The Center for Student Involvement and Dean of Students office hosted an event Thursday on the Edinburg campus where a nonprofit organization shared stories about culture, leadership and global impact.
Sharaka is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the Middle East, with a base in different countries such as Morocco, Bahrain, Israel and the United States.
Sharaka’s mission is to unite people from the Middle East by building communities as well as educating and facilitating deep engagement with others.
Rachel Brynien, one of the voices of Sharaka, said the goal of the event was to share a piece of the Middle East to bring a new perspective to different communities.
“People are only seeing the Middle East through the lens of social media and don’t often have a chance to interact with people who are living in the region and hear different perspectives,” Brynien said.
Luai Ahmed, another voice of Sharaka, said his goal in the talk was to bring people to the center and have a more rational mindset regarding the current conflicts in the Middle East.
“To make people realize that this is a conflict and a war that affects people underground and that we need to mind the way we speak to people, especially the Jewish community because if you go on X, you go on TikTok, you see a rapid rise on antisemitism and the dehumanization of the Jewish people because they are critical of the Israeli government,” Ahmed said.
He added the mission he would like to accomplish in Sharaka is to make people realize they can be critical of the Israeli government.
“The Israelis are the most critical of the Israeli government and that we need to de-radicalize the schools and Mosques in Gaza and the West bank because I grew up in the same schools that brainwashed me to be genocidal,” Ahmed said.
Gary Susswein is the owner of Band One and works closely with the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory Commission.
Susswein said the purpose of the Sharaka visit at UTRGV was for people to understand different viewpoints from the Middle East.
“That we’re more than the problems they read about in social media feeds, that there are people who are building bridges who are trying to understand each other,” he said.
This is Celeste Cruz for Vaquero Radio.
