Hibr

Who are Isqat Al-Nizam?

On Wednesday, March 23^rd, Hibr held a special meeting to familiarize its contributors with the activities of the “Isqat Al-Nizam At-Taifi” (‘Topple the Sectarian Regime’) campaign. This movement is a broad coalition of secularists of different stripes; some seasoned activists, others politicized for the first time, and all inspired by the current wave of revolts sweeping the region. Around thirty people, including two guests from the feminist collective Nasawiya, gathered to hear about the campaign's background and outlook for the future, offering suggestions and critiques, as well as setting the framework for further collaboration.

Deliberately no spokespeople

The campaign was introduced by Neamat, a journalist and political activist with 14 years’ experience, who insisted that we avoid looking for leaders or spokespersons in the movement, as they had collectively decided early on that all activists had equal say and equal responsibility. She explained that this was due to the great diversity within the organizing committees and the wish of those with a more partisan and/or leftist background to avoid seeming like 'orchestrators' of the movement. This approach also helped ease the fears of many independent activists within Isqat Al-Nizam who disliked traditional politics and were active now out of sheer frustration with the situation in Lebanon.

Down with sectarianism!

Neamat recounted how the movement began spontaneously, with various people starting Facebook groups and pages using the famous anti-Mubarak slogan of the January 25 movement (al-sha’ab yureed isqat al-nizam - ‘the people want the regime to fall’). They gave it a Lebanese, anti-sectarian twist, playing on the double-meaning of 'nizam' in Arabic (i.e. both 'regime' and 'system'), calling their campaign, “Al-sha’ab yureed isqat al-nizam at-ta’ifi” (‘the people want the sectarian regime/system to fall’).

A handful of these people gathered together and decided that they had to act soon, choosing the following Sunday for their inaugural demonstration. And so, on February 27^th, this first batch of committed activists, joined by hundreds who found their call inspiring, marched under the rain from Mar Mkhayel, Ghobeiry, to Adlieh in a route loaded with historical significance, calling for the end of the confessional system. London-based artist Tania El Khoury wrote about this day on her blog:

“People were laughing as they were getting drenched with rain and no one was complaining. A stranger offered me his jacket. I was distributing fliers to the cars passing by when a very posh looking lady called me to her Mercedes. For a moment I thought she was going to spit in my face for holding her back in traffic; instead, she offered me an umbrella probably made by Prada. On my way back, I was pretty sure that no taxi driver will be willing to pick me up and soak the car with my dripping-wet clothes. I was again wrong and the driver even refused to charge me. He asked me to read him some of the slogans to which he replied: 'You were protesting for me and you so the least I could do is give you a free ride'” (t notes)

There have since been two more marches and numbers have swelled with each demonstration.

The campaign’s internal tensions

What was most interesting about Neamat's presentation was her transparency with regards to the internal tensions within Isqat Al-Nizam. These tensions have led to long hours of deliberation over even the most basic issues; for example, many within the group found the term bayan (communique) distasteful, and so the group has been issuing nida2at (calls). Similarly, warshat 3amal, or workshops, were favored over lijan, or committees. The fact that so much has been organized despite all these differences is a testimony to the hard work and long hours being put in by the group.

Those controversial “symbols”

This does not mean things have always gone smoothly, however. In the last march, which saw tens of thousands make their way from Sassine Square to Hamra, a controversy erupted both during the demonstration and later, in the blogosphere, and on the news, concerning a banner that included the faces of several party leaders as “symbols” of the regime. The movement had already announced their intent to target these symbols during the march, in response to what many commentators believed were attempts at hijacking the movement. This banner was controversial even among supporters; for various reasons, some found the omission of Hassan Nasrallah a sign of fear or weakness, others found the inclusion of Michel Aoun provocative and unhelpful (even Aoun himself has commented critically). Mustapha of BeirutSpring.com pointed out that:

“The Lebanese people elected those people in free elections. Each and every one of the politicians on that posters has tens of thousands of real admirers who took the trouble of standing in line to vote for him (no ‘her’ unfortunately). We can dismiss this as vote buying, but that is the naive thinking of those who have never attended political rallies of leaders who are genuinely admired.”

To leave the “7ello 3anna” t-shirt wearers alone, or not

What is most ironic about this issue is that, according to Neamat, this banner was never intended to be part of the march in the first place. It was brought along by people close to the organizing committee but who chose to differentiate themselves during the march by wearing t-shirts that said 7ello 3anna ('leave us alone'). She explained that some people tried to convince this group to get rid of the banner, “the first time democratically, the second time not so democratically” (leading to yet another controversy), but to no avail.

Such problems of coordination, including, for example, the fact that two different marches have been called for in two different cities on the same day, reveal the challenges still facing this movement. Yet, as Neamat reminded us, the campaign is not even a month old yet, so it is too early to pass judgement. A better approach would be to take part and help influence its direction.

Getting involved

So what can you do to help? If you've already joined the Facebook group and are attending the regular marches, why not head down to one of the many camps that have sprung up across the country in support of the movement? Find out how you can help mobilize locally in order to unpack the movement's “basket of demands” into manageable projects. For example, CHAML has been camping in Riad Al Solh and focusing on the law of personal affairs. According to Neamat, this kind of decentralized work by active individuals and civil society groups helps remove a lot of burden off of Isqat Al-Nizam's shoulders.

As for Hibr's role in all of this, it's been decided that we will be helping out with research on specific topics related to these demands, building up the intellectual foundations of the case against the sectarian system. Look out for our next issue which will be devoted to this cause! 

For more photos from the Isqat Al Nizam protest on March 20, visit the Hibr Flickr set.