now, what we are being with the peace culture is there and it is consolidated that the mind thinks of the stability and of development more than war. it works for me a lot in the ministry in general education so that the peace education is part of the curriculum. those who want to rebebl and those who are walking for peace. it takes a lot, i agree. peaz education, keep on working on it and consolidation and making it strong. let them see it and think about it. let them follow an unviolence approach. we need that. >> i am as struck as you all past this conversation down the road.

here we have a spectacular woman leader from sudan and from south sudan. you all were at war. your countries were at war for so many decades and deaths and came back with the peace agreement with the referendum six years later and a is you session. the struggle between these two peoples and here you are. you are like sisters. i want to personally applaud you and say that the strength of your coalition is an example for the whole world. [ applause ] we have a question here and a question there. please identify yourself. >> sure. my name is aria and i'm a student at the mpa two-year program here at the harvard

kennedy school. i want to thank everyone for sharing a glimpse of your amazing experiences. it's inspirational. my question is for afghanistan. you told us about the experience of the rockets hitting. i was wondering how as an afghan woman, i am concerned about how the peace process will affect my fate and the fate of my daughter if i have any in the future. what i am seeing is the peace process may involve a couple of compromises, one of which might be with regards to women's issues and women's rights in afghanistan. we hear again and again that the constitution would be followed, but with so much uncertainty with regard to the peace deal and how it is being taken care of and the government is not in the picture. how you as a woman who has been in the middle of all of this with leading a network of women with 80 women organizations and

5,000 personnel which you across the country, what is your understanding and analysis of this peace deal and how hopeful i should be as a woman. >> thank you very much. >> very interesting question. at the same time very difficult. very technical. very challenging. i was looking for the word. well, the peace process, yes, it has started. the peace process is something that has come based on the recommendation. we go together and we need a command they're we want to go for a peace process. then we sat from november 2011 and again said how the peace process should go. yes, there is a change in the policy of our government.

every day something is happening. i don't think women's rights would be a sacrifice. because we are not the women of 2001. this is what i have been saying. that just took place on december 5th, 2011. >> you wore green scarves. >> absolutely. we had green scarfs and we were meeting a number of policy makers and foreign minsters and delegations, telling them that we want to be part of the development of our country. we want to see a transition in afghanistan where we want to take the lead. we will be making mistakes for sure. but we will learn from our mistakes. so where i see the women now

and where i have been seeing them in 2001, i am just telling you don't worry about your rights that will be negotiations. we will not let it happen. . >> i have to add, we had 11 women leaders from afghanistan. they were brought here and they were very involved with pulling this all and official who is a kennedy school grad. we put together 20 meetings in washington and they were featured on the news hour, etc. at the pentagon and the white house, etc. it was striking to me when one of the women said look, she was being asked i think on congress by a senator. what are you going to do? you can't have the taliban and these talks. she said look, these are our

family. if my arm is hurting me and wound and diseased, i don't cutoff my arm. she said put them at the table. put us at the table and in three days there will be a difference. that's something that we have a hard time understanding and imagining. please, sir. >> thank you. my name is -- and i am from bangladesh attending this program. one of the changes that happened to me after coming to this school i started asking all kind of difficult questions. i think i seek your indulgence of my question if you find it awkward. the freedom fighters, i don't

know, the first time i think i had it for the first time today after a long many years, in the 70s in a school time, this is a time all of our own. i would like to see why the evolution of this town freedom fighters how it transformed and what made some freedom fighters that it is to know compared to the mercenaries and why is the freedom fighter, why you click with the taliban or hamas and

palestine is not. >> let me make sure i understand your question. i will restate it differently. how do you use a steterm like freedom fighter when one situation and you talk about other groups as terrorists? >> yes. >> is that in short? >> my understanding is i call someone freedom fighter who is fighting for something or which he or she thinks that wrongly she is not allowed to enjoy. by that definition, i tend to believe most of the terrorists who are now branded and have a cause, but don't call them freedom fighters.

the bottom line that they call the freedom fighters. >> thank you for asking that. >> i am going to see what comments you all have because you are living in the situation. i can answer in terms of my own mind. plea please. >> you are rightly saying when you say freedom fighter, it's positive. it means somebody is fighting and expressing and demanding their rights. that's how i understand it. that's why i use it proudly. i don't want to go into details. as i go into detail, it was clear. the injustices are very clear.

the lows were enforced on us. we were never given time to develop ourselves and we are starting it now. that's why today when we talk about the construction and rebuilding, we say it's nothing to reconstruct. it is nothing to rebuild. we are starting fresh. all that was happening is our resources were being rocked and being syphoned. even our oil which we discovered which was discovered in south sudan was being taken through a pipe to be taken to a refinery outside. we are not given an opportunity to exercise freedom fights. fighting for a cause, but not for the sake of fighting and killing somebody else. you are defending yourself and someone who has to rob you of

your get a human right. maybe again to confirm that if i were talking like ten years ago, you would have saved, you are just like any other terrorist and trying to kill others. today we have accepted the negotiating table and discuss the issues and we go for years before we manage to reach the process of elections and independence and the now country said fine, we don't want to fight anybody else. that's what it means to be a freedom fighter. other groups would want to fight for the sake of imposing. it's just the other side of the coin. it's the other side of the coin for me. it was fighting for my right. on the other side, somebody was

bombarding villages and these are the people who want to encroach on your right. they are the ones who want to fight. i think the difference then is that someone wants to terrorize and someone wants to impose their own opinion. someone wants to rope others. these are not freedom fighters. if you ask what is it? why do you want to abduct children? they are supposed to grow and they are inducted and they are printed into a movie or end of the day. the children or the young people are asked to go and throw bombs. suicidal attacks.

this to me is not good. they wouldn't want to mix with the terrorists and people who just want to fight. there is a positive aspect and then you must be thinking towards a solution. i think we try our best to walk. it must end with education and transformation and development. >> and i agree with everything you said and i can also very much sympathize with your point of view in that question. clearly there very few people who say and i'm a terrorist. right? they feel like they are also fighting for a just cause and others are calling them terrorists. like you said, rebecca, people would have been calling you a

terrorist and after the fact they become freedom fighters and they become terrorists. in the eyes of other people. i will tell you that it is striking to me that the name of elizabeth new for was called. she worked in bosnia and died in iraq. i think she would be right with me saying that interslengz should have happened much, much sooner and what do we mean by intervention? bombs and bullets. if you stand back and i was advocating for that as ambassador. i was there 93 to 97 in indiana advocating as hard as i could in the white house for military intervention. what does that make me?

when you get to a point where the least violent option is military intervention, what a failure. what a failure. we should never be proud of that moment when that is the only option. we could have somehow done something, even putting our lives on the line in the hundreds of thousands if that's what it took. if that's what it would have taken to earlier on have stopped the political figures with their power. my sympathies are with you as you ask that question and i'm very, very glad that you asked it. thank you. we probably can do one more. i'm getting a sign from the back and you were first. >> was she first or were you in

you were first. okay. sorry. you snooz, you lose. >> i want to thank you all so much for sharing with us. as a kournlist overtime you flirt a lot with cynicism. that reminds me that cynicism is a luxury for those who are forced into living with it. for me that was very powerful. thank you. i was struck by what you said, rebecca after the war that you need to give the eggs back to the villages to paraphrase. thing you said much more lovely than i did. i was struck because i intrude so many freedom fighters, whatever we call them now. once they a accepteded to powse

you talk about the responsibility that fighting gives you to the people who helped you get there. i wonder if your male colleagues share this perspective and what it looks like in that way from other countries and how to get more people thinking like you after the fact. >> it's your question. you said something really extraordinary. they gave us the eggs and the chickens and they will give us back peace and stability. is that the general feeling shared? is it as easy for men to get to that point as you described? again with the respect, it's

going back to wish we were not pushed into war and fighting, but i don't want to think that women are the angels and men are the devils, no. if you fight for something, you must carry it forward. you agree with me and take the responsibility. there is a government and one of the examples i give is how our government considered even if they are males. if our men were really completely thinking otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed that space for us today. affirmative action in the constitution and when it comes to filling the seats, there was

a term we had for men who took our seats and i believe that they have to take our right. it's the same thing when we talk about having women in the cabinet or in the legislature. i remember when we were appointed by decree in august. when we were sweating in the president, i know you women are looking at me. during this wedding and said ceremony. i am talking about the political will so we don't think all men don't have a heart. he said for you, deputy minster, there ten of you. that's more than 25%. i think that was very considerate. he said during this ceremony, i am happy that i managed to give

to your right. you fought for it and it's your right. not the deputy, but the four minsters, five of them, i know you have a bone to pick with me. i think that was very considerate of him thinking of that. general i think with our government now development is key education. i think the most important that i want to bring it i come back with perspective for women and what the general said earlier for it is that we have that soft -- we call it soft -- soft skills. our antennas are always picking areas that are not seen by men sometimes. so we keep vigilant. we're trapped. when things are not happening, we talk about them openly. we continue to sensitize.

we don't leave men out. if they don't have that soft -- soft what? soft skills. we make sure that they are there. that we are reminding them. that we need to give the chicken and the eggs back to the community. they know that. it's part to have policies in the government. i know it's happening, but again that reminder. we have to keep it on.

we have tosuhat make e construction, the building is going on because it's for the good.you cannot rule or govern e without giving them their right and the stability they need. it's happening with our government. i'm happy with it, but again we have to keep vigilant. we have to keep reminders and we have to be persistent and we hal back their right. at's wt mpta. >> and the general -- >> a short comment mpbe from so of view, the first population to be vulnerable under attacks, underlence are children, women, and elders. so women have that awareness in a natural way because they can play both roles. and our role as women is strong women, as women is to increase awareness among our male colleagues. because then the next time they will be able to see as fast as we might do. >> so this has been fabulous. and rebecca you ended your time in our class because i was teaching and teaching inclusive secure here at the school. you ended your time in our class in an extraordinary way. would you end this forum? i want you to do what you did. >> is everybody ready. >> everybody is ready. >> do it. do it.

okay. >> okay. i think we need to celebrate the women who won the nobel prize. the problem with me is that i don't celebrate when i'm sitting. i like to stand. i like to move the same way i celebrate everything. and i celebrate the women. and for you many the balcony up there, are we together? >> yes. >> do you have the energy? remember, you are dealing with a freedom fighter. we are going to sing a song. we have to participate a lot of us. i think we have done a lot of talking. it's time for you to share with us. we are going to sing -- i'm going to sing in simple arabic. it's about women shining. all the women are shining. but remember, men, you are

singing with us. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> all i wanted to say is our shine, our shining. the other thing you'll have to do when i mention your name, i may not remember all the names, i don't know all the names, if you get fited if i don't know your name, just show us how you really shining. you can't be shining like this. you really have to shine. okay. >> okay. >> and they're clapping. i will ask you at some point to stand up. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thank you. >> okay, everyone. thank you so much for being here.

[ cheers and applause ] thank you so much for being here.

next, young female activists speak out about efforts to advance women's issues. with congress on break this week we're featuring american history programs on c span3. tonight we look at the history of watergate starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern tour the watergate exhibit. at 9:00, leak, examining why fbi official became deep throat. at 10:00, the white house officials, investigators and post reporters who first broke the story. american history tv all week on cspan3.