Bard College Berlin News
BCB Student Aisha Khurram Delivers TEDx Talk “Afghanistan: Not A Lost Cause”
Aisha Khurram joined Bard College Berlin following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021 and received a scholarship from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. She was the Youth Representative for Afghanistan to the United Nations in 2019 and prior to studying at BCB, she was a student at the American University of Afghanistan. Aisha is a dedicated activist in the area of education for women and girls. She recently joined the Transforming Education Summit as the regional leader of the Tertiary Refugee Students Network hosted by the United Nations.
Though Aisha’s life and work have been disrupted by ongoing geopolitical conflict in Afghanistan, she remains optimistic that with dedication and material change, Afghanistan’s future could look bright again.
At the end of her talk, she stated:
“What happens when you put ‘failure’ into the thought process, into the minds and bodies of a nation and especially its young people, what happens when you call them ‘finished and done’, just because their political systems failed to protect them and their futures? This is the mainstream perception pushed by mainstream media and policymakers around the world. It is true that the political failure is an undeniable reality, but it’s not the whole story. We often underestimate the power of false narratives and the subconscious, counterproductive consequences they have on people and their realities.
[...] And what Afghans, Afghan youth are protesting for and demanding for today is a fight that they have taken upon themselves on behalf of all of us, on behalf of all freedom loving people of the world. They have proven that they are not failed and done, and I'm sure that the free-thinking people of the world everywhere will ensure that young Afghans are not forgotten.”
Khurram’s TEDx talk can be watched on Youtube.
Post Date: 11-07-2022