AUB Secular Club or Change Starts Here? Here’s who to Vote for
Campus Policy Analysis by Annabelle Ghanem, Staff Writer and Tala Majzoub, Staff Writer
November 11th, 2020
Editorial note: Annabelle Ghanem is a current member of Change Starts Here and the entity’s head policy maker at the American University of Beirut and Tala Majzoub is former member of the Secular Club (and Campus Choice) at the American University of Beirut and current member of MADA Network.
Around this time last year, AUB students were preparing for student body elections that were meant to take place on October 18th. Ultimately, elections were cancelled in light of the uprising that ignited on the 17th. Little did the students know that exactly one year later, the battlefield would be a lot less polluted with sectarian candidates.
October 2020 marked a striking win for independents in Lebanon, with the independent candidates from the Lebanese American University winning the popular vote in the student council elections. Accumulating 52% of the votes compared to the Lebanese Forces which gathered 33% and Amal Movement which secured only 8% of the votes in Byblos and Beirut campuses combined, LAU’s independent candidates gave the lebanese a glimmer of hope for a better tomorrow. Shortly afterwards, Rafic Hariri University secured 4/9 independent seats in the student council, another potent win considering it’s the first year where independent students even ran for elections at RHU. After the promising achievements in LAU and RHU elections, people waited in anticipation for the results of the student council elections in the other universities in Lebanon, namely the AUB elections which have long been known for their competitiveness and immensity.
AUB elections were confirmed on October 29th 2020. Ever since then, eyes have been directed towards the sectarian parties at AUB, who have never tried too hard to camouflage their political allegiance when participating in student body elections. This year however, after being overshadowed by the overwhelming independent campaigns at AUB, sectarian political party clubs fell back. Clubs affiliated with sectarian political parties, such as the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah, and the Future Movement, have decided to boycott the student elections, complaining that e-voting “constraints freedom of choice”. Quite ironic considering that the only reason behind commencing with elections is for the students to practice their voting rights. Clearly, sectarian political parties did not withdraw their platforms because they felt the elections were rigged, they withdrew because they were unable to find enthusiastic candidates willing to represent their campaigns, or dare we say, sectarian political parties.
In light of the sectarian political parties backing out, progressive and secular students were more than ready to reclaim the AUB democratic space. The AUB Secular Club, which has long been the country’s largest and most renowned independent student platform, is now competing with Change Starts Here, a new independent movement that was born three months ago in light of the Lebanese revolution. For the first time in AUB’s history, the competition is now between two independent movements. This reality has raised many eyebrows, prompting people to wonder why two independent clubs are running “against” each other if they both encompass the same ideas. What follows is a comparative analysis of the two prominent voices in the 2020 AUB elections; Change Starts Here and the AUB Secular Club.
How are Change Starts Here and AUB Secular Club similar yet different?
Core Values and Principles
The AUB Secular Club is an independent political student organization that was founded by a group of politically active AUB students in 2008. The following principles constitute the Secular Club’s framework for political participation on both the university and the national level: secularism, democracy, human rights and public freedoms, pluralism, social justice, citizenship, and sovereignty. The Secular Club upholds the rights and freedoms of all people, regardless of their race, sex, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, sect, political or other opinion, nationality, ethnicity, or any other status. It strives to abolish all forms of class discrimination or social privilege, and vehemently opposes racist and exclusivist conceptions of citizenship.
While the Secular Club essentially aims to eliminate all forms of sectarian quota systems in all political and administrative positions, the club has an equally outstanding and ongoing history in its fights for civil liberties (LGBTQ+, feminism, migrant workers, etc.). The weight placed on the social and political struggles are equal, as the Secular Club believes that both fights are intertwined.
From Secular Club March against domestic abuse and rape culture, October 11 2020.
On the other hand, The Change Starts Here movement made its way onto the AUB political spectrum in early September of the year 2020. The CSH values have always been a core basis of the movement’s approach towards creating and establishing an independent student body, one that represents each and every individual within our AUB community.
The entity believes in political moderation and progressive centrism, complete and utter transparency, inclusivity in a sense where each and every minority group and voice is heard and represented, equality amongst individuals of all races, genders, sexualities and nationalities, and above all, secularism, a value both CSH and the AUB Secular Club hold highly as they march through the country’s political scene.
Evidently, the main difference in terms of core values and principles lies in priorities. Both clubs strive to alter the sectarian political scene in Lebanon, and to ensure equality and inclusion amongst all individuals. However, the Secular Club places equal emphasis on social and political awareness and reformation, while Change Starts Here prioritizes secular progress and societal growth and awareness in Lebanon.
Discourse
The Secular Club is pluralistic yet structural in its approach. Pluralism assumes that diversity is beneficial to society and that autonomy should be enjoyed by contrasting functional or cultural groups within society. Thus, the Secular Club emphasizes that power should be dispersed among a variety of economic and ideological pressure groups instead of a single elite or group of elites; it also embraces people from different ideological and social backgrounds to engage students in a productive learning experience. On the other hand, this is accompanied by a political discourse which is increasingly anti-establishment.
Former member of Secular Club and current member of Mada Youth Network Karim Safieddine explains the Secular Club’s rhetoric: "It is not a lenient or laid-back discourse, and frankly it shouldn’t be after August 4th, as we are not dealing with corruption, we are dealing with murderers. It is important for the rhetoric to be increasingly systemic and conclusive. We are not here to negotiate.”
Change Starts Here believes in utilizing political moderation as a means of inclusivity, transparency, and democracy as they go about their journey towards independence and secularism. "Change Starts Here adopts centrism and progessive approaches towards radical political and societal change” Mirna Kasem, President of Change Starts Here, explained . “Building on the 17th of October revolution, CSH believes that streets should be accompanied by effective syndicate and student work in a fierce battle against the corrupt political state,” she added. The entity’s main source of information, which fuels the creative bubble created by all CSH members, is simply the AUB community. CSH aims to represent the entirety of the AUB student body, and not just the entity's members. The movement has proven to be a platform for students to share their struggles, to have their voices heard amongst the chaos, uncertainty, and inconsideration circulating our campus. With that, while adhering to one of CSH’s core values, proper and substantial change, the entity takes every and all concerns and suggestions, and restlessly begins finding ways in which CSH can get the job done. The movement strives upon achieving independence in the most influential and efficient way possible, while exercising complete inclusivity towards all those independent voices wishing to be heard and wanting to join the independent front.
From the Change Starts Here candidate video shoot, November 2020.
Therefore, in order to achieve such widespread influential change, CSH began working on the Student Mobilization Infrastructure, a database where all clubs, activists, and independents may follow and receive updates regarding timings and initiatives being done, in order to maximise the number of students involved in protests, such as the dollarization protests, at the same time. In short, Change Starts Here aims to educate, challenge, advocate, march, protest, and above all, be a driving force against all those who aim to harm our community and country.
The main differences that can be extracted from the approaches utilized by both independent entities are mostly related to the level of radicalism employed. The Secular Club adopts a radical progressive and reformist approach towards achieving substantial change, as they firmly believe that there is no room for compromise with war-lords in Lebanon at this point in time. On the other hand, Change Starts Here strives to consult different approaches towards fighting corruption in a politically moderate way first, until absolutely necessary for escalation.
Student Body Candidates
For the student body elections for year 2020, AUB Secular Club proudly and gladly announced that the AUB Secular Club’s independent list Campus Choice includes 94 candidates running in all AUB faculties. When It comes to recruitment, the AUB Secular only recruits candidates whose ideological and political stances strictly align with the club’s values and principles. Club does have some members who were previously politically affiliated. However, due to previous problematic election recruits, the Secular Club leans towards recruiting candidates who do not have previous political affiliations.
This can be overlooked in very rare cases, as there is a small number of recruits amongst the 94 candidates who have a history of political affiliations a long time ago. However, the Secular Clubs maintains a rather stern policy in electoral recruitment. Nonetheless, AUB Secular Club creates an inclusive environment for all its members. As Ali Slim, USFC Candidate for the Faculty of Medicine explains “I have worked with the Secular Club for almost 4 years now, and I have found their values and principles to closely align with mine”, Ali adds “I found that the club can be depended on when it comes to defending student interests and standing against administrative decisions that harm the student body”.
Change Starts Here has nominated fifty-two independent candidates, individuals who all have a story about their political influence and participation within the university, and within the Lebanese political scene. A portion of those candidates have been previously tied with political parties and clubs representing outside forces within our university, and others have been members within contending independent clubs such as the AUB Secular Club throughout their university years. However, following strict investigations and recruitment process, every and all candidates were officially proven to be representing the independent front, and adhere to Change Starts Here’s primary stance “Kelon ya3ne kelon.”
CSH believes that in order to fight for the country we deserve and hope for, we must first begin by educating our surroundings, convincing them using none other than our values and strategies to join the right side, the independent side. The entity is inclusive in the sense where it provides individuals with a second chance, a chance to take part in the change our AUB community and country both need to see. “I chose to run as an SRC at AUB because I believe we need to start working on making a change in our society,” Nour Myra, an FAS SRC candidate expressed. “And for that to happen, we need to make a change in our community first!”
While both clubs do not welcome politically affiliated members, Secular Club is less accepting when it comes to welcoming members who have had previous political affiliations, and make sure that their potential candidates align with their values and principles (are tolerant, and not homophobic for instance). On the other hand, the Change Starts Here adopts a more lenient approach in this regard, and are open to welcoming members with different ideologies if they prove themselves no longer politically affiliated. Nonetheless, Secular Club and Change Starts Here both ensure an inclusive space for their candidates and members, away from sectarianism.
Main Platforms
The Secular Club has different platforms tailored to specifically cater to each and every faculty. The main takeaways of the Campus Choice platform are: revising the decision of converting tuition fees from LBP to dollars, implementing student financial contract, ensuring quality education, guaranteeing autonomous clubs and societies, achieving an independent student council, ensuring a safer and freer campus for women and marginalized groups, facilitating the official access to previous exams and assignments, and accommodating students during the Covid-19 pandemic and facilitating their online learning experience.
President of the Secular Club Lara Sabra discusses the club’s main platform mirrors the club’s values “several proposals we have been advocating for the past few years (such as independent student council and reversing the dollarization), but there are also other points that we thought would be important to include this year (ensuring a safer campus for marginalized groups, and accommodating students through pandemic). As a Secular Club, we are passionate about enhancing and improving student life in all its forms”, Lara explains that the club “tried to incorporate all its main values into its main platform this year, and these values include feminism, equality, and accessibility, and I think our main platform is based on these main points by including the economic aspect (reversing dollarization) and transparency (independent student councils) and anti-discrimination (like enhancing title IX). This is what the campus choice platform is based on this year: the proper application of our values to real life and practical situations.”
AUB Secular Club, Campus Choice, October 18 2019.
Similarly, policymaking member at CSH, Selim Yafi, explains that the CSH platforms “were tailored to be as relatable to the students as possible.” “Everything on the platform is inspired by actual conversations we had with aub students, as part of our policymaking assignments prior to our drafting process,” he continued. The Change Starts Here platforms are based on substantial political, social, and economic changes the entity believes can and should be enforced within the American University of Beirut. “We focus on palpable objectives and projects which can be accomplished in a situation like ours,” Rami Saab, an active policy member expressed. “Something which we can plant and watch flourish over the next few years,” he predicts. The platforms dive into creative and out of the box ideas that encompass both what the students are asking for, along with what the administration would realistically consider.
A few examples of those very strategies include but are not limited to; revision of the various course requirements posing unnecessary implications on students’ bachelors track, as well as the provision of sample exams instead of previouses in an attempt to accommodate for professors who use the same exam questions semester after semester, while utilizing an alternative method to provide classes with more direction and structural instructions. The Change Starts Here campaign also strongly focuses on the importance of supporting and promoting the mental health of our community and country, with a special concentration in reformation strategies for the campuses title 9 office. All platforms include objectives that tackle the faculty, departments, and student needs circulating our campus, on the spectrum of both the virtual and face to face AUB educational experience. This includes but is not limited initiatives aiming for renovation, integration, and above all, diversification.
One of the founding moments of Change Starts Here, the October revolution, October 2019.
Although Change Starts Here and the AUB Secular Club may differ with regards to the order of change they respectively aim to instigate, with each entity placing their focus on different aspects of injustice taking place on our campus, it remains evident that the two entities will be aligning on several key subjects, growing and strengthening the independent front in the face of many of the challenges to come. It is highly likely that candidates of both independent entities may find themselves working together on a variety of concerns and strategies aiming to better our community. Concerns that fall right under the umbrella of a number of common values both entities continuously aim to fight for. With great intentions comes great changes, and with more and more numbers joining the independent front, we hope that substantial and long lasting change derives from this election and its participants.
Why aren’t both independent entities joining lists in the upcoming elections?
Following a series of meetings and talks between both independent entities over the last few months, a healthy and respectful relationship has been birthed between Change Starts Here and the AUB Secular Club. Both entities look forward to pursuing their similar interests and cooperate on a larger scale in the near future. With regards to joining forces within several faculties on the same lists, Change Starts Here had initially proposed to run side by side in the 2020 AUB elections with their fellow independent entity. However, the Secular Club respectfully declined, while maintaining that “two lists, with strategic collaborations in each faculty, are potentially beneficial for the collective independent result”. Change Starts Here fully respects the decision made by the AUB Secular Club, and both entities look forward to collaborating with one another in the days to come.
While political parties struggle to rebrand themselves instead of admitting defeat, the independent movement and the political secular club at the American University of Beirut are working towards ensuring a better non-sectarian and non-bigoted tomorrow. A tomorrow that is not stained by war-lords. While the AUB Secular Club and Change Starts Here may differ in some regards, namely their core values, political discourse, recruitment process and main platforms, it is important to note that both are working relentlessly to replace the existing oligarchy in Lebanon, even though their scope of work may differ. It’s true that the Secular Club has had and played a long, undeniable role over the past 12 years in advocating for political and social change, yet Change Starts Here’s promising emergence should not be underestimated or taken lightly, as it was a product of the October 17 uprising after all.
The main challenge will be to ensure that both clubs maintain a positive and encouraging relationship, and to keep a channel of honest and constructive criticism. After all, there is no proper democracy without opposition. As long as both fronts stay true towards their mission for a better community and a better country, rather than play puppets for warlords and thieves, it’s safe to say we might be witnessing the birth of healthy competition within the American University of Beirut’s elections history. Nonetheless, the fact that this year’s competition lies between two independent entities is not only a breath of fresh air, but also a great sign of national progress and awareness. As both slogans go, change starts herebecause bokra elna.