Karim Mruah remembers George Hawi, assassinated on Tuesday in Beirut The last conversation I had with George Hawi occurred hours before the crime which claimed his life on Tuesday. The conversation ended in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the promise that we would resume the discussion after his return from Cairo, to which he was travelling the following day. Hawi went home at 1.30am to catch a few hours of sleep before resuming his busy schedule. He had planned to meet Elias Attallah, the newly-elected member of the Lebanese Parliament, to congratulate him on his success in the final round of the Lebanese Parliamentary election that took place in the north last Sunday and during which Hawi had actively campaigned on behalf of Attallah and his list. Fate caught up with him that morning when, at 10.30am, as he was on his way to meet Attallah, a bomb exploded beneath the seat of his car. Hawi had spent a lifetime on one battlefront or another. He joined the Lebanese Communist Party in 1955 at the age of 17, rising through the party's ranks to become an organiser in the trade union movement of the 1960s. He participated in the 1964 workers' strike in Lebanon and was imprisoned for his role in organising the strike -- and in the same year was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party becoming, at the age of 26, the youngest communist leader in Lebanon and, perhaps, the Arab world. He became secretary-general of the party in 1979, and though he resigned the post in 1993 he remained a commanding political figure until Tuesday when, at the age of 67, he paid with his life for the ideals he had lived for -- a non-sectarian, progressive Arab Lebanon. Throughout his long journey we were often together. We were together when, between 1966 and 1968, a younger generation within the Lebanese Communist Party sought to revitalise the party by discarding outdated ideas in favour of full engagement in the struggle for Arab liberation. We were together in April 1969 when he led the famous Beirut demonstration in support of Palestinian resistance. We were staunch supporters of the liberation struggles of Arabs from the Gulf to the Ocean, and were together during the 15 long years of the Lebanese civil war, within the ranks of the Progressive Front and allied with the Palestinian revolution. And we were together when, following the Israeli occupation of Beirut in 1982, he founded the Resistance Front jointly with Mohsin Ibrahim. In 1993, four years after the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war was signed, Hawi resigned his post as secretary-general of the party and embarked on a new struggle championing what we, together with many comrades, called the programme for democratic change, battling for a more just, free and progressive future for Lebanon. He engaged in this last battle, which consumed more than a decade of his life, with the bravery and clear- headedness that had characterised his five-decade-long struggle for the ideals he believed in. He had no illusions, and knew that the road ahead would be long and difficult. The assassination of Rafik Al-Hariri, followed by that of Samir Kassir, made it clear to everyone that the security regime was not about to give up easily and that Lebanon's transition from tyranny and corruption to freedom, democracy and progress would claim many sacrifices. Hawi's assassination on Tuesday, following the announcement of electoral victories in North Lebanon, sent a clear message to all the leaders of the independence uprising. That message is as simple as it is brutal: "We will stop you from pursuing your aspirations by whatever means it takes." Those who send this message are wrong to think that the price we are now paying in the blood of our comrades will stop us. Quite the opposite -- the blood of Hawi, and of others who have fallen, strengthens our resolve to continue along the road they championed. Hawi's unwavering confidence that our aims will eventually be achieved serves as an inspiration, keeping us faithful to his path as we remain faithful to his memory. Hawi, who pointed to the future and marched in its direction, did so with a clear vision, always keeping a keen eye on our Syrian brothers. Hawi believed the Syrians (who left Lebanon in circumstances far removed from how we would have wished this to happen) had an important role to play in reformulating Lebanese-Syrian relations in a way that would be of mutual benefit to both countries. In the course of my last conversation with Hawi and other friends in the early hours of that fateful morning we all wondered who would be next in this latest series of assassinations. We speculated on the priorities of those responsible for the murders, and none of us supposed for a moment that Hawi was at risk. We were wrong, and must now heed the lesson. Hawi's assassination makes it clear that the leading members of the Lebanese left occupy places at the top of the list. We know now that in assassinating such symbols our enemies are seeking to assassinate the future. George Hawi, born 1938 in the village of Beitghrin in Mount Lebanon to Greek Orthodox parents; joined the Lebanese Communist Party in 1955 ; secretary-general of the party 1979- 1993. He is survived by his wife Sossie Madoyan and his and step-son Rafi Madoyan. His funeral service takes place tomorrow in the Greek-Orthodox Church in Sahat Al-Nijmah, Beirut, after which his body will be buried in his native village Beitghrin.
