These past few days I have uncovered quite a few great leads into the Honors senior thesis that I have proposed to write about this summer, as every Grand Valley Honors student must follow through with eventually in order to graduate from the Honors College. Funny enough, the Grand Valley delegation represented Lebanon two years ago at the National Model Arab League Conference in D.C. so I was a bit familiar with Lebanon prior to researching for this study excursion visit with the National Council (which meant I had already met the Lebanese Ambassador too, and he was still the same funny man this time around!). Building upon the little background research from those two years ago as well as the articles and books that the National Council requested us to read for this visit, the thesis proposal I composed revolves around the central question of, why did Lebanese youth not join their Arab counterparts in using the Arab Spring as an opportunity to rise up in great numbers to speak out against any injustices they feel they face in this day and age? I have always felt youth community involvement to be a very important topic and, after having taken a look at the itinerary that Josh sent me, youth and societal participation seemed to be a recurring theme with the various Lebanese organizations we would be visiting.
Yesterday after our tour of the American University of Beirut, our group was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about an organization sponsored by the morning newspaper An-Nahaar called the Youth Shadow Government (YSG). YSG reminded me of an organization that I participated in for two years when I was in high school; Michigan Youth in Government provides Michigan high-schoolers the chance to draft and debate bills within the real walls of the Senate chambers and House chambers of the Capitol building in Lansing. The exceptional aspect of Lebanon’s Youth Shadow Government, however, is that the participants of YSG, 20-27 years old in this case, actually get to sit down with the real members of Parliament that each participant represents in the Shadow Government. During these meetings, the students get to exchange with their minister any recent proposals of policy reform they might have while also getting to learn from their minister what actions the minister has been taking in Parliament recently. The benefits of Lebanon’s Youth Shadow Government are two-fold. Firstly, the 300-500 student applicants to YSG each year undergo an intensive application process to gain one of the few spots available; those who are selected are oftentimes exceptional individuals who exhibit a lot of leadership potential which they naturally develop during their year as a minister in the YSG. At the same time, the Shadow Government’s relationship with the true government allows the students to “keep tabs” on the ministers and serve as a friendly reminder to them that their constituents are relying on them to do their job. Like many other governmental institutions, pushing policy proposals through the Lebanese Parliament is often a lengthy and tedious process; while the YSG may not help simplify this process, it does provide passionate Lebanese youth the opportunity to become directly involved in this process and oftentimes results in young leaders who go on to become advisors to ministers and heads of municipalities.
One thing that I admired about the Youth Shadow Government is that the organization, contrary to the true government, is not based on confessionalism. The YSG picks out students instead on their individual competencies. Therefore, some years the majority of members could be Muslim, other years Christian, and other years Druze. Similarly, the youth branch of the Lebanese political party Democratic Renewal Movement (RDM) fluctuates from year to year with members of all different communities, and cross-sectarianism is a key focus of the party. These youth who are from all different backgrounds come together to push for desires they share, such as improving employment opportunities, student access to healthcare, and similar universal needs. Further, the youth branch encourages students to work on conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts through conferences such as International Alert.
Encouraging cross-sectarian interaction and discussion of reconciliation seems to be a recurring reaction of the people and organizations we have met with here in Lebanon. With the signing of the Ta’aif Agreement a mere 15 years ago, only one generation has been spared the direct impact that the atrocities of the civil war brought on the Lebanese people. My high school history teacher once told me, “We study history so that we do not repeat the same mistakes.” Even before arriving in Lebanon, my colleagues and I have heard repeatedly that, in order to put the war behind them, the people of Lebanon allowed “amnesty and amnesia” to take over. Few schools include a curriculum that covers the Civil War, and in the rare cases that students do get the opportunity to learn about this important piece of national history, the war is skewed from one of four history books distributed in the country which each portray a different angle of the conflict. What understanding of the war this young generation does not find in history books, it obtains from parents and neighbors whose stories are skewed as well. From the get-go, children are raised to side with their sect and learn only of the war crimes committed by the other players, creating a silent and subtle tension between each of the communities which make up this diverse nation.
Without standardizing the history of the country’s civil war, Lebanon’s post-war generations will never be brought up with a more accurate understanding of where things went wrong and how future tensions could be prevented. Fortunately, with such organizations as the Youth Shadow Government and the Democratic Renewal Movement, youth are finally given the opportunity to interact and learn from young individuals of other communities as well as have the support to move forward and create a society centered on nationalism and not sectarianism. Insh’allah it will just be a matter of time.
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