Lebanese demonstrators march for secularism (LA Times)

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Lebanese demonstrators march for secularism
By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times
April 26, 2010


They had no blessing from the government. No politician in a big black SUV bankrolled them. None of the television stations controlled by political parties publicized their efforts.

And no cleric preached their cause at the pulpit.

Yet on Sunday morning, thousands of Lebanese, drawn by a largely informal campaign on Facebook and other Internet sites, marched through the heart of Beirut to demand that religion be excised from politics, a rare assertion of secularism in a region increasingly defined by religious identity.

"I don't believe religion and politics should be mixed," said Amer Saidi, 28, a student of political science at Lebanese American University, who joined as many as 5,000 people beneath a gleaming blue sky for what many considered the nation's first "secular pride" demonstration. "Religion should not be used as a political tool."

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The turnout at the event, the first of its kind since Lebanon's civil war ended in 1990, stunned its organizers. Usually a few hundred hard-core political activists turn up at demonstrations for various causes. The march brought together many groups that feel marginalized by the system set up after that conflict, including old-school leftists and gay rights activists. Men and women younger than 30 and even teenagers dominated the crowd.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-lebanon-secular-20100426,0,6818133.story