Elections 2009... What happened? Why? and how should we react!

[freelebanonn]

Originally Posted by Amirkani

You don't need everyone to understand. Everyone will never understand for you to be seeking everyone's understanding. You will be waiting in idle forever.

The only thing everyone will understand is "success". You succeed in attaining your goal, everyone will then understand and applaud you.

What is it specifically that you want to accomplish? What is your specific goal? It's got to be specific. Once you define your specific goal, put an implementation plan for it, get fixated on it (even if it takes decades) and just do it.

You don't need any leader's approval if the goal is part of their declared "vision". The problem with many is that they seek a leader's approval of their plan. That's when that leader starts weighing you down instead of helping you. Why? Because that leader understands from your request for his approval that you can't do it on your own and that you're asking him to do most of the work. Well, leaders give such stamp of approval to people they know and feel comfortable with or people with a proven track record or, unfortunately, even to people they personally "favor" and are trying to promote. How many of us fall into one of these categories? Not too many.

If you have an initiative, you don't need the leader's approval to start unless, as I said, you're expecting him to do a good chunk of the work.

Heck, on some initiatives I undertook, I received an explicit "disapproval" from the leader for my plans. I still went ahead with them saying I will take full personal responsibility for the failure of the initiative. Heck, how was that leader going to stop me if I wasn't asking anything of him? Well, he couldn't stop me. And the "disapproval" turned into a stamp of "approval and adoption" as the initiative started looking as if it was going to succeed.

Again, define your "specific" goal within the FPM overall vision. "Reforming FPM" or "fixing FPM" are too vague of a notion and they're not going to cut it. Get fixated on that goal, put a plan for your actions and stick to it.

-------------------

we used to have many individual initiatives when we were a movement but now that we became a party everything changed.

[Amirkani]

Originally Posted by freelebanonn

we used to have many individual initiatives when we were a movement but now that we became a party everything changed.

Is this change part of the "change & reform" thingy we keep repeating?

If that type of change has benefited us then no need to change it back :)

If it has hurt us then maybe it's time to go back doing what used to make us successful.

I am in no way advocating doing away with our attempt to have a party structure and internal elections, and what have you... I am just saying all these won't be nearly enough. We need the individual initiatives back along with the organizational efforts.

---------------------

[hannaalsayssa]

my personal aim is to nudge FPM or FPMers to be more aggressive in answering our detractors and take the initiative and be on the offense.

AS THEY SAY, THE BEST DEFENSE IS OFFENSE.

i believe that be[b]ing on the defensive hurts us a lot[/B ( chiefly among waivery voters) who equate weakness with wrong.

though this strategy should be implemented in some kazas more than others
and as a part of a whole media campaign.

[GeorgeY]

Amirkani what u r saying is correct and u r saying it from personally experience, but that can not be turned out into a rule it is just a special case that may defy the rule. ur case maybe right and it might work and u r right leaders or superiors may weigh u down, but what is the formula in the 2 cases, i mean if we won how much we win and if we loose how much we loose. this is a hard formula and i think it cannot be attained except with experience, so if u have experience in loosing and winning u should be a superior not ask approvals, but thats a different story. as for taking steps towards a plan on a mono-decision (i dont mean by mono one person it can be one group etc..) it cannot be allowed like i said before it maybe great step but what if i seen that saying bad words against a certain person is a good plan and went on it, and it turns out that another somebody is making plans to be in good relations with that same somebody, what would happen?

this is why there should be heirarchy the leaders know more (doesnt have to be right or correct things) because of the heirarchy system this system only works when everyone abides by it. if someone (and i dont just mean u but everyone) has great plans and great ideas he should submit them and he should work politics if he is good at it (eg is that young guy from WJ party) he talks good and he knows a lot.

u asked about goals. what i am concerned in this thread is solutions for what happened in the elections period (all i heard about is problems) though not all the problems are wrong they might have been the "best" thing to do at that time, after all right and wrong are relative matters. i dont have time to make plans and i dont know if i can make them, simply cause i never tried it, but i am 100% with ppl "brain storming", suggesting stuff even if it is wrong it might have 1% right and that can be built upon.

i am 100% with public awarness (or call it what u like). u r right MANY dont care but there are lots that do care and seek answers. those answers must be given so that morals dont go down. feeling up and down is also psychological matter it will ALWAYS go away in a certain period of time what is constant are facts and logic and ideas. when u follow those and build upon them u will reach to a certain base for the party. take as an example democratic and republicans in USA they dont follow parties for religion and stuff but they do believe in them and what happened in their last presidential elections prove that only logic and facts will eventually prevail not followers

[Z VOICE]

Again…

In this post, we’re not trying to get philosophical about our current situation, or try to make excuses for our failures. In every day life, we’re all meeting comrades who are depressed and feeling down, or others who are enthusiastic again and want “revenge”. What is sure is that in both cases, people are wondering why on earth we got where we stand now, knowing the level of optimism we had just before that!

Official statements and replies all focused on the outsider’s effects and unfair playing by our opponents. They are completely right about that, but that is not enough… It’s very typically Lebanese to put the blame on the others when facing a failure.

That is why we’re trying to have some common space to share our ideas seriously, maybe we can give answers to every FPMer who is seriously worried about our future.

We already talked about what good points we can get out of the results, about what we were faced with and also about our own mistakes, which in my opinion were the main reason of our failure, which we should now put behind us, and ACT!

1- In my opinion, and I know many others will disagree with me, the main actions that will help our party are the ones that every single one of us should do… not the GMA neither the deputies nor leaders. As we mentioned earlier, we made the FPM, we made it win flawlessly in 2005 and then… nothing!

- First of all, every FPMer should be “aware” of what happened, what is happening and what may happen in the future around him. And by aware we’re not meaning that we should just know about the main stories and headlines that occupy our daily media. Every one of us has the duty of getting armed with enough political and historical culture in order to represent strongly the FPM principles and ideas in the society. The main mass of our partisans and supporters, and I regret to say that, aren’t cultivated enough to stand firmly in front of others well organized campaigns and accusations. I had the chance to witness many political debates between FPMers and non FPMers in which our guys used to get easily toppled by the arguments that others present, knowing that easy answers always were available, but they simply did not know them! It is not enough to be sure of ourselves and to believe in our ideas and principles… we should be able to defend them and spread them out! That is why it is every one’s duty to try and spread the knowledge in his own entourage his own way. We used to underestimate the electronic mailing lists and emails, we used to avoid getting involved in debates and so on… this mindset needs to be changed, immediately! We should try to read and know more, investigate any story that is not clear enough, and spread it out to as many people as we can, even to non FPMers, ESPECIALLY to non FPMers! This can work because it is already working for the few of us that are trying it, however staunch our interlocutors may appear. Opinions can change easily when faced with facts.

- Secondly, we already mentioned the “defensive” state that we found ourselves in for the last 4 years. For that whole period, we found ourselves (leaders and supporters) driven to “defend” our positions and ideas, or our leaders actions, alliances or slogans. Our opponents were leading a neatly organized attack on anything coming up from the FPM. However misleading their arguments or presumptions may be, they were attacking for the sole purpose of putting us in that defensive position. However righteous someone (or group) is, being driven to consistently defend his positions distracts him from attacking the other party’s weaknesses. That is why they say “the best way to defend is to attack”. We’re all aware of the amount weaknesses our opponents have, going from corruption all the way to criminal actions… but we couldn’t organize our attacks and expose them adequately. Instead of working on effective campaigns based on evidences and facts and exposing them to the public opinion, we were nearly always busy repelling their unrighteous attacks. So in some words we should all stop worrying about our “defense” and shift to “offense” instead.

- Again we come back to the youth issue… we should be aware that the real fuel for our movement is our youth. Our population is stated as a “young” society (with high under 25 ratio), that is why the youngsters have the power to shift things in the direction they want, and that is why a 18 years old electoral law is very controversial in our country. When I talk about youth I talk from experience. I had the chance to be very close to some of our opponent’s youth leaders abroad, and by coincidence, I used to assist to some of their meetings or events. They used to attract them with social and entertaining events, gain their trust and esteem and then gather them for political debates, during which they used to answer all their questions about current issues but of course, from their own twisted point of view. We’re not saying that we should brainwash the youngsters, we do not need to do so when we have righteous facts, but the problem is that we rarely encounter any local FPM youth organization in any district. That does not need official approvals or denials. Anyone of us who has good relations with his entourage’s youth can take the initiative and start gathering them. We should keep them in the loop, share every story or idea with them, explain the FPM positions for them, get them immune from the countering propaganda and most of all, keep them gathered and active and benefit from their enthusiasm! We should regain the appeal that the FPM used to have among the youngsters! Personally, I already took that initiative and it has already proven effective, especially after the 2009 elections results and their effects on the youngster’s morale.

- The FPM was a highly active movement before it got involved in the turmoil of the daily Lebanese political life. Our involvement in our country’s issues was driven by instinct instead of duty. Since the 2005 elections, we tried to organize the party and decentralize its activities, but we failed to get to our goals effectively. Putting a few of our people in responsibility positions has indirectly spread some kind of laziness amongst the rest of the pack. We elected (or designated) leaders for our local committees, made them responsible of the FPM activities, and shifted to the “audience” side of the movement waiting for them to gather, meet and organize our local activities. We’re not saying that the decentralization is the bad thing to do, nor that the local committees are ineffective, but it has indirectly marginalized the rest of the supporters. In most of the cases, the problem was in us the FPMers who got passive waiting for the responsible to decide and act. In other cases the problem was in the elected leaders personalities and leadership, and some other times it was in their unavailability and busyness. We should review our local committees from an objective point of view. The leaders should be strong, charismatic and widely popular in their hometowns. A hard working FPMer is not enough to lead. Instead he should be able to gather around him as many people as possible and to knock on any door in the hometown to spread and strengthen the committee’s ties. It is everyone’s duty to feel involved in their local committee’s choice, and afterwards, in organizing and assisting its activities. We are different, we’re not just some other traditional Lebanese party… let’s keep it that way!

Maybe there is more we can do, each and every one of us, in order to bring our party onto the right course, but I tried to share the most important lines, in my opinion.

2- We FPMers have a high responsibility in getting our party’s illnesses fixed. But many things should also be done on the higher levels within the party.

- First of all, our leadership should listen more to the party’s base. We’re born from freedom and democracy, that’s the way we should go on like. We preach for dialogue on the national level… so we should at least start from the inside of our party. People outside are starting to have a wrong image of the FPM. People who were very close to us are now saying that we turned out to be just like other parties, a one man show party. We should prove them wrong and debate more.

- Second, we shall immediately launch the procedure of organization of our party democratically. The internal elections that have been postponed for many reasons should not wait anymore. During our elections campaign, we discovered many individuals among us who were just like any other Lebanese politicians, eager to rule and hungry for power. These shall be adequately marginalized. Added to this, we should admit that our party is still depending solely on the GMA, and that shall not be the case. The GMA is a historic leader, we all agree on that, but he is not an immortal! If something bad happens to him and he loses the power to lead can we imagine what will happen to the FPM? So it is an immediate need for our survival, to organize our structure, and set the rules that guarantee en effective and smooth succession in case we lose our GMA.

- Third, our deputies and representatives shall immediately start to implement what we were preaching for during our campaign. Our parliamentary bloc is called “change & reform” and that shall be what we actually do. We shall start preparing our documents and cases and begin our implementation of our program. Many have fought us with arguments like “what have you done with your orange book” referring to the 2005 electoral program. We can not keep on putting the blame on the fact that we are not in power. We can always make our reforming voice heard! So, apart from the main political endless issues in our country, we shall concentrate on an organized and highly publicized reform campaign that starts from the media (radio, TV, web …) to filing law projects within the parliament. This way, in case we don’t succeed in getting our law projects to be approved, we would have made it clear to the public that we do not just complain, we act.

- Fourth, it is true that we almost all agree that we have to shift from defense to offense, but we shall be cautious this time to avoid turning into the “enemies of the state”. We have all the right to defend ourselves from misleading campaigns, whatever were their sources, but we should get more diplomatic when it comes to attacking national and religious symbols. We are all aware that we were mistreated by people like the patriarch or the president or else… but we shall not react openly and publicly like we used to do. Instead, our reaction has to be a little more rational and calm. We have to admit that a significant part of the public is sensitive against such campaigns and that, when we get offensive in cases like that, we lose our “victim” image. We have to be more diplomatic and political in such cases.

- Fifth, we have to understand our society composition a little bit more and act accordingly. We have succeeded in spreading our principles to a wide range of the population, and the results of the elections have shown us the amount of people we have got immunized against wrong traditions and behavior. But there is still a significant part of our society which could not be changed. We already stated that the Lebanese people are used to have their representatives among them, watching after them and caring about their daily issues, and that have been the case for decades. We can not shift the mindsets suddenly. Our deputies and representatives have to feel the duty of being close to the people they represent. We can not get to the next elections having candidates who were absent from the public scene, like the last 4 years in many of the districts we used to represent. They have to be there, to get down to earth, to mingle with the people, feel their pain and heal it where possible or at least make their voices heard. We all have the duty of getting their problems and issues to be heard, no matter how personal they may get, and in every possible way. People, all the people whether they support us or not, have to feel that we are consistently there for them trying to make their lives easier, and not just some months before the elections, like all the other traditional feudal candidates.

- Our choice of candidates to represent us in any election (parliamentary, municipal, orders…) shall be based on continuous evaluation and internal democratic procedures. We shall not, under any circumstances turn into a party who designates its representatives instead of electing them. A candidate has to be evaluated according to his long term activity and positions.

- Finally, we have to be more flexible with our fan base. We shall prepare our base to assimilate any new position or action we will take long before we do so. Internal debate is vital, especially when preparing new ideas, actions, rapprochements or alliances that may risk being controversial. We can not consider every one to be as immune and open minded as we are. We have to share and debate our policy before publicizing it.

I am conscious that one can not be aware of all the problems our party may have, and I know that no one can have the magical solutions for our mistakes. But at least I’m trying to give ideas, plans or just remarks about the way we acted or should have acted. DEBATE stays the main key to understanding. I’m sharing my ideas with as many implicated people as I can get. Help me in my task… pass the message on! And the righteousness will always, sooner or later, prevail!

Regards….

[GeorgeY]

oufff that was a good article it is great that u give that much time to think this matter over and organize it like u did. i think u deserve a thanks just for typing this :p

i think u got some excellent points there and great ideas, but for me u didnt emphasize, though u mentioned, on the points that i think are more important and u stated them in the end (i hope that it was last but not least)

i think the most important part is bil 3arabi el mshabra7 there should not be any more surprises from FPM like the MoU. i really dont want to get back home tomorrow and watch on the news that FPM made a letter of understanding with joumblat or SG, killon ma7mouline except those 2. if there should be something of this kind i think it should be debated a LOT before going into it. i think the biggest problem in this election was the surprise that a lot of ppl didnt realise it yet from GMA concerning HA and syria and the exhaustive campaigns against them.

as for defensive and offensive parts. i agree that defensive stance "in the elections period" was destructive but it wouldnt have matterred that much if it wasnt a surprise. we should not forget that a lot of ppl also dont watch the news daily specially if u think about it the "youth" that u want to target first. u can not remove or deny the point that some msgs are reached to the youth and they build "what they have of political understanding" on that, and later they get a msg from the oppostion that FPM changed it mind on that. for example the MoU many youth specially at that time were proud or happy that FPM was against HA arms and then suddenly, since they dont follow up the news, they get sarcasm on them from the MoU. what do u think their reaction would be? that is why i want to emphasize on no more surprises.

as for the rest i agree with you and great job again

[Z VOICE]

Originally Posted by GeorgeY

we should not forget that a lot of ppl also dont watch the news daily specially if u think about it the "youth" that u want to target first. u can not remove or deny the point that some msgs are reached to the youth and they build "what they have of political understanding" on that, and later they get a msg from the oppostion that FPM changed it mind on that. for example the MoU many youth specially at that time were proud or happy that FPM was against HA arms and then suddenly, since they dont follow up the news, they get sarcasm on them from the MoU. what do u think their reaction would be? that is why i want to emphasize on no more surprises.

Thanks for giving this such attention

What u stated about the youth, people not following the news each day and their political understanding...That is 100% what I was saying
That is why I mentioned tht we,the people who follow up the news enough,have got to gather the youth and tell them wut is happening on a regular basis so they can stand firmly facing any attack they may encounter.
Anyway, that should be everyone's job, and not just with the youth... people should know with what they should reply...

And about the surprises... I don't see any coming soon lol
Our terms are very hard to accept by the others.. meetings may occur but not understandings.. For example, I don't think that WJ suddenly fell in love with the christians of the jabal and wants them bck to their homes..and if that doesnt happen,there will be no understanding with the guy...

Regards...

[GeorgeY]

Originally Posted by Z VOICE

Thanks for giving this such attention

What u stated about the youth, people not following the news each day and their political understanding...That is 100% what I was saying
That is why I mentioned tht we,the people who follow up the news enough,have got to gather the youth and tell them wut is happening on a regular basis so they can stand firmly facing any attack they may encounter.
Anyway, that should be everyone's job, and not just with the youth... people should know with what they should reply...

And about the surprises... I don't see any coming soon lol
Our terms are very hard to accept by the others.. meetings may occur but not understandings.. For example, I don't think that WJ suddenly fell in love with the christians of the jabal and wants them bck to their homes..and if that doesnt happen,there will be no understanding with the guy...

Regards...

LOL mish 8al2ad :p i consider myself to follow up with the news and i am not "youth" and i have no time to attend meetings. (specially ya3ni FPM has the worst meeting times i ever seen in my life) and the MoU was a surprise to me i seen it on the news and never heard anything about it before

concerning meetings i am with any meeting that happens, as for WJ i just hope it wont

[Jasper]

Opposition did nothing wrong in the elections, sure we could have had better results in some places, but we didn't.

The only way to win this election was bringing people from outside and paying a lot of money, something that in the opposition we don't do because it's against the law.

So basically we should be proud of the results...yes proud!

[Z VOICE]

Hey Jasper...

If u read the two main parts of this thread you will see that we mentioned all the known reasons for these results. We can not say we did nothing wrong...
We could have at least monitored their preparations and acted accordingly. I bet that we would have acted differently if the reports (istitla3at) we were receiving showed us that we might lose. We knew they were preparing all they did but we did not even concentrate our campaign on that... anwy, what's done is done, and we are proud we did not use corrupted and twisted ways, but we have to admit we made mistakes otherwise we will never learn from them...

Regards...