Civil Society Movement

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The Civil Society Movement (ar: تيار المجتمع المدني) (CSM) is a Lebanese political party.

CSM is a social and political movement which aims, with the help of citizens and social organizations, to build the "Human Society", the society of every single human—the whole human. It aims to build this society in peaceful ways and through the politics of causes rather than those of persons.

Definition and Vision[]

CSM helps to build free, democratic and secular citizens through the basic principles of secularism, democracy, participation, sovereignty, justice, development, transparency and Arabianism.

The CSM aims for a fair, democratic, and secular country built by free citizens that is open to its surroundings and the world. It is based on the principle that a human being has an absolute value.

The Civil Society Movement was founded by Grégoire Haddad in 1998.

The Basic Principles[]

The Civil Society Movement strives for development and change on all levels through spreading culture and increasing the level of awareness among people. Its purpose is to build a free, democratic, secular citizen, and a humanitarian society, following the listed principles:

Sovereignty[]

Lebanon is an independent sovereign country, in which citizens live in complete freedom and enjoy their duties. The CSM also believes that there can be neither sovereignty nor freedom in Lebanon under a sectarian or tribal regime, and while Israel still occupies part of its^{[[[|which?]]]} lands.

Secularism[]

The CSM defines secularism as an inclusive view of society, individuals and mind. It stresses the independence of all the civil world's constituents, dimensions, values and attitudes from all religions and philosophical sects. Secularism is of a positive neutrality towards all religions. This includes the independence of religion from sectarianism, and the independence of sects from the governmental system. Secularism seeks to re-establish the citizen's human worth in order to re-establish the humanitarian values which transcend instincts and fanaticism. The result would be reviving noble values such as righteousness, goodness and beauty, the things that pave the way to true citizenship.

Democracy[]

The movement believes democracy is at the base of any free social or political system. Democracy introduces autonomy through giving the people the right to elect their representative bodies which are supposed to reign in their name and for their welfare. Suffrage and the right to choose are at the base of democracy, which would not function properly without laws, institutions, a fitting framework, an appropriate atmosphere and actual practice.

Partnership[]

The CSM defines partnership as one of the loftiest forms of democracy. Partnership erupts out of democracy to develop it and activate it; in partnership, the citizens can share in applying the policies which the legislative and executive authorities put down. Participation means establishing decentralization, so that the community would be able to supervise, call into account, and share in the general affairs of the country. Supervision would take place through the local boards elected by the neighborhood, village, city, district, and governorate. It means the people are running their own affairs. Partnership also entails creating new economic devices, supporting small and local cooperatives, and organizing services on all levels.

Transparency[]

According to the CSM, transparency is one integral element of the democratic process, together with the right to vote and the right of surveillance. Transparency is synonymous with partnership and development as far as it is a means of knowledge and surveillance. It is displemed^{[check spelling]} in the right of the citizen to know and the duty of the authorities to tell the truth and uncover facts. Without transparency there remains none but the freedom to choose between bad and worse. The absence of knowledge means the absence of freedom.

Equity[]

The CSM believes equity is the building block of society's existence, and has a great role in organizing the individual's relations in that society. It is based on rightful citizenship which contrasts with all forms of sectarian, doctrinal or zonal segregation. It is also built on the principle of equal opportunities and equality on all levels, starting with the right of the citizen to a clean, healthy environment ending with the right tp a respectable living. What secures equity is the state of law and establishments, which guards the rights of the citizens.

Civilization[]

The highest aim of civilization and human advancement is the development of all of man-kind on all levels. Comprehensive development includes in its scope all of the citizens dispersed all over the nation, and it covers all fields whether educational, cultural, social, economic, environmental or political. Thus, development should be complementative, that is by organizing its operations in a balanced, harmonic way, and by pursuing its goals in a cooperative, interactive manner. This way, all levels of development would progress simultaneously all People are rightfully entitled to inclusive, complementary development.

Arabianism[]

The movement defines Arabianism as a common civilization, culture and history, and a shared destiny, put together to build a free, democratic, non-sectarian Arabic society. The first step would be establishing an economic complementarity^{[definition needed]}, to reach a socio-cultural intercommunication among the peoples of that society.

The principles are used to provoke thought and discussion. an approach which the “Movement” seeks to spread in order to revive and revitalize the society. The CSM is trying to find new and original intellectual fountains rooted in the heart and experiences of our civil society. Its organizational structure is based on the simplicity of the idea that people need to work and interact within a unified framework, with the aim of bringing about change and humankind's prosperity.

References[]

• www.secularist.org
• www.gregoirehaddad.com