Hussain Abdul-Hussain

The Egyptian, Yemeni, Tunisian, Bahraini and Syrian revolutions have been driven by an impressive and dynamic youth movement. Will Lebanon's young men and women catch up with the Arab Spring?

Revolutions in Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries go beyond toppling their rulers. The year 2011 marks the coming of age of a generation that has found it impossible to live in two different worlds: A virtual world where they enjoy freedom and equality, and the worlds they live in, dominated by old-school autocrats, corruption and nepotism.

The rise of grassroots movements and their use of social media as a political weapon did not originate in Arab countries. Some might remember how young Barack Obama defeated the establishment candidate John McCain in 2008. One commentator put it: "Obama's supporters suddenly came out of nowhere... They came out of the cracks and swarmed the districts."

In Cairo, Damascus, Sanaa, Tunis and Manama, young men and women came out of the cracks. Educated, fluent in foreign languages and technologically savvy, young Arabs quickly organized their movement and connected with each other and with like-minded international groups.
One of the driving forces behind Obama's election was MoveOn.org, a California-based liberal movement. MoveOn not only managed to raise funds and support for Obama's campaign, but helped dwarf Republican fund-raising titans and their candidate.

Two years later, the Republicans caught on. With the Democratic base losing incentive over a cautious and disappointing Obama, Republicans saw the arrival of their own grassroots movement, the Tea Party. While conservative, the Tea Party is also anti-establishment, fighting for smaller government in Washington.
In 2007, along with a European organization, MoveOn created Avaaz, a worldwide network that boasts 9 million members. Avaaz relies completely on money from members to remain independent.

Avaaz was present at the Antalya Conference for Syrian Opposition last week. It connected with young Syrians who have been the driving force behind the revolution against President Bashar al-Assad. The young Avaaz representative did not meet traditional opposition leaders. She was there for the young.

Like Obama's campaign, the Syrian revolution is not beholden to any foreign government funds, support or conditions. The Syrian youth are not influenced by old political rivalries either. For them, the rules of the game have changed. They seek a country in the image of their virtual world where there are no sectarian quotas or inherited biases and where national borders do not matter much.
 
From the youth perspective, the establishment, whether McCain in the US or Assad in Damascus, should be changed.

The rise of the youth movement in America in 2008, in Iran in 2009 and in Arab countries in 2011 has been a historic turning point equivalent to the coming of age of America's baby boomers (those born right after World War II). The Summer of Love of 1967, France's protests in May of 1968, the birth of the hippie movement and the sex revolution all left their mark on history. Cairo and Damascus 2011 will have similar effects.

In the middle of this world youth revolution, where is Lebanon's youth?
Activism in Lebanon became very vibrant in the 1950s. People like George Habash, Wadih Haddad, Anwar Fatayri and Nabih Berri were part of the student movement. But in 1975, militias replaced political parties, and war mongering replaced activism.

By the early 1990s, activism made a comeback. Young people were still alienated from Lebanon's sectarian parties, led by warlords, such as the Shia Amal party, the Druze Progressive Socialist Party, the Maronite Lebanese Forces and even secular groups like the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The inability of these traditional parties to mobilize youth gave independent students the advantage. The leftist-liberals, given their intellectual backgrounds, were particularly successful in universities in Muslim areas between 1995 and 2005. Universities in Christian Lebanon saw the rise of the Free Patriotic Movement, then secular and rallying around exiled Army Chief Michel Aoun.

Non-sectarian dominance, however, did not stand the test of time. In 2005, Lebanon had become so polarized that sectarian student groups managed to co-opt most of the youth movement, a trend that continues today. Lebanon's corrupt political culture has also affected civil society, which is home to scores of crooks.

Today, the growth of Hezbollah's autocratic machine has further obstructed the possibility of a youth uprising in Lebanon. In fact, the recent anti-sectarian rallies, dominated by traditional groups rather than a genuinely independent youth movement, were more of an embarrassment than part of the greater Arab Spring.
Until Lebanon's young men and women completely dissociate themselves from their tribal leaders, whether sectarian or secular, the Arab Spring will not make a stop in Beirut.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai.