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Albright addresses the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008.
The day I protested Madeleine
Within a few minutes of one another, my mother in Belgrade and my NYC-based boss at Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, sent me notes saying former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had passed away at the age of 84. Soon after, many friends, colleagues, professors, and social media connections shared the news.
The speed with which this information spread across the globe is not surprising, given Albright's rich political and academic credentials, but also the polarizing attitudes toward her legacy. On one of my recent visits last month to my alma mater, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where Albright taught, I shared a story with one of the school’s chaplains about my first (and last) encounter with Albright.
Almost three years ago in May 2019, in my last semester at the Hilltop, I learned that Albright had been chosen as the commencement speaker in the SFS’s centennial year. As a Belgrade native and a student of political science and foreign policy, I looked at the events from the spring and summer of 1999 differently than Albright did. To say the least. I did not agree with the school's choice.
I wanted to express my dissent, and my dissatisfaction was notably not an outlier; it was shared among (at least) a dozen professors, students, and staff members from around the world.
I knew that, in a field like ours and at a school as diverse as Georgetown, there could never be a speaker who everyone agreed upon amongst the several hundred students, professors, and staff. Nevertheless, I requested a meeting with Dean Joel Hellman, and after a frank discussion, we agreed to disagree. I thought it would be noted somewhere that someone had protested the school’s choice, and I left the meeting feeling satisfied and grateful for the chance to express my opinion.
That was the day before my commencement.
The next day, as I was putting my graduation regalia over my suit on a 70 degree-plus day with DC humidity — it was just hours before the ceremony — I received an email from the dean’s office saying that Albright would like to meet me before the event.
I quickly gathered my thoughts and went downhill from my Glover Park studio to campus for what I thought would be a quick and courteous chat. The former secretary of state greeted me in a rusty but still confident Serbian, asking what my protest was all about.
We, again, agreed to disagree. My protest was a personal issue, not a high-level political negotiation. I was a conscientious objector to the policies that Albright championed, some of which impeded (not enabled) democracy and prosperity in the Balkans, including in Kosovo. Yet, I had no intention of obstructing the ceremony with signs, shouting, or a walkout. Such breaches of decorum go against how I was raised, and I have deep respect for the institution that gave me the opportunity to meet brilliant people and learn from them. But I remarked in the office that day that my respectful protest was important to me and in line with the history of my small but proud nation in the mountainous Balkan peninsula. It was also in line with the Jesuit mission of the school, and the SFS’s encouragement of polemics on the most pressing global issues.
Albright — herself a one-time Belgrade resident — agreed, saying that if anything, throughout their rich history the Serbs rarely shied away from fighting a more powerful enemy.
In our 45-minute conversation, we talked about my future and desire to work on deepening the relationship between the US and Serbia; to help people understand global geopolitical developments; and to address open and tough questions impacting the Balkan region. But I also aimed to ensure that respectful, substantiated, and constructive criticism reexamines the policies, decisions, and interpretations that made me protest her role in the commencement in the first place.
As I was walking out of the office, she thanked me for the time and the way I voiced my concern. I shared my respect for both her and the dean's time, and for standing behind those (recently challenged) ideals that attract so many young professionals across the globe to the United States and to the best school for foreign policy and diplomacy worldwide: freedom of speech, diversity of opinion, and commitment to dialogue.
An hour or so later, as Albright was handing me my diploma, she pulled me aside and said: “You’ll do good.”
I’m still proud to have protested but even more motivated to continue on that often challenging but motivating mission of doing good. In typical Serbian fashion, I replied that drinks were on me the third time we meet. She winked and smiled.
Strahinja Matejic is an associate in the Office of the President at Eurasia Group.
Watch our expert panel on reasons for hope in the COVID crisis
Watch the recording of GZERO Media virtual Town Hall, "Reasons for Hope: COVID and the Coming Year," presented in partnership with Eurasia Group and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Our panel discussed the road ahead in the global response to the COVID crisis. Will there be more multilateral cooperation on issues like gender equality moving forward from the pandemic?
Watch the event recording here: https://www.gzeromedia.com/townhall
Our moderator, CNBC health care correspondent Bertha Coombs, along with Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, and Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, spoke with distinguished experts on three key issues:
Heidi Larson, Director, The Vaccine Confidence Project
- How will COVID vaccines be distributed safely?
Minouche Shafik, Director of London School of Economics & Political Science
- How has the pandemic disproportionately impacted women?
Madeleine Albright, Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group and Albright Capital Management; former US Secretary of State
- What is the opportunity for global cooperation emerging from this crisis, and what are the greatest political risks?
Friday, December 4, 2020
12 noon EST/9 am PST/5 pm (17:00) GMT
#GZEROTownHall
Moving Multilateralism Forward: Madeleine Albright, Caroline Kennedy, and John Frank discuss
Watch: "Moving Multilateralism Forward," an intergenerational dialogue between Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State; Caroline Kennedy, former US Ambassador to Japan; John Frank, Microsoft Vice President of UN Affairs; and four current and former students of the Marble Hill School for International Studies in the Bronx, NY. These veteran diplomats and young minds discuss the future of multilateralism, the unprecedented challenges facing the international community, the power of young people in leading change, and the promise that technology has to be a force for good.
During the UN's 75th year, the conversation reminds us that inclusive multilateralism must involve diverse stakeholders across the international system – and most importantly across generations – and that young people are optimistic about our future, understand the value of multilateral institutions, and want to be involved in achieving a better world.
Watch the full video above, and the teaser here:
Moving Multilateralism Forward: Sizzlewww.youtube.com
This content is brought to you by GZERO Media's 2020 UN General Assembly partner, Microsoft.