Rola Al-Mourad - “The 10452 KM2 Party

When and why was the new 10452 KM2 Party formed?

The party was established in March 2014 after a culmination of several years of social and public efforts that a group of female friends and I had spearheaded through social, cultural and political activism and involvement in diverse symposiums and seminars. We realized that these events did not live up to the aspirations and the objectives intended for giving the Lebanese woman the role she deserves in public life and in politics.

Despite her membership in political parties, unfortunately, the Lebanese woman plays no lead or efficient roles on the political scene and her presence in Parliament and in the elected municipal and ekhtiyariyah councils remains very modest. Our new political party has a clear mission to accentuate the female role and to empower women towards a productive contribution to the political landscape by encouraging them to express their choices and beliefs freely and independently from the patriarchal supremacy of fathers or husbands. Those days when women were held captive by the four walls of their household and the choices of men are long gone and a great future lies ahead for the Lebanese woman who has demonstrated her competency in all the fields where she has been permitted to step in and wield influence, particularly in the fields of education, judiciary and economy.

What are the principles that the 10452 KM2 Party maintains?

The principles we live by include:

• Separating state and religion and rebuilding the state in a way that is guaranteed to ensure full separation of government and religious affairs. Religion should be taught in households, churches and mosques, not inculcated in schools, towards the attainment of a civil state, especially that sectarianism was, admittedly, one of the primary reasons that triggered the Lebanese Civil War and its persistence reinforces the possibility of returning to conflict.
• Working towards social justice and helping the marginalized classes by reconsidering the existing rules and regulations, mainly those pertaining to income tax laws.
• Achieving sustainable development and balancing services and opportunities in an equitable manner between large cities and rural areas and outskirts such as Akkar and Hermel, which suffer dreary living conditions.
• Halting the foreign acquisition of Lebanese land. This law is sixty years old and was issued under different economic circumstances. It is true that the foreign land acquisition has sparked urban expansion and attracted foreign capital and deposits, but it has ushered many challenges on the other hand including but not restricted to the stark decline in the Lebanese capacity to own land and property due to the surge in prices. Soon, the Lebanese might find themselves without any land at all and this would be a horrible crime against future generations. We are all too absorbed in politics and security issues to realize that the essence of the problem is elsewhere. Even if all our political and security crises were solved in the upcoming days or months, the real problem would still linger.

What are you mostly involved in at this stage?

We are only just emerging and we are now seeking to establish an office in Tripoli and another in Beirut. We are also planning to open the door for nominations for membership in order to complete the party’s structural units. Preparing the studies and the documents concerned with the topics that address the objectives of the party is under way and a special attention is being accorded to the underprivileged segments or to those facing legal injustices such as the children of the Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese spouses and the women living in isolated rural areas. We also aim to strengthen the ties between the residents of Lebanon and the Lebanese diasporas abroad and to promote citizenship and the concept of being “a citizen in a state rather than a member of a sect.”

Is membership limited to women?

We are striving to be the first women-only party in the Arab world and therefore the doors of membership will be open strictly for women in the initial stages. Men are welcomed to join later but they won’t be assigned any key positions. What we really want is for women to realize their actual worth and assume their active role in promoting domestic peace, a role which we deem them more qualified to fulfill than men, thanks to their innate understanding of nurturing and motherhood.

What is the role that the party has to play now as Lebanon moves closer to parliamentary elections?

We are gearing up for the elections, even before the issuance of the electoral law, and we will nominate the largest possible number of female candidates within electoral lists in order to enhance their chances of success. I believe that our success will push us many steps forward, which will create a dynamic to delve into future challenges such as ministership and the 2016 municipal and ekhtiyariyah elections.

Do you have any last words?

I hope that the Lebanese will greet our bourgeoning party with support and positivism because empowering women is tantamount to empowering the entire nation.