10 Year Anniversary

Ten years ago around this time, I started a Facebook page that changed the direction of my life. (Now called

Global Conversations).

I got my first like 30 minutes later and it was from a friend and then some magic happened, the page started growing by 1000 people almost every week, and a year later, I started getting requests from scientists, journalists, political experts to share their content.

The page is run in English, I was hiding my name for security reasons and people were shocked every time they got to know that the person behind it was an Iraqi student and refugee living in Malaysia.

When I landed in America in 2013, I started getting 100s of requests from people asking me to meet up which happens until today which is still surprising, I also started getting invited to lots of events and conferences because of it.

One of the first people was

Iraj Isaac Rahmim

, he offered to give a tour of Rice University and downtown Houston (I thought this was too good to be true, then I asked myself, (I am from Iraq, what could go wrong?) and yes it was true, I met Mr. Iraj, he gave me a tour and we had a burger and then he dropped me home, then I met

Vic Wang

,

Daniel Bailey

who is a pilot at United Airlines who told me that his daughter follows my page and she introduced it to him.

I started meeting countless other people (some of whom Identify as "fans") and I was like what? I have fans? which is still the feeling I have until today.

A few months later that year, a family in Virginia which also follows my page invited me and bought me a ticket to celebrate the fourth of July in Washington DC. (Again, I also thought this was too good to b true but the ticket was real and this family now are my closest friends, I lived with them for almost a year and visit every time I have a chance. lately, I stayed with them during the first months of COVID and I consider them to be my American family.

The impact this page has and the amazing and wonderful people I met through this page (some of them now are co-workers like

Ahmed Fouad Mohammed

) and some of them now are my exes (half-joking).

The page became part of

Ideas Beyond Borders

which a registered and established organization in New York City and the United States since 2017.

Life is interesting.

Random Thoughts about What Happened in Beirut

Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon

Three countries with amazing human capital, history, and resources ruined by corruption, sectarianism, and war.

You come to the US or any other developed nation and you see the Lebanese (generally) the same can be said about Iraqis, and Syrians to some extent, studying at the top universities. Becoming doctors, engineers, lawyers, real estate agents, business leaders, and everything in between, excelling and capturing any opportunity they can find.

If the people there are just allowed to breathe, given the opportunity and the ecosystem to do something productive, they have the potential of becoming something much better than they are today and even better than they were before.

But then you have corrupt sectarian parties that care more about destruction than construction. They care more about their ideologies and money than they care about their people.

They need to be stopped immediately in any way possible.

They are not only "part of the problem".

They are the problem.

I truly believe in the potential of Lebanese people to restore and rebuild their beautiful country if the world stands with them.

It's one of the best investments of our time if we do it right.

May the spirit of the Lebanese people continues to be a shining light for the middle east and the whole world.

When Saddam Invaded Kuwait

30 years ago, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and lost very badly.

I didn't know that was true until 2004 (14 years later) I watched a documentary (I think it was on national geographic) talking about the first gulf war from a different perspective and I remember being shocked.

We were taught that the battle is called "أم المعارك" aka "mother of all battles" and Iraq actually WON that war against 33 aggressors.

We only had 3 channels in Iraq back then and all of them were owned by the state.

Satellite television was not allowed if you were not well connected and know how to hide the equipment.

There is so much talk these days about "fake news" and disinformation on social media.

For most of us who were born and raised in Iraq disinformation campaigns were the norm.

I am sure it's the case for many other authoritarian countries and not just in Iraq.

That's why I have made it the mission of my life to combat propaganda and misinformation from authoritarian states and I believe that critical thinking and media literacy are some of the best ways to combat them.

We need to teach the next generations HOW to think not just WHAT to think.

دليل فرانس برس لتجنب الوقوع في فخ الاخبار الكاذبة

Ideas Beyond Borders - Translating the Internet into Arabic

Why translation matters for the Arab world | Khadija Hamouchi

Why translation matters for the Arab world | Khadija Hamouchi

Raise your Voice - Ideas Beyond Borders - Arabic Coverage

My way of thinking

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As someone who grew up in a war zone and went through multiple difficult steps to be where he is and it's something the moment I realized and adhered to changed my life for the better and thought of sharing it with you:

1. Acknowledging your powerlessness.

99% of things around us is something out of control and our existence played nothing in creating.

2. After acknowledging No.1 you turn your energy into the (1% or less) or what you can really do and what you can actually control. (Because of your skills, education and physical ability).

3. After acknowledging No.2. you look at a CERTAIN and SPECIFIC issue you can actually do something about.

Example: You are a bilingual? You may wanna help some refugees getting their paperwork done or translate a work of literature, etc.

YOU CAN'T SOLVE THE REFUGEE CRISIS and STOP WARS but you can help some refugees (maybe even 10 in a lifetime) getting their paperwork done.

4. After you actually do that, you realize that even simple things, require a lot of logistical work and consistency. Many of which are (super boring).

5. Even though it is super boring stuff, you are ACTUALLY contributing much more than writing a full book complaining about a certain issue or criticizing people for getting it wrong and and talking about (other people being idiots).

6. Maintaining that belief of directing your already existing energy into something positive no matter how small will be far more fulfilling that talking about the "big subject" which trust me is far more interesting and exciting at times than doing logistical boring work and showing up at 6AM at a refugee camp to translate a piece of a paper.

7. Again, I understand that it is boring and it's not something many wanna hear but I would like to remind you that's something within YOUR control of most of us who weren't born into power, intelligence, status or privilege to be in a position where we can actually change policy and have billions of dollars to fix things.

I hope that helps.

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