People's Movement

Lebanon

The People's Movement of Lebanon (PML, Arabic: حركة الشعب‎ Harakat Al-Shaeb, Arabic acronym HSB) is a democratic leftist political party with no seats in the Lebanese Parliament. The party's founder, Najah Wakim, won parliamentary representation in 1972, but boycotted elections in 2000 and failed to win afterward, leaving the party with no representation in government. The party was founded in 2000 and has recently elected a new leader, Ibrahim al-Halabi. It is a member of the March 8 Alliance governmentary coalition, and pushes democratic ideals while being popular with the younger, student generation, especially those at the American University of Beirut. The People's Movement opposes the economic policies of Rafik Hariri and his Future Movement and adopts radical alter-globalist, anti-American and anti-Israeli positions. The Movement is now part of the Lebanese opposition against the March 14 Alliance and is allied to Hezbollah, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, the Lebanese Communist Party, the Marada Movement and several other smaller parties. The party's main ideas deal with the reformation of the Lebanese political system and strengthened relations between Arab countries.