The Point: Fall 2018

Perspective on
World Events
In considering the state of the refugee crises
in 2017, Alzeyarah shares his thoughts on
the world’s responses.
“I like how Europe is responding to it
because they’re letting refugees in, not into
camps, but into houses, and they give them
jobs. They have the right to go to school
… and they do that in America, if you get
a visa. But what I don’t like in the Middle
East is how they created camps for them,
and [have been] saying that, ‘There are
too many refugees, and our countries are
too small; we can’t really let them in,’”
Alzeyarah said.
Alzeyarah remembers how Syria welcomed
in the refugees of Lebanon, Iraq and other
countries when they were at war.
“Syria let them in,” Alzeyarah said. “I
don’t like how Middle Eastern countries are
responding to it because I mean we should
be connected ‘cause we are Middle Eastern,
but we [are] not, not how Europe, Germany,
Sweden and these other countries [who
have] treated refugees a lot better than we
treated them.”
The reason for this rejection of refugees is
politics, Alzeyarah asserts.
“We just hate each other, politically, so
if I see a Yemeni or like [hypothetically]
Iraqi, Syrian, I don’t really hate them
[personally], but politically, yeah we do,”
Alzeyarah said.
Despite tension between the Kurds and
Iraqis—resulting from the Kurds’ past
and current efforts to reclaim their independence
as a nation—Alzeyarah, and
his friend, Basel, who is Kurdish, have a
close bond akin to brotherhood.
“We really [talk], but we never get in
fights. I mean when we get to the point
that we [are] gonna fight, we stop it,”
Alzeyarah said.
For context, according to an in-depth
feature by Foreign Policy and articles by
The New York Times and The Washington
Post, president of the Iraqi Kurdistan
area Masoud Barzani proceeded with
the referendum, and it did pass. The
vote, which was expanded to disputed
territories, was 93 percent “yes.” Though
the vote passed in theory, it did not do so
in reality, simultaneously not producing
an independent state for Iraqi Kurds
and triggering a response from Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi’s Baghdad government.
Likely with Iran’s involvement,
Abadi forged a deal with the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan and reclaimed authority
in the Kirkuk oil fields and other
disputed territories.
Personal
Philosophy
War touching Alzeyarah’s childhood in
such an abrupt and violent manner produced
a feeling foreign to that innocent
space.
“It made me feel like I’m older than my
age ‘cause I went through things that
people at my age do not go through, like
leaving the country at a young age ‘cause
of war, seeing people being killed like
when I was 11, 12 years old, which a kid’s
not supposed to see, seeing people … protesting
and [shot] by soldiers,” Alzeyarah
said. “People in our age … are supposed
to be thinking about toys and stuff, but
we were thinking about guns, appointing
a new president that is good and about
stuff … people in our age should not think
about, that’s what made us feel older than
our age.”
Alzeyarah’s note to the world is one of
acceptance, nonviolence and unity.
“I just want people to know that we are
normal people, not terrorists, not people
[who] are coming here to create problems.
We just want to be treated … like humans,
and that’s all I want,” Alezayarah said
.
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