I see warning signs in Europe and you
need to be quite aware of them the
biggest three of them are extremists
reaching high political positions
England leaving the European Union and
the discussion about closing borders
among European countries you need to pay
attention to those signs you can do
something about them you have to stop
what is happening border is a word which
means drawing a line to mark the end of
something or to separate two different
things or more from each other border
can also mean borders between countries
or metaphorical borders among people we
need to keep our actual and metaphorical
borders open I live in Germany now and I
don’t want Europe to go through the same
suffering the same grief and the same
sadness that we have went through in
Syria during the first 23 years of my
life I have traveled a lot within Syria
itself I could travel easily and all I
needed to cross the borders to Turkey or
to Lebanon was my ID card however the
situation has changed when the war
started in Syrian Aprill 2011
checkpoints started appearing on the
road I was travelling to Damascus
Syria’s capital and there were no less
than 25 checkpoints on the road and by
each checkpoint they would collect ID
cards and then they would ask young men
out of the bus to enter their name into
a computer to check if they were wanted
for any criminal registry or any other
reason
of course no pool would go on the bus
knowing about 25 checkpoints and knowing
also that he has anything on his
registry but you see everything hasn’t
started in Syria by cross by drawing
borders and taking sites checkpoints
started appearing on the road between
the cities in Syria when the war started
but then the same thing started
happening within the same city I lived
in Aleppo and starting June 2012
checkpoints started appearing Aleppo was
divided into two sides eastern side and
the western side the eastern side was
occupied by the free army and the
western side was occupied by the regime
and whenever you wanted to go around the
city you would face the same problem of
checkpoints and ID cards especially
young men and they would not be able to
get out of it without knowing the people
who are standing on the checkpoint
itself or by a packet of cigarettes now
I’m going to tell you of a personal
story about the impact of borders on me
and my family so please come with me to
August 2 that to 2015 I’m traveling to
Lebanon with my parents and my youngest
brother Mohammad we are standing on the
borders suddenly officers come they take
my brother Mohammad and they put him in
prison they say that he has to serve
military we all know that this is
nonsense he’s a student and he has his
military duty postponed but you see
there was no International upon 2015 so
he’s postponed did not reach the borders
they make a mistake based on a
communication field
my mother and I are standing on the
borders crying and on the edge of
collapsing we know that if one man went
to serve military it would be his death
sentence serving military at that time
meant that soldiers would stand in front
of Isis and the Nutri fighters so after
20 minutes a merciful officer comes to
us and he says that he’s going to let
Mohammed go under the condition that he
we go travel back we travel directly
back to Damascus to get a paper that
says that he is really a student and he
has his military duty postponed we did
that and Mohammed and my mother are
staying here with us on the train today
but there was the end of it for me that
was the straw that broke the camel’s
back we finally decided to leave Syria
have you ever been checked on any border
before now imagine the same thing
happening in your country imagine this
thing happening here in Europe people
trying to get to Germany from Netherland
or vice versa
officers standing on the borders putting
your young men under a microscope today
we are crossing the borders from
Netherland to Germany without even
realizing it Europe’s borders are close
to non-existent it is just like living
in one big United land with different
areas names Europe’s borders are open
and they should stay open people also
need to be open
I’m an Arab and a Muslim I’m different
and I’m a stranger in the German society
I have met great people here who do not
label me they just embraced me and
helped me starting my new life here in
Germany they are curious to know
everything about me about my background
my family my offspring my culture
if each group of people tried to build
its own Island that would be dangerous
if each group with different political
views different nationalities different
religious beliefs and different whatever
if each group of those people lived
separately that would divide the land in
a tedious manner that’s why we need to
improve the concept of tolerance accept
the concept of other nests and embrace
the difference naturally you’re afraid
of everything that is different not
because you don’t like it but just
because you don’t know what it is and
there is an easy way to achieve
knowledge it’s free it costs absolutely
nothing but a little bit of your time
and openness to the two to get to know
other people from different cultures and
different backgrounds so in order to
overcome your fears you need to educate
yourselves education is the key
it’s easy I will give you two examples I
live a Northrop and I have met they’re a
wonderful woman called Bettina fluke she
organizes something called international
cafe which happens every first Saturday
of every month on this day refugees and
German people come together we sit we
talk we drink coffee together we open a
topic for a discussion or we organize
something to do together the thing that
we are organizing at the moment is a
fest of cultures in which we are going
to celebrate our traditional suka fest
on the 2nd of july arabs are going to
bring food traditional food that we
usually cook in our traditional fest and
germans who are going to attend will
have a chance to look to know a little
bit more about our culture and about our
tradition the second example is the
event that happens on the second
Saturday of every month in which a
couple chords a Nina and Sebastian along
with Bettina they borrow games from the
library and also people can bring game
they would a game they would like to
play so we sit all together in a neutral
environment in which one word or two
might come up or none according to the
person who’s sitting in front of you as
I have said it’s a neutral environment
so no obligation no restrictions just
people sharing their love of games it’s
all about no borders taking to
consideration meeting new people think
about the doors that these opportunities
and these chances open they are a huge
and magnificent the world needs to learn
from its mistakes so please let’s keep
our minds our hearts and our borders
open thank you
you
[Applause]
need to be quite aware of them the
biggest three of them are extremists
reaching high political positions
England leaving the European Union and
the discussion about closing borders
among European countries you need to pay
attention to those signs you can do
something about them you have to stop
what is happening border is a word which
means drawing a line to mark the end of
something or to separate two different
things or more from each other border
can also mean borders between countries
or metaphorical borders among people we
need to keep our actual and metaphorical
borders open I live in Germany now and I
don’t want Europe to go through the same
suffering the same grief and the same
sadness that we have went through in
Syria during the first 23 years of my
life I have traveled a lot within Syria
itself I could travel easily and all I
needed to cross the borders to Turkey or
to Lebanon was my ID card however the
situation has changed when the war
started in Syrian Aprill 2011
checkpoints started appearing on the
road I was travelling to Damascus
Syria’s capital and there were no less
than 25 checkpoints on the road and by
each checkpoint they would collect ID
cards and then they would ask young men
out of the bus to enter their name into
a computer to check if they were wanted
for any criminal registry or any other
reason
of course no pool would go on the bus
knowing about 25 checkpoints and knowing
also that he has anything on his
registry but you see everything hasn’t
started in Syria by cross by drawing
borders and taking sites checkpoints
started appearing on the road between
the cities in Syria when the war started
but then the same thing started
happening within the same city I lived
in Aleppo and starting June 2012
checkpoints started appearing Aleppo was
divided into two sides eastern side and
the western side the eastern side was
occupied by the free army and the
western side was occupied by the regime
and whenever you wanted to go around the
city you would face the same problem of
checkpoints and ID cards especially
young men and they would not be able to
get out of it without knowing the people
who are standing on the checkpoint
itself or by a packet of cigarettes now
I’m going to tell you of a personal
story about the impact of borders on me
and my family so please come with me to
August 2 that to 2015 I’m traveling to
Lebanon with my parents and my youngest
brother Mohammad we are standing on the
borders suddenly officers come they take
my brother Mohammad and they put him in
prison they say that he has to serve
military we all know that this is
nonsense he’s a student and he has his
military duty postponed but you see
there was no International upon 2015 so
he’s postponed did not reach the borders
they make a mistake based on a
communication field
my mother and I are standing on the
borders crying and on the edge of
collapsing we know that if one man went
to serve military it would be his death
sentence serving military at that time
meant that soldiers would stand in front
of Isis and the Nutri fighters so after
20 minutes a merciful officer comes to
us and he says that he’s going to let
Mohammed go under the condition that he
we go travel back we travel directly
back to Damascus to get a paper that
says that he is really a student and he
has his military duty postponed we did
that and Mohammed and my mother are
staying here with us on the train today
but there was the end of it for me that
was the straw that broke the camel’s
back we finally decided to leave Syria
have you ever been checked on any border
before now imagine the same thing
happening in your country imagine this
thing happening here in Europe people
trying to get to Germany from Netherland
or vice versa
officers standing on the borders putting
your young men under a microscope today
we are crossing the borders from
Netherland to Germany without even
realizing it Europe’s borders are close
to non-existent it is just like living
in one big United land with different
areas names Europe’s borders are open
and they should stay open people also
need to be open
I’m an Arab and a Muslim I’m different
and I’m a stranger in the German society
I have met great people here who do not
label me they just embraced me and
helped me starting my new life here in
Germany they are curious to know
everything about me about my background
my family my offspring my culture
if each group of people tried to build
its own Island that would be dangerous
if each group with different political
views different nationalities different
religious beliefs and different whatever
if each group of those people lived
separately that would divide the land in
a tedious manner that’s why we need to
improve the concept of tolerance accept
the concept of other nests and embrace
the difference naturally you’re afraid
of everything that is different not
because you don’t like it but just
because you don’t know what it is and
there is an easy way to achieve
knowledge it’s free it costs absolutely
nothing but a little bit of your time
and openness to the two to get to know
other people from different cultures and
different backgrounds so in order to
overcome your fears you need to educate
yourselves education is the key
it’s easy I will give you two examples I
live a Northrop and I have met they’re a
wonderful woman called Bettina fluke she
organizes something called international
cafe which happens every first Saturday
of every month on this day refugees and
German people come together we sit we
talk we drink coffee together we open a
topic for a discussion or we organize
something to do together the thing that
we are organizing at the moment is a
fest of cultures in which we are going
to celebrate our traditional suka fest
on the 2nd of july arabs are going to
bring food traditional food that we
usually cook in our traditional fest and
germans who are going to attend will
have a chance to look to know a little
bit more about our culture and about our
tradition the second example is the
event that happens on the second
Saturday of every month in which a
couple chords a Nina and Sebastian along
with Bettina they borrow games from the
library and also people can bring game
they would a game they would like to
play so we sit all together in a neutral
environment in which one word or two
might come up or none according to the
person who’s sitting in front of you as
I have said it’s a neutral environment
so no obligation no restrictions just
people sharing their love of games it’s
all about no borders taking to
consideration meeting new people think
about the doors that these opportunities
and these chances open they are a huge
and magnificent the world needs to learn
from its mistakes so please let’s keep
our minds our hearts and our borders
open thank you
you
[Applause]
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