STUDENTS ARE DEMANDING FOR VOTING AGE TO BE LOWERED FROM 21 TO 18
Lebanese youth continue to pour out into the streets three weeks after an antigovernment protest began on October
17.
As the protesters press for sweeping changes, including the ousting of the country’s ‘corrupt’ ruling elite, doing away with sectarian-based politics and forming a government of technocrats, the youth have introduced another specific demand: lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
Lawmakers had approved a draft law to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 in 2009 but it remains unratified.
But young Lebanese say they want their voices to be heard now more than ever, and they want their vote to be counted because the decisions made by today’s politicians will have a direct impact on their future.
Lack of jobs
Youth unemployment stands at more than 30 per cent in Lebanon, from which many young people were seeking to emigrate until last month’s rallies created a rare moment of national hope and unity in a country often characterised by its divisions.
On Thursday, Gulf News went to a protest on Beirut’s Bliss Street where students were gathered.
Ali Hankir, 18, said he wanted the right to vote. “This is also our country, the youth are its future,” the Lebanese American University student said.
“In the past 22 days, we have seen a unification between all Lebanese no matter what backgrounds and political party they belong to. This is the most beautiful thing that Lebanon has witnessed in its history,”
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Joelle Nicodeme, a medical student at the American University of Beirut, told Gulf News.
Students from various universities marched from Quraitem to Hamra Street before they gathered on Bliss Street near AUB, effectively closing the entire road.
Skipping school
Hundreds of schoolchildren have refused to return to class before the demands of a nearly three-week-old protest movement are met.
“What will I do with a degree if I don’t have a country,” one pupil told Lebanese television.
Carole Al Danaf, 22, an LAU architecture student, said as she gets older, she has become more aware of government corruption.
“Younger generations deserve to be part of the change. Some people want immediate change but this will only happen gradually,” she told Gulf News.
Noura Semsarzadeh, 19, said she hopes the youth’s voices are heard.
“Schoolchildren as young as 15 are protesting. We are much more mature than we are given
SCAN ME
Scan the code on the left to watch a video on the demands of the Lebanese youth
credit for,” the AUB graphic design student said. Youmna Mufti, 21, agreed. “This revolution has made us more mature and we have learnt so much,” Mufti, also an AUB student studying graphic design said.
Michel Douaihy, a professor of political science, believes that the youth, in fact, are the main players in the revolution.
“They have breathed life into this uprising,” he told Gulf News.
■ Bassam Za’za is a freelance journalist based in Beirut.
— With inputs from Layelle Saad, Middle East Editor