Unconditional commitment to a transparent organization
Kurdishaspect.com - Prepared by Art-in-Mind
Unconditional commitment to a pluralistic organization in North America that works for self determination rights of the largest stateless ethnicity in the Middle East is the reason people join KNC-NA. I had the pleasure of working with the board of directors of KNC-NA since March 2005 till the new board was elected recently.
This year’s election was very interesting. In response to the call of many friends, I accepted the nomination for presidency. I had endorsed the vice president to lead the organization because of his seniority, serenity, and dedication to education; yet, I participated in the process for practicing democracy and listening to the call of our new generation. I had argued our organization would be ready for my less conventional approach once we all are ready for a radical change in Diaspora and at home. I was pleased when my endorsed candidate was declared as the winner. I then learned that there was an error in calculation and another candidate finally won. Although he has not served in the board, this candidate is as eloquent and academically oriented as my endorsed candidate. His legal reasoning and dedication to the victims of Halabja compensates for his lack of experience with the board. He and our previous president, who indirectly endorsed him, deserve congratulations for achieving their goal. My endorsed candidate congratulated the winner graciously and became a leading role model for others.
The previous president did an excellent job during his four years service. He made some connections that most of us could not make. I remember I met a missionary at his house who later had asked him how she could contact me. Considering my agnostic views, he simplified the introduction to: “he is a nice guy”. This statement was sufficient for her to recognize that I was not the best person to be involved in missionary matters. As a previous fighter in the mountains, the previous president would not take no for an answer. I once reluctantly gave in to his persistence to put the leader of a political party with three intellectual writers in a panel that I chaired. As an assertive and successful businessman at times he made unilateral decisions and presented them as the best option to the board. He deserves credit for his achievements.
During the election I disagreed with having members of the same family on the board. Some argued we had two family members on the board in the past and it worked well. They were talking about our deceased shining star and her husband who were serving in the same board before she left us on July 24, 2006 . At that time we did not and still today we do not have any native born American with such a sincere dedication to our common cause and willingness to be on the board. I wish we had hundreds people like that couple among us.
The arguable family members of this time are also wonderful people and qualified to be on the board on separate occasions. They are from the same region and have a similar classic political orientation. In order to prevent any bias or moving the organization into a unilateral direction, I asked one of the members of the family not to run. He confidently said he will be on the board soon, despite my opposition. It seemed as if the leadership had promised him that he will make it. Now I am glad that he achieved his goal and hope he and the board remembers make sure the organization remains pluralistic, transparent, independent, and independence seeking.
I am glad that there are now at least two women on the board. I hoped there will be an equal number of men and women there. I was happy that another young woman added her name to the list. Hoping that she will get in, I voted for her and deleted the name of one of my other friends who is ideologically closer to me. I later recognized that she was not qualified because she needs to be a member for at least a year. Although I might not fully agree with her views, I hope this confident, intelligent, hard working, and determined women gets on board next time.
I hoped there will be at least two members form each part of our divided homeland in the new board. Unfortunately we did not have enough members from some parts. One of our leaders argued such an argument was divisive and anyone of us would serve our unity regardless where we are from. I was not sure about the validity of his argument. I thought how New Yorkers would take it, if Texans represents them in the senate, because of shortage of senators in New York . I thought how the French would take it, if English becomes the only official language of EU, since it is the contemporary scientific language. I thought how Arabs would take it, if Persia becomes the center of Arab league, since Persian authorities represent Arabic faith. I thought how the Turks would take it, if Layla Zana represents Anatolia in EU, since she is more democratic, secular, and open minded than most Turkish parliamentarians.
I think unity without equality and equal representation is useless and similar to the argument of our opponents who call us divisive for thinking about uniting all parts of our divided homeland. Although the new board does not have equal number of representatives from all parts of our society, I hope it will serve all parts and gives special attention to the majority that lives in the Northern part.
As for myself, I continue to do my share in form of giving public lectures and presentations in an educational, satiric, and thought provoking style whenever it’s needed. Meanwhile I congratulate the new president and his team and wish them much success in moving KNC-NA forward as a democratic, pluralistic, and more importantly as a transparent organization.
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May 15, 2008
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