Annie Seferian - A dynamic new blood, Lebanese Armenian Young Generation

Dear Miss Annie Seferian, first of all congratulations, you have brought a fresh energy and a young blood to the spectrum of the Lebanese in general and Lebanese Armenian in particular by participating in the Lebanese elections, and I can say that as a first-time participant, you did prove positive presence

1-    Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am born in Armenia but lived all my life in Lebanon. I graduated Armenian schools, then AUB and LAU with an MBA. I also have a piano degree, I even started off being a piano instructor – this is something not many know. I worked at the Canadian embassy and then more than a decade in SABIC and I handled multiple projects to maximize my time. The blast impacted me and my family, and sadly my career: the Beirut branch closed. I moved to consulting, training, and directing an NGO. I quickly pick up skills and I balance between both people and numbers, which makes me a resourceful trainer, a constructive mentor and a focused coach to students, businesses, and startups. I enjoy learning and continue my education with certifications, so to be useful to others and I build my resources and network with zest. Being a polymath, I have a wide range of interests that spans from gardening to technology, reading topics as psychology, geopolitics, oil, and strategy. I am a silently active member of the Armenian community, a mother to a 9-year-old son who is the foundation of my life, and I’m the eldest daughter to my proud parents.

2-    Can you describe us your first impression and your experience, as a young dynamic energetic lady who enters the world of politics

I had dual reactions: the society echoed between “why are you doing this, it’s dangerous, it’s a waste of time” and “I’m proud of you, Go go go!”. As I would take the surrounding feedback, I introspected a lot. The learning experience from the 50 election days was as intense as 5 years in the corporate world. My family and community were supportive, the people liked seeing a new face with qualifications and no corrupt precedence, I generally had positive messages directed at me. This opened a lot of opportunities to connect, and coordinate with different stakeholders within the society and I enjoyed the experience. Many linked my name to my family’s and the good they received from them. Often as I walked the streets, people approached to tell me their story of how my grandfather helped them go to school, or how they were saved in the war, and I would see the hope in their eyes, that their hero’s daughter was now aiming for parliament, to continue the family legacy, and THAT felt like a strong responsibility.

Lebanese Armenian Candidate for Lebanon parliament - Annie Seferian

3-    We do not have many woman candidates and politicians in Lebanon, do you suppose the Lebanese voters tend to vote for the male candidate, Lebanon is still a male society, 

Lebanon’s culture is patriarchal. Despite the 37% increase in the number of female candidates in this election (118 in 2022 vs. 86 in 2018), it resulted to only 2 additional female Parliamentarians, 8 out of 128 is far from being Equal representation. Organizations and civil society continuously conduct workshops and trainings to instill leadership, entrepreneurship, and responsibility in women and to break the cultural and societal barriers that will foster an equal representation in the public sphere. The impact we see is too slow: The Quota can accelerate it. Remains, that the quota be accepted, adopted, and implemented, but it takes courage and strength from the current ruling class to forfeit power that will ensure women have their seats in parliament. Female presence, especially of quality, is an enrichment of the parliament, not a power threat.

4-    What advice do you have to offer to the Lebanese young generation, do you sense they are really reluctant to take active participation, to initiate and try to lead, I know the Lebanese society is heavily political and politically involved, but they rather tend to follow and commit to slogans, rather than try to lead, would you care to comment

Lebanese politics is quite complicated, and, despite the general societal awareness of politics, many aspects remain obscure or tricky. In my opinion, the Lebanese youth has a divided and superficial understanding of politics: Some follow the ideals of a party cascaded by their parents, with little to no critical examination. Others express their liberalism or independence while adopting assorted notions believed to sum up to a solution for Lebanon’s woes. For both sides, anyone taking the road of politics is quickly judged, labeled, and distrusted. I believe the culprit is the absence of a unified and unbiased national history book, as the current one in the curriculum stops at the WWII and lightly touches the MENA Arab revolutions. Lebanon’s history is rich, but sadly, the youth remain hostage to the war stories told from the viewpoint of either political leaders, or family members with circumstantial facts. Today’s youth will be tomorrow’s leaders: they need all the guidance and preparation possible, and willing to take responsibility that will affect the whole nation
 

Lebanese Armenian young generation of politics candidate for Lebanese preliminary elections 

5-    Are you part of H.M.M Massis, I know that my friends from H.M.M Massis proved commitment, dedication and devotion to your campaign. If yes you are part of H.M.M Massis, can you tell us about their activities, future plans?

Indeed, I am part of Massis and the team proved a strong dedication. Massis has been a core element in our family for generations, a family itself, and I am thankful for the support they gave me especially during this campaign. Irrespective of my electoral results, I keep my promise of my support to it. Currently the team is working on community support which was essential for many families during the pandemic, and on sportive activities (football) for youth and children. Similarly, I’ll be guiding a youth wing focusing on development of soft skills and computer skills that are useful for the youth’s work and future careers. Such upscaling activities are bound to support the community inside out with sustainable impact and ripple effects; however, they are fund-heavy: we are thankful for the benefactors and welcome similar grants that aim at societal development activities which I will be overseeing.

6-    I am sure you already know by now that I am an ideological comrade of your father, who is a well-known politician and a longtime leader inside the Social Democrat Hunchak Party, we share the same ideas and visions of Democratic patriotic socialism, do you see yourself also committed to any social political ideology?

Our Armenian parties initiated with specific goals for Armenia’s independence and other, but I am unsure if they reviewed their goals for local and diaspora policies, especially with the multitude of changes that happened in the past 2-3 years. I understand that people would closely connect me with the Social Democrat Hunchak Party and its ideologies due to my father’s link, nevertheless, I ran the election as an independent candidate as I am not a partisan. As the SDHP, my values focus on social wellbeing through justice, equity and accountability, however, no political party has adopted the whole spectrum of values that I advocate, and I know why. I believe in situational leadership, which is fluid and dynamic, it needs rigid direction in times of crises, and may allow leniency when things are well. As an Armenian candidate, I always called for unity in our parties’ ranks while maintaining operations. Had the Armenian parties united in these elections, we would have made Armenian-true breakthroughs in support of our Armenian community. Sadly, the parties remain divided beyond their ideologies, and compete against each other to accumulate seats. Worse, the seat started validating and valuing the person rather than the person increasing its value. Forgotten is the fact that the Parliamentarian is at the disposal of their people, not an unreachable divinity.

7-    I saw many of your posts on social media regarding corruption in Lebanon, would you care to comment

Sadly, Lebanon’s unprecedented crisis is the result of greed and corruption that has been growing for decades. Let’s be honest, there is no such thing as “corruption-free-country”. But Lebanon is a league of its own. It is rare to find a politician imprisoned for embezzlement or for misuse of power. Rather, they mingle in priorities while essential topics are touched only during memorials. Example: In a month will be the two-year memory of the Beirut Blast, and till today we have no substantial result. After that, will be the memory of when our lifelong savings be turned to imaginary numbers, stuck forever in the banks: we are slaves to ATMs and whims of politicians who have already exported millions abroad thanks to their clientelism. But nobody is punished. There is no accountability, no supervision and no transparency in any government agency and we are too far from any country we aim to measure ourselves with, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

8-    Lebanon is facing such a crisis that is one of the deepest in its history, as a Lebanese youngster, do you take part in any social political activities, gatherings or meeting to discuss ideas may suggest or contribute to ideas and momentum to try to get our beloved Lebanese Motherland from this dungeon

Indeed, I do attend events, workshops, roundtables, and meetings that discuss on ways that the youth can partake in solving this crisis, I also am a leader in such roundtables and workshops advocating gender balance, change management, leadership etc, all what I’m certified in. Just last week we had one with Massis youth. I hold the lack of accountability and supervision as the main reasons of our troubles. The youth are learning how to hold their leaders accountable, however as this takes time, I hope they stay rather than emigrate, so when they reach the age of voting (which I believe should also be adjusted to 18 as it’s the age of responsibility), they’ll come back at them in full force with the pertinent questions and right choices.

9-    Do you have anything to add

I thank you Peter for this opportunity to let my followers and foreigners know more about me, I’ll surely share this on my social media platforms (@seferiannie) so hopefully they follow all four of them.

I hope the readers noted that my interest in politics is only to make Lebanon the Gem as mentioned in songs, where my son would safely grow and build his future, our youth flourish, and our seniors live in peace. I hope we would achieve this qualitative amelioration, to foster the change we have been waiting for so long.

Thank you Miss Annie, and I wish you good luck in your future endeavors 

Interview conducted by Peter Manoukian

Annie Seferain can be found on social media on:

https://www.facebook.com/Seferian.Annie/