By World BEYOND War Australia in association with the Victorian Quaker Centre, June 18,2026
Between the two periods of Taliban rule (roughly 2001–2021), Afghanistan saw a dense landscape of civil society initiatives around peacebuilding, women’s rights, and gender equality, led by Afghan NGOs, informal community groups, and international partners.
Afghans who fled after August 2021 have become key actors in keeping Afghan peace, social justice and gender equality struggles alive from exile, combining direct support to people inside Afghanistan with advocacy, movement-building and institution-building abroad.
This symposium, organised by World BEYOND War Australia (the Australian chapter of the international World BEYOND War movement), explored a number of themes related to Afghans promoting peace and social justice in new lands.
Our three impressive keynote speakers:
- Dr. Mujib Abid, a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Initiative for Peacebuilding at the University of Melbourne, is an Afghan-Australian scholar of modern Afghan history, peace studies and political theory whose current work focuses on the Afghan diaspora in Australia.
- Efat Abulfazil, a peace advocate now living in Italy, has a long history of promoting mental health, gender equality, and nonviolence in communities affected by conflict and displacement. Efat is the founder of the Malika Soraa Foundation.
- Nemat Ahangosh, a peacebuilder, poet, and activist now living in the UK. Nemat is the founder of Stretch More, a UK registered charity dedicated to empowering disabled individuals in conflict zones and disaster-prone areas.
PROGRAM
00:00 – Welcome by Alan Clayton, President of World BEYOND War Australia
10:40 – Kathy Kelly, President of World BEYOND War International, a lifelong peace activist in the United States, and key supporter of Afghan peacebuilders
45:52 – Efat Abulfazil, ‘The Potential of the Voice of Afghan Women Abroad: A Personal Perspective’
1:08:53 – Dr Mujib Abid, ‘Diasporic Peacebuilding in Australia: An Afghan Perspective’
1:38:25 – Nemat Ahangosh, ‘How a Movement of Young People Reimagines a World Without War: Reflections from a Disabled Refugee and Activist
2:09:49 – Panel Discussion chaired by Dale Hess (Treasurer, World BEYOND War Australia) Personal reflections by Dr Mujib Abid and Nemat Ahangosh on two questions: *“What does it mean to work for peace when you are living in a context of war and violence, knowing you might suffer in the cause of peace building?” *“How can refugees and migrants be welcomed and supported as contributors to the countries in which they now live?”
2:50:28 – Art and poetry in the pursuit of peace, chaired by Emeritus Professor Dorothy Scott and featuring: *Online poetry reading by Nazila Narwan (Words of a Soul, Bettong Books, 2025) *In-person poetry reading by Nematullah Ahangosh (The Color of Peace, Haleys 2025)
3:16:57 – Concluding Comments by Rosemary Morrow, leading international permaculture authority and co-founder of Permaculture for Refugees
