By examining the intentions 
of Israeli and Palestinian groups, 
both past and present, Lieberman 
engaged in a conversation with 
attendees, contemplating the future 
of negotiations between the two 
nations. 
“From the 1990s to about 2014, 
the two-state solution was the 
official goal of the Israeli government 
and the Palestinian Authority, the 
PA,” Lieberman said. “Today most 
commentators agree that the two-
state solution is on life support, if it’s 
not dead completely. So what’s next? 
How do Israelis and Palestinians 
see the future, and what do they say 
they want? In each case, what’s the 
mix between rational thinking and 
irrational impulse?”
Lieberman later expressed some 
doubt that Israeli and Palestinian 
groups will reach an agreement 
regarding the ongoing land dispute 
between the two nations, which 

provoked a broad spectrum of 
reactions from audience members.
LSA 
freshman 
Henry 
Wolle 
shared his own interpretation of 
Lieberman’s words to The Daily after 
the event, as well as some thoughts 
about the issue.
“I take it that this professor 
imagines the state of affairs as locked 
in one way and his understanding 
is both sides can’t come to a real 
reconciliation,” Wolle said. “So, 
that’s sort of where he bases his 
speculation. That’s my understanding 
of his presentation… I agree with the 
frozen-ness that he presented, and I 
recognize that from the conversations 
that I’ve had with people.”
Following the lecture portion of 
the event, Lieberman opened up the 
floor for attendees to share their own 
thoughts, ideas and questions. Orr 
Viznitser, a Jewish Agency Israel 
Fellow, added to the conversation 
by sharing her personal beliefs and 
experiences as an Israel native. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, April 4, 2019 — 3

MICHIGAN DAILY ALUMNI TALK

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Former Michigan Daily Editorial Page Editor Mark Dillen discusses his career in journalism and the foreign services in an 
alumni talk held in the Paul Brentlinger Conference Room of the Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building Wednesday.

“It has been 18 years since the 
war began … there is no end to 
this war,” Sukhanyar said. “What 
is going on? You don’t see any 
sign of victory.”
Sukhanyar 
also 
addressed 
problems regarding security in 
Afghanistan. He said the lack 
of training in Afghan security 
forces causes the country to 
suffer from external danger.
“The security is not improving, 
it’s reversing,” Sukhanyar said. 
“You don’t see any improvement 
on the ground. Afghan security 
forces lack resources, they’re not 
as professional as international 
forces … that means life is harder, 
it’s more dangerous for us, for the 
civilians.”
While reporting for the The 
New York Times in Afghanistan, 
Sukhanyar interviewed a man 
later featured in The Times’ 
video “Injured and Abandoned in 
Afghanistan.” The video features 
a former Afghan police officer 
who lost his leg, and his struggle 
to survive on the streets of Kabul, 
Afghanistan.
Sukhanyar said he first got into 
contact with the man after he 
noticed him begging for money in 
the street while driving home. He 
said he approached the man for 
several consecutive days to ask 
about what he was doing before 
revealing he was a reporter and 
requesting an interview.
According to Sukhanyar, the 
man joined the police academy 
in 
which 
American 
troops 
were involved. While training 
in 
southeastern 
Afghanistan, 
a bomb detonated on the man, 
resulting in him and two of 
his colleagues suffering severe 
injuries. As result, the men were 
unable to continue to work as 
officers. After this happened, the 
man’s family, including his wife 
and two children, disowned him.
“This 
young 
Afghan 
was 
trained by the Americans, fought 
in this war, and finally this is what 
his life is,” Sukhanyar said. “He’s 
living on the streets of Kabul, and 
he’s (begging) during the evening 

when it’s dark because he doesn’t 
want to be seen by his friends and 
by people that knew him.”
Sukhanyar also highlighted 
another reporting experience 
where he interviewed a man 
whose young son was shot point-
blank by the Taliban.
“When I was talking to this 
man, who himself was a warrior 
during the Soviet division of 
Afghanistan, he told me that 
it’s very painful to lose his son,” 
Sukhanyar said. “It’s very, very 
horrible to lose his son … it was 
very moving and emotional for 
me.”
While discussing the future 
of 
Afghanistan, 
Sukhanyar 
said he does not know what 
is coming. After he completes 
his Knight-Wallace fellowship 
at the University, Sukhanyar 
said he plans to move back to 
Afghanistan, despite the current 
corruption in the country.
“I was hoping to go back to my 
country, to live in my country, 
even though I know it’s not 
going to be as fun as I expect.,” 
Sunhanyar said. “... I know living 
here would be much, much better 
for me, for my kids, they would 
have a good future, but I don’t 
want to close the door for other 
Afghans who are working there. 
They might get an opportunity to 
come to programs like the one I 
came and get a job.”
Bruce 
Martin, 
executive 
director of International House 
Ann Arbor, commented on the 
importance of both telling and 
listening to stories. He said he 
thought it was important for 
Americans to hear stories such 
as Sukhanyar’s because what 
the United States does in other 
countries has a direct impact on 
their lives.
“I always like to say to 
people, we’re all about stories, 
and everybody has a story,” 
Martin said. “Everybody also 
has a right to tell those stories 
in their own voice and listen to 
others’ stories. What they do 
with that information is up to 
them, but stories can be powerful 
motivators, impact lives and 
shape responses.”

“What 
I 
hope 
you 
will 
leave with today is what is my 
obligation to helping change to 
helping this situation that we’re 
in,” Abdelhoq said. “And also 
you helping to understand in a 
healthy way what masculinity 
means.”
The first topic centered around 
how masculinity has typically 
been portrayed. They explained 
academic writing on masculinity 
has often been written by and 
for white men and why this is 
problematic 
when 
discussing 
Arab masculinity.
“That 
conversation 
really 
transitions and does a shift 
when it comes to Arab men, and 
this is also true for other men of 
color,” Elharake said. “Even as I 
think about myself, I was born 
in Lebanon and immigrated here 
when I was seven. Masculinity 
looks very different in Lebanon.”
 
Abdelhoq 
and 
Elharake 
then began discussing social 
constructions 
of 
masculinity 
and how they influence men’s 
behavior. 
They 
described 
three 
categories: 
hegemonic 
masculinity, 
the 
traditional 
stereotype 
of 
masculinity, 
complicit 
masculinity, 
where 
men receive the benefits of 
masculinity, and marginalized 
masculinity, where men are 
given power based on their 
gender while being marginalized 
in other ways.
Abdelhoq said he believed 
many men fit into the category 
of complicit masculinity. He 
said though they aren’t directly 

perpetuating 
inequality, 
they 
are still receiving the benefits of 
their masculinity.
“My sense is that a lot of men 
fall into this category,” he said. 
“A lot of men don’t fit into all the 
characteristics or all the defining 
factors 
of 
what 
hegemonic 
masculinity looks like, but also 
don’t challenge how they were 
socialized.”
Abdelhoq also explained many 
men of color are often unwilling 
to stand up for women when 
discussing issues of gender. 
“A lot of times (for) men of color, 
this discussion of community 
will hinge on their marginalized 
identity,” Abdelhoq said. “They 
will really go to bat for people 
when it comes to issues of race, 
and then fall deadly silent when 
it comes to issues of sexism.”
The event then transitioned to 
how stereotypes of masculinity 
are formed at a young age. The 
presenters put a list of phrases 
up on the screen that men 
commonly hear and asked the 
men in the audience to raise their 
hands if they had ever received 
the comment. When asked about 
the phrase “man up,” every man 
in the audience raised their hand. 
They 
also 
discussed 
how 
traditional notions of masculinity 
are perpetuated by “groupthink.” 
They explained that though it’s 
commonly assumed that men 
act masculine for women, the 
opposite is true; men often act 
masculine around men to be 
accepted.
Abdelhoq 
and 
Elharake 
explained how Arab identity 
interacts with both masculinity 
and 
femininity, 
offering 
examples of traditional gender 
roles in Arab families.

“We see this even thinking 
about our roles in our families 
— who cooks, who cleans, who 
eats where?” Elharake asked. 
“At least in my experience, often 
Arab men are allowed to go out 
past a certain time and often 
Arab women have to be back by 
six or seven.”
Abdelhoq pointed out this 
inequality has been made clear, 
especially as progress is made 
towards equality.
“There has been an uptick in 
the need to reinforce traditional 
values,” Adelhoq said. “Men’s 
knee jerk response has been 
to 
re-establish 
traditional 
boundaries that perhaps some 
movement has been made on.”
The event concluded with 
interactive exercises. The first 
asked the audience to choose 
which of two men better fit the 
mold of traditional masculinity 
— those chosen included Russian 
President Vladimir Putin, rapper 
Meek Mill and Portuguese soccer 
player Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 
audience 
was 
also 
prompted 
to 
guess 
what 
percentage of men surveyed 
reported being uncomfortable 
when the terms “bitch” and “slut” 
were used in reference to women. 
Though 
audience 
members 
guessed five and 12 percent, the 
answer was revealed to be 81.
When asked how one could 
help challenge negative effects of 
masculinity, both Abdelhoq and 
Elharake provided input.
“Have the courage to say 
something when and if it comes 
up,” Abdelhoq said. “I think 
inherently and intuitively you’re 
going to know this when it 
happens, it’s having the courage 
to say something about it.” 

Elharake 
offered 
similar 
advice for students, both for 
those who identify as Arab men 
and those who do not.
“We think about spaces that 
we’re in — small classrooms and 
large ones — a lot of comments 
are really thrown out that 
promote or encourage this toxic 
masculinity and behavior,” he 
said. “And obviously I’m looking 
at it through a larger lens, realize 
how 
that 
impacts 
everyone, 
those who are men, and women, 
and outside those binary genders 
as well. It’s really important to 
recognize masculinity has an 
impact on everyone.”
Business 
graduate 
student 
Rajiv 
Khattar 
attended 
the 
event, and in an interview 
with 
The 
Daily 
after 
the 
event he commented on the 
importance of understanding 
intersectionality 
when 
discussing masculinity. 
“When we just look at 
masculinity there’s a lot we 
could talk about,” Khattar 
said. “Then we talk about 
the 
Arab 
identity, 
there’s 
a lot we could talk about. 
Then we add mental health. 
It’s understanding all these 
individual identities take on a 
slightly different flavor with 
the other ones is important.”
When explaining why he 
came to the event Khattar 
discussed the lack of visibility 
this topic receives.
“I 
thought 
it 
was 
an 
interesting 
event,” 
Khattar 
said. 
“The 
intersection 
of 
masculinity and mental health 
from a person of color lens 
isn’t exactly something we see 
a lot.”

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

MASCULINITY
From Page 1

JOURNALIST
From Page 1

alone in this fight,” Schouman 
said.
LSA senior Sabrina Angel 
volunteers for University Stu-
dents Against Rape and became 
involved with the group after 
coming to TBTN her freshman 
year.
“I’m a survivor myself, so 
this has really been an organi-
zation which helped me kind 
of come to terms with my story 
and really be able to support 
others who had the same kind 
of experience I had,” Angel 
said. “It means a lot to me that 
I get to support other people, 
especially because I didn’t feel 
like I had a support system until 
I came to Take Back the Night.”
Angel said she appreciates 
the refreshing positivity of 
TBTN.
“This event is not really 
about sadness or dwelling on 
experiences of the past,” Angel 
said. “We’re here to support 
the growth that survivors have 
achieved.”
TBTN is a national organi-
zation that started when Cali-
fornian sex workers decided 
to protest their working condi-
tions. Kozlowski explained the 
tradition as being purposefully 
radical and disruptive.
“It’s going into the streets, 
being like, ‘We’re out here. 
We’re loud. We’re going into 

the streets. We’re taking back 
the night,’” Kozlowski said.
Kozlowski said TBTN Ann 
Arbor is unique because it exists 
at an intersection between 
campus and community activ-
ism. Community organizer Pam 
Swider, director of STARS, first 
became involved with TBTN 
Ann Arbor 11 years ago.
“I am a survivor myself, and I 
wanted to do something to give 
back,” Swider said. “When I was 
going through therapy, Take 
Back the Night was important 
to me so I always kind of imag-
ined participating.”
Swider believes TBTN Ann 
Arbor is strengthened by the 
constant presence of certain 
community 
members 
which 
complements 
the 
transient 
nature of student leaders as 
they periodically graduate and 
move away.
“I think it’s important to see 
that the community cares and 
that they can come together to 
help,” Swider said.
This year’s TBTN event was 
“Uplifting Voices.” Organizers 
made an effort over the years 
to showcase intersectionality 
in the event. Swider said this 
year, TBTN’s theme attempts 
to reflect an increased sense of 
inclusion.
“We want to recognize that 
we can’t know everything, but 
we want to celebrate everyone,” 
Kozlowski said.
Schouman said she hopes 
efforts to combat sexual assault 

will expand as the variety 
of those identities which are 
actively welcomed into spaces 
such as TBTN increases.
“We’re trying to have an air 
of inclusivity,” Schouman said. 
“...It’s obviously not a just a 
women’s issue, it’s obviously 
not just a white person’s issue, 
like bringing everybody into 
that space.”
Schouman 
discussed 
the 
power the march has to spread 
its message throughout the 
community.
“People will stare at you but 
there’s also people that will 
applaud you going by,” Schou-
man said. “If they find out 
that this is what it’s for, they 
might get angry, or they might 
be like ‘Oh I didn’t know this 
was something we had in Ann 
Arbor’ and like it can spark that 
sort of interest … It’s definitely 
about causing a disturbance to 
start a conversation.”
The event’s keynote speaker 
was Internet performer, poet 
and actor Kevin Kantor. Kan-
tor shared their experience as 
a queer victim of sexual assault. 
Kantor appreciated how TBTN 
Ann Arbor made a special 
effort to recognize the stories 
of non-female sexual assault 
survivors.
“This is what I like,” Kantor 
said. “This is the unity.”
Kantor encouraged survivors 
to be “selfish” in their recovery 
and said people are more than 
their survivorship.

“You deserve joy,” Kantor 
said. “You deserve your rage. 
Get to work.”
Throughout the night, speak-
ers echoed a repeated call to 
action. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 
recorded a video for the rally 
to be played in her absence, in 
which she encouraged attend-
ees to also “get to work.”
LSA freshman Chloe Carl-
son attended the event as an 
ally with sisters from the Uni-
versity’s feminist sorority, Zeta 
Omega Eta. She said there is 
still a lot of work to be done 
through the feminist move-
ment.
“I feel like it’s gotten better, 
then it’s gotten worse,” Carlson 
said.
Schouman also emphasized 
the importance of involving as 
many people as possible in the 
cause.
“Whether you have a story, 
or not, whether you’ve told your 
story before, or you haven’t, or 
if you’re even just an ally just to 
be here and to celebrate survi-
vors and taking a stand against 
sexual assault...we’re glad that 
you’re here,” Schouman said.
Engineering 
junior 
Rosie 
Van Alsburg, also a member of 
Zeta Omega Eta, hopes she and 
her sisters’ presence will show 
survivors they have support on 
campus.
“I hope just being here will 
let survivors know that we’re 
here for them,” Van Alsburg 
said.

RALLY
From Page 1

“I think it’s a really good way 
to share your culture with people 
because there are a lot of things 
people don’t know and people 
just assume things,” Seward said. 
“It was interesting, I like to hear 
from other people’s perspectives 
because so many people just make 
assumptions about others.
According to Haidar, helping 
attendees feel comfortable asking 
questions was critical to creating 
productive dialogue.
“I’ve already engaged in some 
good conversations,” Haidar said. 
“I try to break the ice by starting 
off with questions that may seem 
ridiculous but i’ve gotten like oh 
are you bald, and I tell them no, 
or do you shower with that on, 
like no. I feel like it cracks the ice 
because once you start with the 
dumbest questions it goes on from 
there.”
According to Business senior 
Mohammad Shaikh, the series of 
events was previously titled their 
Islamic Awareness week, Shaikh 
said the change came from their 
desire to have more hands-on and 
engaging conversations with the 

Muslim community on campus. 
“Beyond just raising awareness 
— while that is important — we’re 
trying to get people to actually 
not just be aware of what Islam 
is but actually engage with it,” 
Shaikh said. “In the past it was 
called Islamic Awareness Week, 
but we intentionally changed it to 
engagement week so people can 
engage with Muslims and their 
contributions to society at large.”
Syed said he hopes the engag-
ing conversations will continue 
outside the conversations had at 
the table.
“I feel like usually these kind 
of events are very successful, but 
the problem is after they happen 
it kind of just goes back to nor-
mal, people don’t ask questions 
anymore,” Syed said. “What’s’ 
actually really unfortunate some-
times is I feel like other Muslims 
don’t actually ask other Muslims, 
by different denominations, they 
sometimes don’t ask questions 
that they should be. I feel like 
those are conversations we need 
to start having more on campus, 
especially to be more inclusive 
like we try to promote here at the 
University of Michigan.”

MEET
From Page 1

POLITICS
From Page 1