Hardwired: On the Frontlines of Freedom

Our interview with Jenny Yang uncovers the many evident and unseen challenges of the refugee experience.  How can a country and local community address both the humanitarian needs of refugees, and holistically and structurally provide a welcoming and inclusive environment? You'll want to hear the insights from someone as knowledgeable in this field as Jenny Yang. 

This episode is especially timely as Hardwired wraps up a series of student refugee training workshops throughout Virginia. With the generous support of Virginia Humanities and in partnership with five refugee resettlement agencies, Hardwired's refugee training program for students provided an opportunity for newcomer teens and their American peers to learn about one another and the rights and freedoms they share between them, regardless of where they've come from. Check out the documentary video about the program here: https://youtu.be/KudO7d_rSjI

Watch the full interview with Jenny Yang here: https://youtu.be/6sfPrhfUnQs

Jenny Yang has worked for over a decade in refugee protection, immigration policy, and human rights. She was on an active deployment roster for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She is currently the Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief.  Yang is co-author of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate and contributing author to three other books. She has been named one of the “50 Women to Watch” by Christianity Today.

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Human rights advocate and professional athlete Enes Freedom was the special guest for Hardwired Global’s fundraiser on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia.  Enes headlined this special event to continue his support of Hardwired and our groundbreaking efforts in human rights and education. 

Following his success as a professional basketball player, Enes has selflessly turned his attention to a greater cause — to be a voice for those who don’t have one.  In recognition of his courageous advocacy for human rights around the world, off and on the court, Hardwired’s Founder and President Tina Ramirez presented the Hardwired for Freedom Award to Enes in August 2022.  

Following a special update on Hardwired's education programs worldwide from Founder Tina Ramirez, Enes shared his inspiring journey fighting against dictatorships for the freedom and human rights of all people. 

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In this conversation, our special guest Xi Van Fleet shares her experience surviving the Cultural Revolution in China. Xi describes the Communist tactics for seizing power by way of the “3D’s”: division, deconstruction, and destruction. First Chinese dictator Mao Zedong divided the people by class, then he deconstructed past cultural ideas and traditions, and then he destroyed Chinese historical landmarks, traditional ideals, and cultural symbols from any period prior to his regime. Xi describes the indoctrination she received while she was in school, learning to love Mao as a father and to never criticize those in power. Xi is now an American citizen who is warning fellow Americans about the dangers of Marxist tactics currently at work in American society. 

Xi Van Fleet is an American Mom who gained notoriety when she spoke at a Loudon County, Virginia school board comparing the tactics of recent imposed education movements to her experiences growing up during the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China. She was a first grader in 1966 when Mao started the Cultural Revolution in China and was 17 working in a field when the Cultural Revolution ended at Mao’s death. Xi received her education from peasants and remembers wearing badges on her school uniform with Mao’s picture.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube Channel here: https://youtu.be/Tc76e7b8mS8

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During our interview with Ambassador at Large for Western Sahara Mouloud Said, he illustrates the 45-year struggle of fighting for the Sahrawi people, whose land was invaded shortly after the Spanish left the Western Sahara and families divided by Morocco and Mauritania.  With an unceasing hopeful spirit, Mouloud stands on the frontlines to reclaim the freedom that has been denied his people for too long in a free and fair election for sovereignty.
 
Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: youtu.be/2Lb09CZ8e2w

Mouloud Said is the Ambassador at Large and Representative of Western Sahara in Washington, D.C. He has also served as a Representative to the United Nations and Representative of Western Sahara to what is now called the African Union.

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In this conversation, Hardwired Founder and President, Tina Ramirez, and high school educator, Zeina Dbouk, discuss the ways Zeina’s father stood up to corruption in Lebanon, which inspired her to continue his legacy through teaching students. They discuss the ways Zeina facilitates dialogue in her classroom by making space to respectfully engage across differences. They also explore the Hardwired Global teaching strategies Zeina uses in her classroom to engage students in a process of diffusing fears to achieve a pluralism mindset. Lastly, they remember Zeina’s attendance to the Hardwired Global education conference in Morocco for ministers of education in the Middle East and North Africa and they explain the exciting programming Zeina is managing for teachers in Lebanon and Iraq. 

Zeina Dbouk is a teacher and curriculum developer at a private school in Lebanon. She is a survivor of violence in Lebanon and through teaching her students, she aspires to make Lebanon a place where everyone thrives. Hardwired Global has recently partnered with her to expand our teacher training program in the Middle East. 

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: youtu.be/jOChpEbClfk

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Mr. Conde is a prolific author and lecturer in the U.S. and Europe who has defended countless refugees and individuals persecuted for their faith in his private law practice.

In our interview, he shares how he first came face to face with the cost of freedom when he traveled behind the Iron Curtain to meet with Christians who didn’t even have a right to own their own Bible, something we can easily take for granted in a free country. 

Every summer, Mr. Conde joins the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France to teach a legal course in French and English on human rights terminology.  At a time when social discourse has reduced human rights to human wants, and often forgotten the legal foundation for its existence, his work is essential.

 Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: youtu.be/pvJTG1wP8yA

Professor Victor “Skip” Conde is a professor of international and comparative human rights and humanitarian law at Trinity Law School and a visiting lecturer in human rights at the University of California at Irvine, and lecturer at the Faculté de Droit, University of Strasbourg, France, and the International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg. He has published widely on international and domestic human rights law, policy and practice. He is the author of A Handbook of International Human Rights Terminology, which is a much-needed tool that provides access to the developing language of human rights and aids in full comprehension of human rights theory and issues. He is also the co-author of Human Rights and the United States, a U.S. focused comprehensive reference book to help Americans understand U.S. human rights history and laws.

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Mohaned’s story symbolizes the struggle many Sudanese Muslims experienced while living under the brutal rule of Sudan’s former dictator, Omar al Bashir.  Mohaned describes the rampant discrimination and injustice he witnessed firsthand under the Bashir government, which imposed their strict interpretation of Islam on the people through radical laws that restricted every freedom – especially religious freedom.  The religious laws even included punishment for wearing “indecent clothes” and he describes how several young Christian girls were routinely beaten in the streets for wearing jeans, while hundreds of Christians were routinely forced to renounce their faith or face apostasy charges each year. While Muslims like himself and many others were affected by the radical laws imposed on everyone, he shares how he was able to use his legal practice to defend women and Christians who experienced the most persecution.  

Mohaned was determined to use his education and status to turn the tide and embed religious freedom and human rights for all Sudanese in the country.  By 2012, Mohaned had taken hundreds of cases defending Christians and challenging Omar al-Bashir’s brutal regime. As one of only a few human rights lawyers at the time who worked at the highest courts in Sudan, he “filled a gap” to help hundreds of victims during an aggressive, violent campaign against Christians. Remarkably, Mohaned was able to build trust between Christian and Muslim lawyers to mobilize a large, united team to defend their rights throughout the country.

In this interview you'll hear how Hardwired and Mohaned worked together to defend Meriam Ibrahim, a pregnant mother who was sentenced to death for apostasy on Mother’s Day in 2014.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/rsauSmQ8gjI

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“Every single country that’s a threat to peace, is a threat to their own people. Without exception.”
 
Our next guest, Suzanne Scholte, gave North Korean defectors a voice in the U.S. Congress. Suzanne has been standing on the frontlines of freedom for nearly three decades, taking on the North Korea regime, which is perhaps the world’s most oppressive government and worst violator of human rights.

Early in her career, Suzanne was inspired by her faith to help protect the people of North Korea and alleviate their suffering. During our conversation, Suzanne shares how she channeled this calling in many ways, including through her work building the North Korea Freedom Coalition and Free North Korea Radio, which brought attention back to the brutal dictators of North Korea and exposed more North Korean people to the freedom they should have from learning more about the outside world.

Suzanne brought North Korean defectors before Congress to testify for the very first time in 1996. She shares a few of the hundreds of stories of starvation, trafficking and oppression she’s heard over the years. In honor of the upcoming 19th Annual North Korean Freedom Week, we hope your hearts are inspired by the heartbreaking truths of this interview. Suzanne also shares a glimpse into her other work with the people of Western Sahara, the Sahrawi's, which inhabit one of the longest permanent refugee settlements in the world.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/6ElE_u09Ee4

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In this latest On the Frontlines of Freedom episode, we share an interview with Dr. de Jong, a former Member of the European Parliament for the Dutch Government who went on to successfully found and build the first working group on Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Parliament.

For over 20 years, de Jong’s personal beliefs and faith has been a driving force for his dedication, research and work in protecting freedom of religion or belief at the government level.  What makes his work so unique is that he was leading these efforts within the European Parliament as a member of the Socialist Party.  During our interview with him, de Jong lets us in on his strategy and approach as he tactfully gained broad support of other MEP’s and foreign diplomats, from “both sides of the aisle”. 

Dr. de Jong served in several Dutch Ministries, until elected to the European Parliament in 2009 and 2014 as his party’s top candidate.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/JY5XLIC-Buo 

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As a secular country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Dr. Alissa Wahid works to honor the nation’s 1928 pledge that the country is united on grounds of religious diversity and freedom for all – a unique model among predominately Muslim countries that has inspired robust conversations worldwide.

Mrs. Alissa Wahid is a trained family psychologist, but is most recognized for her work in the social sector on multiculturalism, democracy and human rights and moderate Muslim movements in Indonesia. Her father, Abdurrahman Wahid, affectionately known as Gus Dur, was the fourth president of Indonesia from 1999-2001.

Gus Dur’s most enduring political legacy is a modern moderate Islam in Indonesia, one in which faith is deeply personal and not directed by the state. Mrs. Wahid is carrying on that legacy as the national director of the Gusdurian Network Indonesia (GNI). GNI hosts thousands of grassroots-level activists in more than 100 cities in Indonesia, working to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding, active citizenship, democracy and human rights.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Xk3SLcsZ4u0 

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