Global Changemakers

When I told people about my first Global Changemakers event, Guildford Forum 2009, just over 3 years ago, their reactions were almost unanimous: ‘you guys are going to take over the world soon.’

Although we’re not taking over the world just yet, we are taking over New York – Kardashian family style. Four Global Changemakers will be joining me at the Just Peace Summit in New York this March. The summit is hosted by the We Are Family foundation, and brings together young people working towards a peaceful future. Changemakers who have attended the World Economic Form have long been frequent guests of this summit in the past.

The summit will undoubtedly tackle a concept that has long confused me: peace. To most textbooks, peace is merely the absence of war, but ironically the reactant and product as well. With war comes anger, loss, and refugees – so are we at war with ourselves? Although a war has prevented me from ever visiting my country in my 19 years of life, I often reject this definition of peace. If it were true, life would be extremely depressing.

After growing up in the Middle East, a region that is plagued by wars, often fighting more than three at a time, then moving to a country that sends it’s troops to fight in my region, Britain, my understanding of peace became even more complex. The truth is, I felt comfortable in both regions, happy in both regions, and as I continue to fly back and fourth between the, juggling my two bedrooms, I always refer to the one I’m flying to as ‘home, whether it be the Middle East or England. I felt at peace in both, even though, in a sense, they’re not at peace with each other.

But if we were to take a step back and consider the textbook definition of peace one more time we’d see a much different painting. The absence of peace not only destroys buildings or economies, but something much more significant: life. When peace is absent, children are born livid instead of living and their cries for hunger and thirst aren’t of the traditional nutritional kind – they’re for change. The absence of peace creates refugees, but not necessarily as a product of war, but as a product of destruction. Indeed, the UNHCR predicts over 50 million people will have to flee their humans from the effect of climate change by 2025, rendering them climate refugees. The absence of peace creates an uneducated generation that is misinformed on issues ranging from health, to rights. So at the end of the day, we’re not just health activists or environmental activists – we’re peace activists.

If the textbook definition of peace does not change, we’re in for the third world war: one that isn’t fought over borders, but over life. Every person on this planet deserves a chance at life, because where there is life, there is peace.