Elias G Atallah ( ar, إلياس عطا الله) (born 1947), is a Lebanese politician, and an elected member of parliament during the 2005 elections. He is also the chairperson of the Democratic Left Movement, and a prominent member in the

March 14 Alliance The March 14 Alliance ( ar, تحالف 14 آذار, taḥāluf 14 adhār}), named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, is a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that are united by their anti-Syrian stance ...

. He was born in the

Chouf Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf, in ''Jabal ash-Shouf''; french: La Montagne du Chouf) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate (muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east ...

region and has a degree in psychology and philosophy from the

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU) (, ) is the only public university in Beirut, Lebanon. It is ranked #701–750 worldwide in terms of education. The creation of the Lebanese University was an idea first mentioned in the speech of the former Minist ...

Political Activities

He joined the

Lebanese Communist Party The Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), abbr. PCL is a communist party in Lebanon. It was founded in 1924 by the Lebanese intellectual, writer and reporter Yusuf Yazbek and Fu'ad al-Shamali, a tobacco worker from Bikfaya. History Creation The Syr ...

in 1971, and was a prominent member in the

Lebanese National Movement The Lebanese National Movement (LNM) ( ar, الحركة الوطنية اللبنانية, ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') or Mouvement National Libanais (MNL) in French, was a front of leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist par ...

that included

George Hawi George Hawi ( ar, جورج حاوي; born 5 November 1938 – 21 June 2005) was a Lebanese politician and former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP). An outspoken critic of Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs, he was kill ...

Kamal Jumblatt Kamal Fouad Jumblatt ( ar, كمال فؤاد جنبلاط; 6 December 1917 – 16 March 1977) was a Lebanese politician who founded the Progressive Socialist Party. He led the National Movement during the civil war against the Lebanese Front. H ...

and other Lebanese leftist politicians and intellectuals. In 1982, he took part in the resistance against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.Dissidents in Communist Party Revolt against Damascus by Daniel Nassif
As of 2000 he was the leader of the party. His fierce criticism against the Lebanese Communist Party's policies, especially its positive attitude towards the

Syrian occupation of Lebanon The Syrian occupation of Lebanon ( ar, الاحتلال السوري للبنان, french: Occupation syrienne du Liban) began in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War, and ended on 30 April 2005 after the Cedar Revolution and several demonstrati ...

and his rejection of the communist ideology, led him in 2004 to form, with a group of Lebanese intellectuals including

Samir Kassir Samir Kassir ( ar, سمير قصير, 5 May 1960 – 2 June 2005) was a Lebanese-Palestinian journalist of ''An-Nahar'' and professor of history at Saint-Joseph University, who was an advocate of democracy and prominent opponent of the Syri ...

, The Democratic Left Movement.In which, he was elected as its chairperson on 17 October 2004 and was reelected in April, 2007. After the Syrian army withdrew from Lebanon, he was elected as the representative of the

Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...

seat in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, during the 2005 Lebanese parliamentary elections. In which, he became the first MP to represent a leftist

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

political party in the Lebanese parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atallah, Elias 1947 births Living people Lebanese Maronites Members of the Parliament of Lebanon Lebanese left-wing activists Democratic Left Movement (Lebanon) politicians Lebanese Communist Party politicians Lebanese University alumni

Political Activities

See also

References