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In this exclusive (unedited) video from TEDxSummit this spring, Yahay Alabdeli tells a moving, personal story of returning to his home country, Iraq — and throwing a TEDx. In a city still recovering, still learning its true nature after years of oppression, the first TEDxBaghdad in 2011 celebrated ideas, connections, education, music. “My Baghdad is not a city of bombing,” he says. “My Baghdad was once a center of Arab learning, a center of peace.”

Watch that, then watch this: the trailer for this year’s TEDxBaghdad: The Beginning Begins.

Below, see photos from TEDxBaghdad 2012, last weekend.

Karim Wasfi of the Peace Through Arts Initiative brought students onstage to play classical music.

TEDxBaghdad was livestreamed free. Watch for talks from the event to appear on video in coming months as resources allow.

A view from the audience at TEDxBaghdad 2012. Photo: Alicia Sully and Pedro Ramirez Paz of the What Took You So Long Foundation