The qualities of a Change-Maker Tuesday 7 July - Just Governance for Human Security

‘I was brainwashed and I cannot deny that I had to get rid of it [hate] first to understand others,’ were the opening words of Aysenur Kormaz from Turkey, setting the context for a wider discussion on the ‘qualities of a change-maker’.  

Professor Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, Notre Dame University, Lebanon stated that young Lebanese people today are losing hope. He illustrated three practical examples of combating this loss. He spoke of the need to ‘work on truth telling’, as the first step towards creating dialogue.

Professor Andrei Zubov, historian and political scientist from Russia, told of the fear of imprisonment in his country for speaking freely on political issues. Dismissed from his university for speaking out against Putin’s military intervention in Ukraine, he spoke of his personal experience as a political activist for peace: ‘Don’t be afraid to choose a difficult path…whatever good is supposed to be made through you will be made through you…I believe everybody can do the same as I have done’.

Having dedicated her life to working with Muslim women’s and children’s rights, Professor Anjum Ali from Richmond, VA’s Community College, told of the challenges of speaking the truth as a Muslim when ‘your religion has been hijacked by extremism and violence’. Stressing the importance of understanding towards the other, she said: ‘the plague of extremism is very much tied to a lack of empathy…and a lack of securing human rights.’

All speakers spoke movingly of the personal risk involved in being a ‘change-maker’, whether facing entrenched hatred, working against a government or living in a country as an outsider. Using networks to support the change-making process, Prof. Dabbous said, would enable all to be effective change-makers.