An Approach to ALIGHT, Formerly the American Refugee Committee (ARC)

By Adan Makina

March 8, 2020

Abstract

While this article is exclusive to the humanitarian mission of the American nonprofit and nonsectarian organization ALIGHT, it would be more appealing to touch on the historiography of humanitarianism–a philosophical foundation based on the principle of uplifting human welfare. Humanitarianism has been a global concept among the followers of the five major religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. An ethic of reciprocity, the Golden Rule, calls for treating others as one would like to be treated.[1] Though the rule dates to the era of Confucius (551-479 BC),[2] the innate sense of organization and human feeling is also engraved in the Code of Hammurabi. Like ethical monotheism practiced by Abrahamic religions, the observance of righteous behavior has been the means of propulsion that brought ALIGHT to light in times of human needs.

The observance of deontology or deontological principles that are normative ethics gave ALIGHT the moral duty to serve affected global communities without regard to religion, creed, color, race, gender, national origin, and political affiliation. The humanitarian concept of ALIGHT, unlike disguised organizations hiding under the banner of proselytization, primarily focuses on basic human needs such as food, water, shelter that are considered physiological, and mental and emotional afflictions or feelings that are part of human physical needs. The rise of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) with uniform ideological foundations could be backtracked to the era of Greek city-states such as Athens, Sparta, and Macedonia that maintained common currency for international trade followed by strengthened military alliances to combat invading forces. In the Twenty-First Century, the world experienced the rise of IGOs such as the United Nations, the Arab League, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) immediately after World War II.

Introduction

Back in 1978, Neal Ball, an American businessman and a humanitarian who was based in Chicago, IL, sensing the dangers faced by the disadvantaged refugees who were cramped at the Thai-Cambodian border, took the initiative to organize volunteers to overturn what he perceived as a humanitarian disaster in the making. Neal Ball’s courageous action led to the formation of the American Refugee Committee–an international organization that changed name to “Light’ recently. A look at the history of how the Non-Governmental Organization evolved requires further elucidation. It all started from the political turmoil and misrule that came to fore after King Norodom Sihanouk’s reign that lasted from 1941 to 1970 culminated in the exit of French rule and the road to independence. However, the much-celebrated independence came to an abrupt halt in 1975 after the atrocious Khmer Rouge took over control. The overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1978 by the determined Vietnamese people triggered a reign of terror and unprecedented starvation that shook concerned Western nations.[3] While the French may be commended for being the first to take the lead in humanitarian efforts in our modern world, humanitarian interventions, relief operations, and aid organizations have increased exponentially over the years in the name of humanitarianism.[4] The impressionable conceptualization of humanitarianism and delivering of relief aid to affected people has been in progression for a long time.

While disasters could be caused by natural calamities or evolve from man-made factors, the need to intervene by concerned united communities and nations to overcome long-term effects such as the spread of diseases, destitution, and food shortages has become a global phenomenon. While humanitarianism encompasses various campaigns including even military intervention and the fight against human rights abuses, this essay will shed light on the efforts undertaken by ALIGHT since it was established. With headquarters in Minneapolis, MN, ALIGHT–an organization that is not restricted to certain religious groups and that is a nonprofit organization, has immensely changed the living conditions of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in seven African nations and a few other countries in Asia and Europe that experienced terrible wars such as Kosovo, Iraq, Pakistan to care for war-ravaged Afghan refugees, Thailand and Haiti–a small country located in the Greater Antilles archipelago within the Caribbean Sea and precisely in the Hispaniola Island surrounded by Jamaica and Cuba to the east, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas to the south.

From American Refugee Committee to ALIGHT

Formerly the American Refugee Committee, ALIGHT has transformed into an instinct-driven global humanitarian agency that has been inspired by the urge to fire with enthusiasm and discharge those in dire need the abundance of available resources to attain self-sustainability. A look at the Theories of Choice reveals reasonable contributing influences that enable organizations to change names. Name changes could be related to paternalistic, structural, and procedural influences that eventually lead to revolutionary changes. Organizational name changes increased after the Great Depression (1929-1939)–an economic disaster that struck industrialized nations and tremendously shook major investors including the Wall Street. Apart from the Federal government, the high records of Bankruptcies and defaulting borrowers became widespread.[5]

There are several types of name change factors commonly used by modern scholars such as revolutionary versus evolutionary, discontinuous versus continuous, episodic versus continuous flow, transformational versus transactional, strategic versus operational, total system versus local option. The application of different tools are requirements for the formulation of a new name for any organization. Overtime, after evolution, humanitarian organizations and even institutions of higher learning undergo revolutionary change.

An Organization with a Humanitarian Mission

By working with reliable partners and constituencies, ALIGHT’s mission statement is intended to provide multifarious opportunities and inject valuable knowledge to disadvantaged people in distress like refugees, IDPs, as well as the host communities. Its mission statement is simple: those partaking in any program or project have assured chance of taking control of living their conditions and attaining self-sufficiency. ALIGHT upholds the significance of ethical practices, the preservation of dignity, optimism that is meant to elevate hope in life and the delivery of appropriate and relevant services, attainment of self-sufficiency through empowerment, advocacy through global mobilization, and finally serving as stewards who distribute all the available human power and financial resources at their disposal to those in need. For ALIGHT, the name change factor is derived from the need for transformation and the total involvement of organizational members especially those committed to the philosophy of philanthropy and volunteerism. Like any other human organization, ALIGHT took the open system which implies continuous interaction with the general environment. To overcome social disorganization and sudden quietus in its commitments to human cause, the application of interpersonal trust helped subdue the organization’s move towards negative entropy.

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[1] Antony Flew, ed. (1979). "golden rule". A Dictionary of Philosophy. London: Pan Books in association with The MacMillan Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-330-48730-6.

[2] W.A. Spooner, "The Golden Rule," in James Hastings, ed. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. 6 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914) pp. 310–12, quoted in Rushworth M. Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living, Harper, New York, 2003. ISBN 0-688-17590-2. p. 159.

[3] Soffer, A. D., & Wilde, H. (1986). Medicine in Cambodian refugee camps. Annals of internal medicine, 105(4), 618-621.

[4] Fassin, D. (2011). Humanitarian reason: a moral history of the present. Univ of California Press.

[5] Romer, C. D. (1990). The great crash and the onset of the great depression. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 105(3), 597-624.