WEBVTT

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Let's get started.

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Thank you, Jenny.

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Good evening, and welcome to
our panel, International Affairs

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and Development.

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I will be presenting
on securing peace

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through advocacy, education,
and community building.

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My name is Romila Hussaini.

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I am class of 2019, and
I'm doing a double major

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in Middle Eastern Studies as
well as Political Science.

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I'm mainly interested in
US foreign policy, focused

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on the Middle East,
given my majors.

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My internship search didn't
really go as planned.

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So I started out in
the Fall last year,

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knowing where I
wanted to intern,

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and that was the Afghan Embassy.

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I had done the
application, I sent it in,

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but unfortunately,
getting a response back

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for the internship
was very difficult.

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I spent a couple
of months trying

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to reach out about my
application, got no response.

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So I went through
and started speaking

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to professors, my
peers, and mentors

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about internship opportunities.

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But Google ended up being my
best friend in the intern--

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internship search.

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I ended up working with the
National Iranian American

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Council.

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They're a non-profit
organization

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based in Washington, DC.

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But they do have offices in
Seattle as well as California.

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Their sister organization
is NIAC Action,

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which is separate from NIAC.

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That's their lobbying group.

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NIAC's mission is advocacy,
education, and community

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building.

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Their efforts lie in
advancing the interests

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of Iranian Americans
in the United States.

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NIAC's president and one of the
founders is Dr. Trita Parsi.

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I had the pleasure
of working with him.

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And within such a
small organization,

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I was able to actually
interact with the president

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of the organization.

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Whereas, with bigger
organizations,

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you're not really able to
speak to and get advice

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from the president
of the organization.

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And so I really enjoyed
that experience.

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Some more things about NIAC.

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NIAC helped with the historic
deal between the United States

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and Iran.

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And they're currently
working to sustain the JCPOA.

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They lead the largest
coalition of advocacy

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in DC for Iranian Americans.

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They host briefings on Capitol
Hill for senators, congressmen,

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as well as their staff.

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They monitor legislation that
affects Iranian Americans.

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A brief history of what happened
between the US and Iran.

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It started out
with Operation Ajax

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with the overthrow of
democratically-elected prime

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minister in Iran.

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And then the 1979 Iranian
Revolution happened.

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And through that,
the hostage crisis

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that the United States is
still scarred from today

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occurred, where 52 Americans
were held hostage for 444 days.

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And today, the JCPOA is the only
connection between the United

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States and Iran.

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And President Donald Trump
has described that agreement

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as an embarrassment to the US.

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The two main things that the
National Iranian American

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Council is focusing
on today is working

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with other organizations
to stop the Muslim ban

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as well as focusing on
sustaining the JCPOA.

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This is a photo of our president
speaking on the JCPOA as well

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as the Muslim ban.

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This photo right here,
during the summer,

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we were celebrating the two-year
anniversary of the JCPOA

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in front of the White House.

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This photo, we published it on
the cover of The New York Times

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through a protest we
did on the Muslim ban

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in front of the Supreme Court.

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And then we also held
a candlelight vigil

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about the ISIS attack
that occurred in Tehran

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over the summer.

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My role as an intern--

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I was a development
and policy intern.

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And through development,
I did a lot of research

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on future prospective
donors for the organization.

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And through policy, I
attended a lot of briefings

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to other organizations,
such as the Middle East

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Institute, [INAUDIBLE] Council,
and Islamic Relief USA.

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Some of the cool people I met--

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Representative John Myers.

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That's a photo of us.

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I was chosen among the interns
to go with the NIAC employees

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to brief him on the Muslim ban.

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Representative Maxine Waters,
Keith Ellison, as well as

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a lot of experts and scholars
of the Middle East Institute.

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Three things I
learned in development

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was learning how to draft
grant proposals, maintaining

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good donor relationships, as
well as event planning, which

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is super-important.

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In terms of policy,
I learned a lot

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about the history of
US and Iran relations.

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I learned how to draft policy
memos, and action alerts, as

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well as op-eds.

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Aside from my internship,
I spent my summer

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taking advantage of DC
and all it had to offer.

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I attended an event
held at Capitol Hill

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and saw the Library of Congress.

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I also celebrated
the 4th of July

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on the lawn at the
Washington Memorial, which

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I thought was really cool, and
got a tour of Capitol Hill.

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Thank you for
coming to our panel,

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and I hope you enjoy the
rest of our [INAUDIBLE]..

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[APPLAUSE]

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