UNM Israel Alliance

I began to talk to the leader of the UNM Afghan Student group, Nawid Farhad, after I sent a hasty and angry letter to the Daily Lobo accusing Nawid of serious prejudice and the Office of International Programs of acquiescence to the prejudice. It turned out not to be true, I had misunderstood the situation. I made a public apology to try and correct my error, which was a serious one. Nawid Farhad contacted me and asked to talk. I was nervous about what he might want to say, but I figured I owed it to him to respond.

I was glad that I did. Nawid Farhad is an unusual man, and I was surprised by what he had to say, and impressed by his ideals and his seriousness in living up to them. He spoke without rancour or malice, and didn’t try to take advantage of my mistake in any way, nor even try to make me feel guilty. He spoke of his desire to see peace spread through communication and cross-cultural cooperation, and pointed out how many misunderstandings and points of fear can be cleared up through meeting and direct communication. Gradually, this could change the thinking and the face of the world, from war and animosity to reasonableness and honest communications. When I invited him to our Israel Independence Day celebration, not expecting him to accept the invitation, he did accept it and came and spent some time there, talking with us. He never said anything even remotely critical of Jews or Israel, and didn’t even seem to be smug, stiff or straining to appear unprejudiced, the way you see in many people. He was practicing what he preached, which is not a common thing.

Of course this idea of peace through cross cultural cooperation and communication not a new idea and many have been working on it for years, especially in the US and Israel.

While I agree with the idea in theory, and think it is always good for people to meet, communicate and understand each other, I think the approach is not a sufficient answer on its own for current problems.

That is to say, in the long term, this effort could bring very good results and is worth doing. But in the short term, in the situations we deal with today, there isn’t enough time for this to solve our problems. We aren’t dealing with a crisis of faulty interpersonal relationships, but ruthless international movements which want to subdue and obliterate opponents, nations, cultures and ethnic groups, and rule the world. If you are a member of one of the groups slated for conquering and/or obliteration, a summer camp, a focus group or surrender just doesn’t seem like the most appropriate response. If you are already under the power of murderers and despots, will you be able to go speak to them and clear the air? We talked about this, of course, and the solutions are all difficult.

The difference with Nawid is that he is very serious and is not naieve. He plans to go back to Afghanistan when his studies are finished and will try to put his ideas into action in a much more difficult environment. I wish him safety and wisdom, that he not succumb to pressure, and hope he succeeds both here and at home.