 – June 21, 2005) was a Lebanese politician and former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP). He was assassinated in 2005.

1 Background
2 Assassination
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Background

George Hawi was born in the village of Bteghrine in Lebanon 1938 to a Greek Orthodox family. He became active in student politics in his early years at university, participating in numerous strikes and demonstrations and in several popular movements. He joined the LCP in 1955 and became one of the main leaders of its Student League by the end of the decade.

In 1964 he was imprisoned for his involvement in a strike against Lebanon’s state-controlled tobacco manufacturer. In 1969 he was again in prison for participation in a demonstration on April 23 in support of the Palestinian cause, and again in 1970 for his part in attacking an army detachment.

Hawi was briefly expelled from the LCP in 1967 for calling for more independence from the policies of the Soviet Union. He rejoined the Party and was elected secretary general in 1979 — a position he kept until 1993.

During the Lebanese Civil War Hawi, who used the kunya-style nom de guerre "Abu Anis", established the Popular Guard, the LCP militia, which was aligned with the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) of Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in its opposition to the Maronite-dominated government and Christian-backed militias. The LCP was also active in the guerrilla warfare against Israel and its proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), in southern Lebanon, after the Israeli invasion in 1982. During the invasion he created the Lebanese National Resistance front together with Muhsin Ibrahim. LNRF was commanded by Elias Atallah. At later stages of the war, the LCP under Hawi allied with Syria, which had entered Lebanon in 1976, but was to stay in the country for nearly 30 years.

He became a critic of the influence of Damascus in Lebanon late in his life, after having left the LCP in 2000. In 2004, he supported the foundation of the leftist Democratic Left Movement (DLM), that opposed the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and participated in the Independence Uprising of 2005. Murdered journalist Samir Kassir was a prominent member and co-founder of this group.

[edit] Assassination

George Hawi was assassinated when a bomb planted in his car was detonated by remote control, as he travelled through Beirut's Wata Musaitbi neighbourhood. The perpetrator has not been found, but many in Lebanon blame Syria for this and other explosions in the capital, after the Syrian retreat from Lebanon. It is known that Hawi who was a long time ally to Syria, turned against it and joined the Anti-Syrian coalition whose members were the prime targets of Syrians in the past years.