MGLEB01: POLITICAL ORGANIZING ON CAMPUS: A MIRROR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 000922

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ELA; INFO R, NEA/PPD, NEA/PI - KIRBY, DRL -
BIRKLE, ECA/PE/V, ECA/A/E


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KPAO KDEM KMPI SOCI SCUL LE
SUBJECT: MGLEB01: POLITICAL ORGANIZING ON CAMPUS: A MIRROR
AND PREDICTOR OF NATIONAL POLITICS

Summary
--------------


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Student politics in Lebanon mirror the
country's national political scene in intensity,
organization and confessional breakdown. Highly structured
partisan organizations with motivated and dedicated student
members compete in time-consuming university elections to
demonstrate the strength of their party and dominate
political allegiances on campus. This process both confirms
and reinforces confessional political affiliations of young
Lebanese at an early age, making the goal of a cross-
confessional Lebanon even more difficult. END SUMMARY.

All Parties on All Campuses
--------------


2. (SBU) According to youth activists from Free Patriotic
Movement (led by Michel Aoun),Future Movement (aka Future
Current, led by Sa'ad al-Hariri),Lebanese Forces (led by
Samir Ja'Ja') and Amal Movement (led by Nabih Berri),all of
Lebanon's major political parties are well-organized and
active on the country's university campuses. Typically, an
executive leader and deputy -- usually 20-something
volunteers with university political experience under their
belt -- work with a student cabinet on regional and
functional issues. Regional leaders coordinate activities
with campuses in their home district or alma matter.
Functional leaders direct contact between the party and
students. The Amal Movement replicates the structure of the
Lebanese government, appointing student "ministers" to
follow specific issues and regions. In both cases, direct
lines lead to the regional, and even party, leader.


3. (SBU) Student party leader positions are unsalaried but
greatly sought after nonetheless for ambitious young
politicos. Although none of the regional, functional or
campus leaders are female, young women have more
representation in on campus political activity than in
national politics. Young women are represented in all
parties, on all campuses; they play an especially dynamic
role, albeit still at a secondary level compared with their
male colleagues, in the Free Patriotic and Future Movements.

Campaigning on Campus
--------------


4. (SBU) Some universities, including USG-supported American
University Beirut (AUB) and Lebanese American University
(LAU),ban political parties on campus. But, innocuously
named clubs often become virtual parties with known
allegiances. AUB students in their most recent elections,
for example, knew that candidates for the 93 seats on the
elected Student Representative Committee (SRC) belonged to
two lists mirroring those of the parliamentary elections --
regardless of the use of pseudonyms and student club names:
"You vote either pro- or anti-March 14," explained a senior
business student, referring to the alliance of Hariri-
Jumblatt-Samir Ja'ja'-Qornet Shehwan that took its name from
the mass cross-confessional demonstration of that day in

2005. "The elections this year are all about proving a
point," said another student, carrying an orange banner (the
color adopted as a trademark by Aoun's Free Patriotic
Movement).


5. (SBU) At AUB, for example, elections for the SRC are held
in early November. Even the AUB's official publication
"AUBulletin Today" acknowledges that AUB student elections
"have never been separate from the country's political
sentiments. Not unlike in the May-June Lebanese
parliamentary elections, this year's candidates were divided
into two large groups, with some independents trying their
luck against the big fish."


6. (SBU) Campaigning on campus isn't, however, about
improving campus life but rather an opportunity to
demonstrate a party's strength on campus as an indicator of
its national importance. Party activists know that their
ability to win on campus boosts their standing-and future
prospects-in their party. A Lebanese Forces activist in his
late twenties boasted that his success on both on Christian-
majority Fanar campus of national, public Lebanese
University and Jesuit, French-language St. Joseph campus,
earned him public praise from his party's leadership. Other
Amal Movement organizers spoke proudly about their success

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in increasing their position on the AUB campus. Winning
elections also gives authority to organize on-campus events
in line with a political ideology.


7. (SBU) Many students bemoan the time elections demand
while boasting that their grades often suffered because of
their intense involvement. One senior Free Patriotic
Movement activist bragged he'd taken seven years to complete
his three-year undergraduate degree because his involvement
in student politics had caused him to fail so many classes.
Similarly, a Lebanese Forces Engineering student claimed he
stayed a sophomore for four years in order to keep his
position with his party and the popularity he believed
accrued from it.

Early Recruitment
For Lifetime Loyalty
--------------


8. (SBU) Political parties start recruiting adherents as
early as high school. Although some university activists
criticized this effort to solidify party allegiances so
soon, they also acknowledged the race to capture political
market share by signing up younger and younger voters.
After all, one late-20s Future Movement activist told us,
"Everyone is doing it." Almost universally, representatives
from all parties told us that their aim was to "get to them
early to mold them." Said one, "We want to encourage them
to think like us. to teach them through a certain lens."


8. (SBU) At public Lebanese University, for example, where
appointments for deans and department heads are determined
with political/confessional considerations in mind, student
party activist are not infrequently given student lists to
facilitate recruitment to political parties. At other
universities (all private),obtaining access to student
databases, appeared remarkably easy for party activists. A
former Lebanese Forces student representative claimed that
party loyalists in the office of the registrar or working in
the IT department were ready to help. "By regulation,
universities distribute the lists to all candidates two
weeks before the elections, but having them two months
earlier makes the whole difference."

Information Flow and Funding
--------------


9. (SBU) A primary goal of campus political organization is
to create and maintain channels for information to flow from
party leaders to their supports. A recent meeting of 150
university-aged Aoun supporters recently north of Beirut was
part pep rally, part information dissemination. The subject
of this particular meeting was outlining reasons behind
Aoun's recent agreement with Hizballah. As many of the
young party faithful read neither newspapers nor have
regular access to the internet, meetings such as this are
important to strengthen party cohesion.


10. (SBU) Parties fund campus activities in different ways.
The Future Movement provides the most generous financial
support to its campus Hariri Future Youth groups. Other
campus groups, with less financial support from their
parties, raise funds through social events or by soliciting
donations from supporters. The funds cover election costs
and maintain enhance name recognition and reputation: "You
should always remind the students of your presence and let
them feel your support," a young partisan explained, adding
his party passed out stress balls with the party's logo
during exam time. He asserted party funds were also used
for providing air-conditioners to classrooms and
photocopiers to departments.


11. (SBU) Student political organizers all volunteers are
often motivated more by ideological than professional goals.
Although students may remain active in party politics after
university, no established way exists for moving from
student political leadership into the actual bureaucracy of
the party. Nevertheless, for some, party involvement holds
out the hope of political connections that may eventually
promote professional success.


12. (SBU) COMMENT: The unique nature of Lebanese
political organizing, particularly with youth, presents
both challenges and opportunities for advancing USG
democracy. The young age at which parties begin

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recruitment underscores the importance of our
engagement with high school students, through USG-
funded programs such as the ACCESS English language
scholarship program and recruitment for exchange
programs such as YES and MEPI leadership programs. Our
FY 2005 Single Country International Visitor Leadership
Project, "Young Lebanese Leaders and the U.S. Political
System," not only introduced nine youth leaders of
political parties to U.S. party politics, but also
promoted cross-confessional, cross-party dialogue and
relations that continues one year later. Embassy
Officers will continue to seek out avenues to engage
with student leaders, including young women, to promote
better understanding of the democratic process and to
discuss reform and democracy.

FELTMAN