DARING TO DIFFER- TEDx Talk by Raghida Dergham (Full Transcript)

I had the honor of sitting to the right of His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan at a dinner in the Dead Sea when the conversation took us at the table to the need of an indigenous Think Tank for the Arab region with global reach. “You are the one who must build it,” they all insisted pointing out that my professional background and my association with global think tanks make me the perfect candidate for this task which required courage, vision, and perseverance. It was an exhilarating challenge of reinventing myself.  This was in April 2007.

I had been living in New York for over 30 years but kept a strong connection with the Middle East through my work as journalist and television commentator on major American and Arab networks. I was at that time Columnist, Senior Diplomatic Correspondent and UN Bureau Chief for Al Hayat daily as well as a political analyst on CNN, MSNBC, and other American networks.

Upon my return to New York in Manhattan, I embarked on re-inventing myself to become the founder of a cutting edge think tank for the Arab region. My daughter Thalia was preparing to go to Columbia College that summer.  But she had to endure the demands of a mom determined that her daughter must build this institution with her. It almost ruined our wonderful relationship. But in hindsight, she is grateful that we did this together.

I had found a unique compact desk at an antique shop in Tangiers and had them pack it to take back to New York. I placed it at the entrance of our living room and spent years constructing brick by brick the Think Tank I called Beirut Institute.

Built patiently and determinedly by one woman, a decade later Beirut Institute has become a highly respected global brand.

Not so many women from the Middle East have founded a policy think tank which convenes brilliant minds on a global level to think constructively about the Arab region and its place in the world and to make recommendations on how to go forward.

Geopolitics are largely thought of as a man’s domain. But from the very beginning, I wouldn’t have it.

I dared to dream it. Dared to take on the challenge to build it. Dared to surmount difficulties and withstand discouragement. I dared to differ.

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I think it’s very important to dare intelligently. To dare irresponsibly and haphazardly is to defeat the very notion of daring intelligently for a clearly defined purpose. We can call it The Art of Daring. In order to dare, one has to have not only a purpose but also the determination to reach it.

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As foreign correspondent at the United Nations in New York at age 23, I took my time learning that complicated landscape of international political affairs surrounded by men eager to belittle a young woman who dared enter their field.

So what did I do? I observed the inner workings of international diplomacy diligently and invested myself fully in learning the intricacies of the trade for a political correspondent covering the UN. I educated myself patiently. And then I dared!

I dared to ask questions and follow up too. Dared to push the envelope. Dared to hold their feet to the fire. In other words, I dared to be a serious journalist.

Using the UN as a springboard, I went off in the world conducting interviews, covering summits, breaking major stories.

By age 26, I had interviewed the likes of the mighty Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos who literally sat  up on a pedestal and seated me below in a premeditated setting conducive to intimidating me. When he told me angrily in reaction to my tough questions “your time is up young lady” I answered back “ Actually Mr. President, my time has just begun.”

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At age 26 I also had my debut as political analyst on The McNeil/Lehrer News Hour on the famous American network, PBS, to speak about the revolution in Iran.

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I went to Tehran to interview the president and the opposition, to Havana and Belgrade to cover the non-aligned summit, to Moscow for the 27th party congress and for the Gorbachev-Reagan summit. I conducted interviews in prisons in New York with men convicted of the first attack on the World Trade Center and in planning 911.

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All through this professional journey, I dared to put my foot in the door, dared not to take “no” for an answer, dared to use the most important asset of a journalist- the right to ask questions- most pointedly and most responsibly. I repeat: most responsibly.

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I conducted over 30 interviews with Heads of States and Government and over 100 interviews with Foreign Ministers. My purpose was not to showcase my capabilities but rather to extract the story most profoundly and most responsibly. I became know as a formidable interviewer who dared to ask, and who was feared and respected.

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But I did not want to be remembered only as an interviewer. I wanted to be recognized as an astute and serious strategic columnist on geo-political matters. It was necessary to break yet another glass ceiling.

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Of course, the boys at first resisted allowing a woman to enter their reserved domain. But I dared to persevere and to be persistent. I won the battle. I became a better columnist than most of the men in the Arab world all together, and an international columnist at that.

I dared to differ!

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Had I feared their wrath or their revenge of those few that could have interrupted my career, I would have accomplished their mission not mine. The fact that I feared not has made all the difference.

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When letter bombs were 15 minutes away from my mailbox, I feared not. When I received warnings and death threats, I feared not. When sent on a plane to Damascus with an annulled passport- without informing me that my Lebanese passport was annulled- I feared not. When attempts were made to force me to appear before a military trial, I feared not.

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Only once I broke down. It was after 4 letter bombs were sent to my mailbox and God was by my side guiding me to challenge UN security to immediately trace my mail in the aftermath of bombs sent to our Washington and London offices.

Once they found the bombs and I handled the media and FBI questions calmly, I broke down. I broke down when I imagined my 5 year old daughter being told that her mother was blown to pieces- but she could not even look a corpse for closure.

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I did not break down when a certain General decided to silence me as a journalist who dared to differ with what he was dictating to the media around him. The stories I was filing professionally from the UN contradicted what he was spinning in Beirut. I never had met him. But I had to be silenced.

He needed to silence me in order to intimidate the young women and men who were newcomers to the career of journalism. Severe measures were needed to accomplish the task.

He sent me on a plane out of Beirut with the late UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with my passport secretly annulled. Had I not been a high profile international journalist, I would still be in a Syrian prison set up by a Lebanese General who wanted to show young upcoming journalists what happens to those who dared to differ.

Even after assurances were made to Kofi Annan that my passport would be returned, guess what happened? An indictment was sent to our office in Beirut accusing me of “dealing with the enemy” because I debated an Israeli while defending Lebanon in a televised debate.

And guess what two of my male colleagues in Beirut decided to do? The clever boys decided to conceal the indictment from me and to handle it themselves. Had I not learnt about it accidently, I could have visited Lebanon for a wedding or for a funeral, and I may be rotting in the women’s prison now.

But I refused to bow. I refused to appear in the military court accused of “dealing with the enemy”. I am Raghida Dergham, I said. I will never ever stand accused of such travesty. He who manufactured such a charge must be the one who drops it. And he did. And history was made.

History was made because a woman dared to stand up to such an assault on the freedom of the media and on her own credibility. Dared to stare back and stare down her accuser. Dared to be a brave woman who refused to compromise on matters of right and dignity.

I begged to differ.

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Anytime I am honored for my achievements I dedicate the honor to a young girl or a young woman watching me and dreaming she could be where I am. I say to her: Fear not! Ma Tkhafi!! Dare dream. Dare speak up. Dare stand up for what you believe in. Be bold. Stargy. Fear Not. Ma Tkhafi.

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I have raised a daughter, who is now 28, to dare dream and dare explore and dare make mistakes. I have your back, I always told her since she was little. The beauty of it is that now it is my Thalia who has my back.

This way we dare be adventurous and courageous, we dare to dream and help carve our destiny. This way we dare to reject intimidation and bullying and to win wars, not only battles.   This way we dare to have a vision and purpose and to intelligently reinvent ourselves breaking in the process yet another glass ceiling. This way we dare to smartly differ and to profoundly make a difference.