Your Who's Who Guide for AUB Student Elections

Editor's Note: This report represents the opinion of its author. It tries to provide a factual background about the groups participating in the AUB student elections for the year 2000/01. No deliberate attempt to publicize or to undermine any group's position or status has been made. We hope that this report will assist some uninformed students in better making their decisions as they step inside the ballot area to cast their votes.

Upon the approval of the University Faculty Senate, the then Dean of Student Affairs Fawzi Hajj introduced the notion of Student Representative Committees in 1981. Each faculty has its own committee and each committee elects a number of representatives to what is known as the University Student Faculty Committee.

Today, just a week prior to election day, the student body is still divided in two: the informed few and the careless majority. We put this report before the careless majority in order for them, in case they decide to vote, to comprehend and to understand the commitments and motives of the participating groups and the candidates running.

Nine parties are expected to participate in this year's elections: the Amal Movement, the Movement of the Commoners, the No Frontiers Group, the Muslim Student League, the Future Youth Organization, the Progressive Youth Organization, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and some student cultural clubs.

The Amal Movement, a political group in Lebanon which supports Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, has been reorganizing its rank and file at the American University of Beirut since last spring. It has inherited Hezbollah in terms of leading a Shiite base of students. Amal has been working, though in low profile, through the Cultural Club of the South. Its potential ally for this year is the Future Youth Organization and perhaps this will be the first year for Amal to nominate its own list of candidates.

The Movement of the Commoners is a five-year-old student political group at AUB. One of its most prominent members in the country is ex-MP Najah Wakim. In their rhetoric, the Commoners have a leftist inclination through their support of secularism, social justice, and freedom of speech. After four years of disagreement, the Commoners have finally resolved their old rivalry with the No Frontiers Group and are expected to build a strong alliance together. The Commoners run for elections under their own name, "The Commoners List (Arabic al-Shaab)."

The other leftist student party at AUB is the No Frontiers Group. The NF group is probably the only student group which has no affiliation with any non-AUB political party or figure. Even though the NF has been participating in student elections for the past four years, its first success in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences came only last year. This year, the NF has reduced its strong alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement to a mere electoral coordination and shifted its alliance towards the Commoners. Also, for the past few years, the NF has been running two clubs, namely the Arab Heritage Club and the Human Rights and Peace Club. The No Frontiers Group runs for elections under its own name.

By the beginning of this year, a remarkable political and student activity has been observed in the Muslim Student League. The MSL declares its fellowship with the Lebanese Sunni Dar al-Fatwa. The group's last participation in student elections was in the year 1997 when it failed to push any of its candidates into the SRC. Ever since 1997, the MSL has kept a low profile and has been working basically through the Makassed Alumni Club. The MSL, which leads a very conservative Sunni student base, is expected to support the FYO during the coming elections.

The other leading Sunni-based student group is the Future Youth Organization. The FYO is the pro-Prime Minister Rafic Hariri faction. Hariri's sweeping victory during the recent parliamentary elections and his re-appointment as Prime Minister have given

the FYO a big motive to revive itself at AUB. For the past few years, this organization has been dormant and has been sponsoring some activities under the banner of some clubs such as the Social Service Club. The FYO has no restrictions on its

alliance with any other student group except for leftist groups, especially the Commoners. The FYO's alliances are the least predictable, but some backstage information indicates that the organization will work in alliance with Amal, the Muslim Student League, and might try to barter for votes with the Progressive Youth Organization and the SSNP. In its last electoral appearance in 1997, the FYO's list ran for election under the name "Tomorrow's List."

A student group which has been trying to change the students' impression about the nature of its composition is the Progressive Youth Organization. In principle, the PYO works in conjunction with the Progressive Socialist Party, led by the famous Druze leader Walid Jumblat. Yet, thePYO stresses its independence from PSP and emphasizes its adherence to the principles set by Jumblat's father, Kamal, who was the founder of the PSP. This year, PYO will be striking an alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement.. Rumors have it that, in order to prove its non-Druze inclination, PYO might withdraw from the whole election process.

The PYO's potential ally, the Free Patriotic Movement, has also been working to nourish its non-sectarian picture before the students. The FPM has always been accused of having a Christian student base, but its last year's alliance with the leftist No Frontiers Group has smothered this Christian image among students. The FPM is composed basically of the supporters of the exiled ex-army general Michel Aoun. Shaping its policy on the guidelines of its founder, the FPM's first priority is the protection

of Lebanese independence. The movement's actions have been frequently banned by the Lebanese authorities for the past years, a fact which has created an anti-authority feeling among its members. The FPM has always exercised a very noticeable influence in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture and is expected to maintain this influence this year. FPM usually runs for elections in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences under a list called "The Freedom List."

Another student group viewed as Christian is the banned Lebanese Forces. Even though the LF, under the command of the late militia leader and later Lebanese President Bashir Gemayyel, was the military branch of the Lebanese Phalangist Party, it was transformed, by the end of the civil war, into a political party under the command of its now imprisoned leader Samir Geagea. In theory (refer to the LF web site), the group's fundamental concern is the maintenance of the Christian society's security. Its political priority is the transformation of Lebanon into a confederation. In practice, the LF claims believes in Christians and Muslims living together in harmony under the banner of a unified Lebanese people. At AUB, the LF launched its first open electoral campaign last year and nominated a list of two candidates under the name of "The Free Lebanon List." The LF has always claimed, for its part, a "holy" alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement. The FPM has always denied such an alliance.

Last but not least comes the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The SSNP has always prided itself on being first born, back in the thirties on the AUB campus. Half a century ago, the SSNP established the so-called Civic Welfare League. This league was ultimately transformed into a student club, which is still being run today by the SSNP itself. Two years ago, the SSNP made a remarkable return to student political life at AUB. Its allies are the least predictable since the party practices many restrictions on its political behavior. It usually runs for election under a list called "The Children of Life (Arabic Abna' al-Hayat)."

The parties are not the only determining factors in AUB student elections, however. Many clusters of independent students as well as cultural clubs practice some influence in determining the names of SRC winners. Cultural Clubs, which usually support candidates on the basis of personal friendships, do not usually have their own lists. They tend rather to support other student lists and groups. The Palestinian Cultural Club, for instance, behaves in a way which has come to be known as "Santa Claus," because it distributes its votes among almost all parties in order to satisfy every group.

One last remark about student elections: Most "independent" candidates are promised the support of some group or another. Very few "independent" candidates, especially in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, actually work on their own. Thus, for the uninformed majority, if you want to cast your vote for the right person, be she/he "independent" or "dependent," check and double check about the candidate's alliances and his/her platform. Never vote on the basis of friendship. Democracy is not a work of social intimacy.