On Monday evening, a discussion was held in the International Programs and Services office of the University of British Columbia – Okanagan on current events happening in the world including terrorism & the refugee crisis. This session was put together and moderated by the eloquent Ms Stella Mozin, a 3rd year International Relations major, who also blogs for The Global Spectrum.

It started off with a quick introduction of the attendees, a very diverse group in terms of faculty, age and cultural background, who brought along their different positions on the issue of ISIS and suggested solutions to the refugee crisis currently.  Many people gave their stance on the media, bombings in Paris and retaliation by France, with memorable comments from Laurence Watt on the importance for mediation and calls for assistance from Canada by Stella Mozin.

The conversation got very interesting as people spoke about their respective countries and their positions on the situations. We got some insight on the Turkey situation with Russia and on the flight that was shutdown, the borders that were closed in India and the ripple effects on the Nepalese economy as well as the terrorist group Boko Haram’s insurgence in West Africa. Many spoke on Western media and their role in reporting specific events and embedding fear in people which aggravates Islamophobia and racism.

The talk ended on a good note as many people aired out their frustration with our governments and spoke about reaching out to the greater Kelowna community to reach others who may not share the same views as us on these subjects. More talks like these are to be held in the coming semester and hopefully they can happen in more central locations i.e downtown Kelowna.

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