Lara Sabra
Lara Sabra is a Lebanese student and political activist who was born in Beirut in the late 1990s, shortly after the end of Lebanon's civil war. As a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she has been actively engaged in various forms of activism, particularly focusing on feminist and environmental issues. Sabra gained prominence as the president of the Secular Club at the American University of Beirut, where she played a significant role in mobilizing student engagement during the 2020 elections, a crucial period marked by widespread protests against government corruption and economic instability.
Her involvement in activism began in her teenage years, where she organized a feminist club and advocated for policy changes within her school. Sabra became increasingly active during the 2019 protests, which saw a diverse coalition of Lebanese citizens demanding systemic change. Following a devastating explosion in Beirut in August 2020, which resulted in significant loss of life and property, Sabra's efforts contributed to a wave of independent candidates winning seats in student government, reflecting a shift in political engagement among the youth. She completed her master's thesis on multispecies relationships in Beirut, further exploring the dynamics within her city. Now pursuing her doctorate, Sabra continues to impact the academic and political landscape in Lebanon.
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Lara Sabra
Student, activist
- Born: ca. 1998
- Birthplace: Beirut, Lebanon
Significance: While working toward her master’s degree in anthropology, Lara Sabra served as president of the Secular Club at the American University of Beirut. In 2020, Sabra and the club were successful in lifting independent candidates to victory in the school’s student elections. It marked the first time in three decades that a party not aligned with the government’s ruling parties won the student elections, which carry significant importance in Lebanon.
Background
Lara Sabra was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in the late 1990s. At the time, the country had recently emerged from a bloody civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990 and claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people. The war began as a conflict between Lebanon’s Christians and Muslims backed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Over the next fifteen years, Israel and Syria were dragged into the conflict and the United Nations sent in a peacekeeping force in an attempt to halt the violence.
In the aftermath of the war, many Christians, who had held most of the power prior to the fighting, left Lebanon. Power shifted toward the Muslim population, although Christians still played a significant role in the sectarian government. Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament was divided equally between Christians and Muslims, with each side competing for 64 seats. Also, it had been traditional for the nation’s president to be Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the speaker of the parliament a Shia Muslim, and the deputy prime minister and the deputy speaker of parliament members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Life’s Work
As a teenager, Sabra was active in school politics and organized a feminist club. She promoted changes to the school uniform policy and student mindsets she felt had been unfair toward females. In her spare time, she enjoyed walking the streets of Beirut.
In October 2019, thousands of people began to protest the nation’s sectarian government. Among the many concerns that sparked the protest were anger over Lebanon’s crumbling economy, government corruption, and widespread poverty. Sabra took part in the protests and said she was buoyed by the fact the protesters came from many different backgrounds, both Christian and Muslim, and were united by a common wish for change.
Sabra began attending the American University of Beirut in 2016. Inspired by the 2019 protests, she became president of the school’s Secular Club, which was founded in 2008. Sabra was attracted to the club as a way to combine feminist, environmental, and political activism.
As part of the club, Sabra was part of the university’s 2020 student elections, promoting a campaign for independent candidates called “Change Starts Here.” Student elections at Lebanon’s universities generate more interest than in other countries as they are seen as reliable predictors of the nation’s overall political mood. In most elections, the entrenched political parties of Lebanon’s government also win the student elections. In 2018, only one candidate not affiliated with a political party won a seat in the student elections.
However, the 2020 student elections followed not only the 2019 protests, but also a massive explosion that rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020. The explosion killed about 220 people, injured more than 6,000, and left more than 300,000 people homeless. The blast was caused by a fire at a warehouse where confiscated ammonium nitrate had been improperly stored for years. People felt the explosion more than 150 miles (240 kilometers) away and it was estimated to be the sixth-largest human-caused, non-nuclear explosion in history. Many people in the nation blamed the government for the disaster, resulting in another wave of protests that caused the prime minister and his cabinet to resign.
Sabra and the Secular Club’s campaign at the American University of Beirut proved to be more successful than they could have imagined. Independent candidates won sixty-five out of eighty-two faculty seats and fifteen out of nineteen seats in the student government. The trend was repeated at other universities in Lebanon, with independents winning majorities at Rafik Hariri University and St. Joseph University, and winning fourteen of thirty seats at the Lebanese American University.
Impact
Sabra graduated from the American University of Beirut with a master’s degree in anthropology in 2022. He master’s thesis was on multispecies relationships in Beirut, an idea that was born on her walks through the city as a teen. She also worked on a project studying graffiti in Beirut after the August 4, 2020, blast. In 2022, Sabra began working toward her doctorate in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Bibliography
“2 Years After Blast, Part of Beirut’s Giant Silos Collapses.” PBS News Hour, 4 Aug. 2022, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2-years-after-blast-part-of-beiruts-giant-silos-collapses. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Cornish, Chloe. “Lebanon’s Year from Hell: A Diary.” Financial Times, 29 July 2021, www.ft.com/content/dfb4c56d-3718-4804-98e7-c22eeaa7da96. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Hincks, Joseph. “A Decade After the Arab Spring, These Activists Are Finding New Ways to Fight for Progress.” 12 Jan. 2021, Time, time.com/5926742/arab-spring-decade/. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Kaymakamian, Houshig. “Lebanese Secular Groups Give Hope for Future with Student Election Wins.” Al Arabiya, 8 Dec, 2020, english.alarabiya.net/features/2020/12/08/Lebanon-crisis-Lebanese-secular-groups-give-hope-for-future-with-student-election-wins. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Qiblawi, Tamara. “Burning Tires, Brides and ‘Baby Shark.’ What You Need to Know About Protests Engulfing Lebanon.” CNN, 21 Oct. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/10/21/middleeast/lebanon-protests-explainer-intl/index.html. Accessed 3 July 2023.
“Sabra, Lara.” University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2023, www.umass.edu/anthro/lara-sabra. Accessed 3 July 2023.
Sabra, Lara, and Tanya Traboulsi. “On Living With Other Beings.” Rusted Radishes, 20 Aug. 2022, www.rustedradishes.com/on-living-with-other-beings/. Accessed 3 July 2023.