Sparking International Discussion: ISA Hosts Speaker Lakhdar Brahimi

On April 13, Deerfield’s International Student Alliance hosted a Zoom meeting with former Algerian United Nations Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi. This meeting provided students with an opportunity to engage with a leader highly experienced in conflict resolution. Mr. Brahimi spoke on being a conflict mediator through his experiences in four different countries and answered student questions.

As a member of the International Student Alliance, Abdullah Ali ’25 wanted to fulfill the alliance’s goals of providing opportunities for students to gain a global perspective on diverse topics and creating a space to engage in dialogue. Ali said, “I noticed that the guest speakers at Deerfield have only shown the American perspective on the global community, not any other perspectives.”

Ali stated that he considered the American perspective that Bridget Brink, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, had presented to be “very useful and insightful,” given her speech about how she perceives the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine. However, he believed that “[the meeting with Ms. Brink] was a really good conversation, but wanted to present international students with an international perspective.”

After talking to Arabic Teacher and International Student Advisor Lina Samawi, Ali decided to invite his maternal grandfather, Mr. Brahimi, to speak with the international student body and other interested students about diplomacy and international relations from his non-U.S. perspective. During the one-hour meeting, Mr. Brahimi spoke about his career in peacemaking in Lebanon, South Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq and the actions he took to improve the social and political climate in these countries.

In Lebanon, where continuous disputes between ethnic and religious groups have existed since the modern state’s founding in the mid-20th century, Mr. Brahimi served as a special envoy representing the Arab League by helping pass the Taif Agreement that ended the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. Similarly, as United Nations special envoy in South Africa, he worked with African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to abolish apartheid, which led to Mandela’s victory in the 1994 South African presidential election.

When Mr. Brahimi was sent to Afghanistan as a UN special envoy, he was aware of the importance of external factors to Afghanistan given its long-lasting tensions with the Taliban. During an interview with PBS, Mr. Brahimi described Afghanistan as a “landlocked country,” unable to “produce weapons...[and] produce its food.” This led him to make significant efforts in bringing Afghanistan together with its two most important neighbors–Iran and Pakistan. Mr. Brahimi was also sent to Iraq as the UN envoy during the Iraq War in order to help the country recover from the U.S invasion in 2003. There, he also built the National Assembly regardless of Iraq’s ethnic and religious diversity. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

After Mr. Brahimi talked about his experiences as a freedom fighter, UN diplomat, and Algerian Foreign Minister, students asked questions about the significance of the UN and how his career has impacted his perspective on global affairs. Clara Lipman ’27 said, “Students were especially curious about how Mr. Brahimi got involved in global politics. Some asked him specific anecdotes from each country he served in as a UN envoy.” From the meeting, Ali said he learned that it is “important in this global society, with the nuclear weapons that [countries] possess, to have a space for dialogue because it directly affects everyone.” Lipman added that she acquired a new understanding of global citizenship from the meeting with Mr. Brahimi, which inspired her to “be more globally aware of the world around [her].”

Anne Kelly ’27 said that Mr. Brahimi “was able to talk about controversial topics but still [make] light of them” by talking about not only his perspective but also those of diplomats he had worked with from other countries. “Mr. Brahimi also did a great job talking about how global citizenship would impact our future and what we, as students, have to do in order to bring peace and integration with countries around the world,” Kelly added. She remarked that he gave the students multiple tips on how to execute global citizenship appropriately and effectively, such as “educating [oneself] on ways [one] can take care of the world and respecting cultural, religious, and ethnic differences.”

The meeting with Mr. Brahimi allowed students an international perspective on diplomacy, conflict resolution, and the ideal global citizen. Ali referred to this meeting as “a necessary and memorable conversation,” noting that he now believes that “an international perspective on global affairs has been finally presented to the Academy.”