Colin Powell School
Compassion and Connection Are More Important than Questionnaires: Alumna Justine Fleischner on the Heart of Violent Conflict
Justine Fleischner (Class of ‘08) is a writer, researcher, and weapons expert with over a decade of experience working in countries affected by armed conflict, and she currently serves as vice president of the Afghan Peace Watch. In this interview, she offers lucid anecdotes and key insights from her professional journey. As a student majoring in international studies at CCNY, she found her passion for public service and global human rights while working with a group of women dedicated to ending modern day slavery. She became a Colin Powell Community Engagement Fellow and a Josh and Judy Weston Public Service Scholar and began her career at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. She has worked in Sierra Leone, the Congo, Afghanistan, and other countries in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Throughout her journey, a running theme has been the centrality of human connection in the understanding of armed conflict. She encourages current and future students to never say “no” to an opportunity to develop professionally and explore their passions.
Please share a little about your background. What’s your story?
I am originally from the Bronx and both of my parents were New York City public school teachers. My mom was an elementary school special education teacher and later administrator in the Bronx, and my dad was a middle school math teacher in Washington Heights. He also taught at the Fieldston Enrichment Program (FEP). I attended elementary school in the Bronx and went to middle school and high school in Westchester. After graduating from high school, I took a year off to pursue my passion for horses, but quickly realized I wanted to finish my education and travel, which is something I never got to do as a kid.
What brought you to City College?
I came to City College with broad academic interests and really wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue a career as a veterinarian or a lawyer. I ultimately joined the International Studies Department due to the diverse interdisciplinary course offerings. It was a small department led by Dr. Marina Fernando and I personally benefited a great deal from her close mentorship, guidance, and support. I was a strong student, but still deeply committed to riding and training horses, and so I really needed a bit of a push to focus on my academics. Dr. Fernando pushed me to think more deeply about my role in the world and how I could be of service to others. It was a turning point for me and that’s when the doors really started to open at City College.
Talk about what you are passionate about. What drove you to choose the path you chose at CCNY?
In seeking greater meaning and public service, I became inspired by a group of young female activists working to fight against modern day slavery. They were not much older than I was at the time, and I was deeply inspired by their powerful stories and call to action. I set up a student group on campus and joined a fundraising team called Dreams of Freedom. We raised over $10,000 at a fundraising event downtown and I traveled with the team to India and Nepal that winter to deliver the funds in person and spend weeks volunteering with the women and girls in the shelters. We painted murals, undertook repairs, and bought supplies. We ate meals together, sang, and danced to Bollywood tunes. It was a life changing experience for me and the first time I was confronted face-to-face with such extreme poverty, insecurity, and criminality in all its complexity so far away from home. Some of the girls were as young as six years old when they had been trafficked. My eyes were open and there was no turning back.
How has your career unfolded, and how did CCNY help you along the way?
My time at City College and the Colin Powell School provided me with the experiences and skills necessary to land a highly coveted internship position at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, immediately after graduation. In addition to my work with Dreams of Freedom, I was offered two incredibly unique opportunities to travel to Sierra Leone and Rwanda as a junior and senior while at City College which gave me a huge advantage at CSIS. In 2007, I traveled to Sierra Leone as part of a small group of City College students to undertake an internship with an access to justice project. I traveled all over the country by bus, truck, and motorcycle spending weeks in local offices during the rainy season to code handwritten legal case files. I was also given the chance to act as an observer for the first post-conflict presidential elections at a polling station in Freetown. I hailed a taxi on the streets at 5 am and the taxi driver refused to allow me to pay for my trip. He was so excited for the elections and walked with me all the way to the door of the polling station since the street was flooded out. I’ll never forget his kindness. The polling station was packed, and the election led to a peaceful transition of power from one political party to another. Being able to draw on such experiences from such a young age really helped shape my career as a researcher in that I understood very early on the power of connecting with people and being a good listener — and not making any assumptions. This approach has shaped my career from Sudan and South Sudan to Afghanistan and Somalia.
What are your future plans or aspirations?
I am currently working on a book based on my experiences inside the security sector in Afghanistan during the period when the US and NATO forces were withdrawing following the signing of the US-Taliban agreement in February 2020. I had unprecedented access throughout this period due to my work documenting weapons alongside the security forces, and so I witnessed first-hand the decline that took place, not just in the final months, but over the last few years. My final embed was in the western city of Herat in July, just weeks before the collapse and mass civilian evacuation that made international headlines. Since then, the Taliban have returned to power with devastating effect for women’s rights, ethnic and religious minorities, and renewed risks of regional and transnational terrorist threats. There are so many lingering issues that are simply being ignored right now due to competing global interests and little creative thinking on ways to support non-violent resistance in Afghanistan.
In my current role as Vice President of APW, I seek to support an incredibly talented team of young Afghan activists, journalists, and civil society leaders to closely monitor and track the situation on the ground in order to better advise and inform policy making. We continue to advocate for more effective pressure on the Taliban to address issues around inclusivity, human rights, women’s rights, economic development, and the transparent distribution of humanitarian aid.
Please share a significant memory and/or accomplishment from your time at CCNY.
I’m very proud of all the experiences I gained while I was at City College, but I’m particularly proud of the senior thesis research I did in Rwanda on the role of women in the country’s post-conflict transition. Looking back, that was really the start of my career as a professional researcher and allowed me to learn in an environment where I could make mistakes and receive a lot of support. In 2008, I traveled to Kigali to live with an incredibly inspiring woman, Anne Gahongayire. She entered Kigali immediately after the genocide and played a central role in her country’s recovery. She was serving as the Secretary General of the Supreme Court at the time and was well placed to introduce me to other incredible women leaders, including female Members of Parliament (MPs), lawyers, judges, teachers, and ambassadors. I’ll never forget one interview I did with MP and women’s rights activist Judith Kanakuze. She had spearheaded legislation in the Rwandan Parliament against sexual and gender-based violence, which was rife during the genocide and needed strong laws to address. She saw that I was a bit nervous and having trouble spelling the long Rwandan names, so she got up from where she was sitting and came and sat down right next to me to help me with the spellings in my notebook. She was so kind and humble yet had broken through so many glass ceilings in Rwanda, just like Anne. When I left Rwanda that summer, I cried at the airport as I said goodbye to Anne, as she had become my family. These early experiences taught me that care, compassion, and connection are always more important than preconceived surveys or questionnaires when you truly seek to understand what is at the heart of conflict and violence.
What advice do you have for current and future students?
Never say no to an opportunity when it’s offered to you! Be adventurous and take risks early in your education and career in order to identify your passions and interests.
How would you describe CPS in three words?
Service, Inclusive, Egalitarian