When we look at the history of humanity, we soon realize that we are a migrant species. Societies are in constant geographic movement, so the idea of natives versus outsiders can be somewhat limited.
Last week, I told Chimamanda Adichie's story based on her provocation about the image we have of people from other places. Today, the story of Madeleine Albright, a migrant woman and diplomat, will help us understand who migrates and why? And how there are different challenges for everyone. A story in which the “outsider” becomes one of the greatest authorities in the country that welcomed her.
Madeleine Albright was an American politician and diplomat appointed as United States Secretary of State by Bill Clinton, the first woman in the position.
She describes herself in an interview with three words: grateful, optimistic and hardworking.
Her story begins with an unusual childhood. She was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia and is the daughter of Josef Korbel, a diplomat who was forced to leave the country and request exile in England in 1939, with the Nazi invasion.
What would be an exile for political reasons, later turned out to be not just that. Her parents had Jewish roots. What she only discovered in adult life, after their deaths.
The family returned to Czechoslovakia, but the Soviet presence in the region led them to a new migration. This time, Madeleine, then Marie Jana, arrived in the USA in 1948, at the age of 11.
With effort and well adapted, her path involved studying at Wellesley College, an institution for women, which according to Madeleine allowed her to see women in leadership positions. (See how important repertoire is!).
Albright became famous for the quote: “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” She states that she received a lot of questions from other women about being a mother and having a career, but she also received important support in her nomination for Secretary of State, including that of Hillary Clinton who gave her a push with Bill Clinton.
Regarding the challenges of being a woman in front of several world leaders, most of whom are men, she points out that:
- She must develop the art of interrupting or she would not be heard in a room full of men;
- Even though she was a woman, she had a privileged position as a representative of a world power. She even states that she encountered fewer barriers abroad than among members of her own government;
- She confesses that she displayed more confidence than she actually felt, especially when she was an ambassador to the UN.
On the other hand, her immigrant story facilitated conversations in international politics, not only because of her knowledge of languages like Czech and Russian, but because of her life experience.
At a conference on Migration, Albright acknowledged her privileges by saying that although she and her family were refugees, they were lucky, after all, no one threatened to put them in containers, and they arrived in the US on an ocean liner.
At the conference she further stated the following: “While all nations have a duty to protect their borders and enforce laws, that is not their only responsibility. We should recognize that if fate had decided otherwise, each of us could find ourselves outside the gates, clamoring to be let in.”
Madeleine Albright's story is a particular and unique story, but at the same time her story is also the story of many people. As she once stated: “from my own experience, running away from home does not happen without a good reason” and there are many people who are forced to leave their homes and migrate like her family.
Today's story illuminates some reasons why people migrate and how each story carries its challenges and also its transformative power. An “outsider” in an environment with human resources to enhance herself became a faithful representative of the nation that welcomed her.