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MICHEL DEGRAFF: So why
was I so happy to engage

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in having this course be
ported on OpenCourseWare?

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Well, first of all, I
have a very deep affection

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for OpenCourseWare because
I feel that OpenCourseWare

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has this potential to
teach to the billions,

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to share knowledge, to
unlock knowledge for people

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in very far-flung places,
very remote places,

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like in Haiti where there's
little access to quality

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materials.

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So for me, I feel that
OpenCourseWare's mission

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is very germane to myself, as
a Haitian, [INAUDIBLE] MIT,

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wanting to share this wealth
that I have intellectually

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with the rest of
the world, including

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my compatriots in
Haiti who don't

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have that access, that much
access, to quality materials.

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But also, when it comes to
this issue of breaking walls

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and building bridges, as we
see, say, in the US and parts

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of Europe, the world moving to
more exclusion, to more walls,

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I feel that the
kind of knowledge

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that we're building
here at MIT and how

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we as a people, we as a global
village, as we enrich ourselves

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by understanding other people's
experiences, be it Muslims,

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and immigrants, and blacks, and
Latinos, it is wealth there.

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So I feel that it's
important to take

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this knowledge,
these discussions,

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and have it shared
with the whole world

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so people can see that there's
a different way of thinking

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that doesn't involve
building walls for security,

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but instead creating dialogues,
building bridges, so that we

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all can be the richer
for it wherever we are,

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be it in Boston, Massachusetts,
or in Port-au-Prince Haiti,

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or in Syria, or even Iran.

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So that's why I
feel it's important

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that such courses be on
OpenCourseWare for the world

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to participate in.