Zak Ebrahim - Terrorist's Son Promotes Peace with Nonviolence Lectures(1/2)

Run time: 09:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGA-bjlz478   Posted on YouTube: May 23, 2010 By YouTube Member: ZakEbrahim Views on YouTube: 15   Posted on DU: May 23, 2010 By DU Member: LiberalVoice Views on DU: 847

 
Hey Everyone! This is my Keynote Address on the first evening of the 2010 Student Peace Alliance National Convention held at Southwestern Univ. in Georgetown, TX. If you like it share it! The second half of the speech is located under my video's. Let me know what you think!

Peace!

LV

:)

this gives me at least a small glimmer of hope for the world....as a 58 year old American Jew, I just want to say, again, thank you.....my brother.

It took a long time for me to build up enough courage to speak publicly about my past. And comments like yours make me really glad I am doing it. Thank you.

I wish to have no enemies in this world and sometimes am still at my age, naive enough to think that somehow this still may come to pass... I grieve when an innocent Jew is killed by a Palestinian as I grieve when an innocent Palestinian is killed by a Jew . It has to stop someday. No more killing; somehow it just has to stop some day. What you are doing is holy. God bless you.

dupe sorry

...that we are not in fact fated towards some eternal struggle between Muslims and Jews(Or any other conflict based on race, religion, etc.) We just need to frame the argument differently. I was lucky enough to see the Dalai Lama speak in NYC this weekend and he made one point in particular that I found most compelling. There is no more "Us vs Them". No more small "we". Only "We" human beings. Our world is much smaller then it was even 30 years ago. "We" are the people inhabiting this planet. We need to change our perspective from that of conflict(where one side must be deemed the winner, and the other the loser). Our focus should be on compassion through dialogue. Not focused on our differences, which are secondary to what makes us human beings.

You can check out my website for more on my background but, for someone like me who was exposed from a very early age to an ideology of extreme hatred and violence, I can stand up and say that it doesn't always have to be this way. Ideology is not genetic. In a single generation amazing changes can take place. A transformation from bigotry and fanaticism to tolerance, empathy, and compassion.

Thank you again for your kind words.

Zak

That even someone who comes from a violent background doesn't have to follow the same path. Well done!

:)

I must have watched this speech like four times lol