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"Le Committee" or the Independent Student Movement (ISM)

Commonly known as the "Committee", after its French name "Le Committee Estudiantain", the Independent Student Movement (ISM) was set up in 1998 by a group of Lebanese high school students from International College, College Protestant Francais, the American Community School and the Grand Lycee Franco-Libanais. A secular, agenda-based and loosely-structured organisation, the Committee promoted numerous causes and undertook numberous activities to enhance youth awareness of politics.

Some of these activities included: (1) a protest in front of the ESCWA building in support of UN Resolution 425 that calls for the withdrawal of Israel from occupied Lebanese territory (2) a commemmoration of what is known in Lebanon as the "1996 Qana massacre", when Israeli planes struck a UN shelter in South Lebanon killing hundreds of civilians (3) support for the campaign to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 (4) a campaign to plant trees in public schools, entirely organised by the Committee (5) support for cleaning up Lebanon's polluted beaches

Within less than a year, the Commitee has grown to include over 60 members from schools across Lebanon, of varying confessions and political inclinations. It commanded media attention, featuring appearances on all the major national television stations, as well as newspaper coverage. Events such as the Qana commemmoration in the Sanayeh Park attracted hundreds of visitors through a diverse agenda of films, concerts, speeches, discussion groups and more.

Members of the Commitee also sought to establish Student Councils in schools across the country, each of which would elect two representatives to the Committee. Council were successfully established in International College and a few other schools, but proved short-lived. The movement also began to hold meetings with representatives of youth wings of various established political parties in order to explore avenues for collaboration. ==