Najam on Learning From New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern
Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed by multiple news outlets on the political lessons to be learned from how New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, responded to the white supremacist attack on a Christchurch mosque earlier this month.
Speaking to Voice of America on March 18, 2019 and Aaj TV News on March 22, 2019, Najam said that New Zealand and its Prime Minister have set a new benchmark in empathy and demonstration of empathy for others to aspire to. He said that her reaction to the horrific terrorist attack in Christchurch is not just a poignant demonstration of how to react at a “very human, rather than a tribal” level, but an even more poignant reminder of what world leaders across the world have not been doing.
“The real test of what, and whether, the world learns anything from New Zealand, will come when the next such horrific attack happens, and how we react to it,” Najam said.
https://twitter.com/AdilNajam/status/1109458874678030340
“People all across the world seem to be asking why don’t we get leaders like this,” Najam said. The answer, he suggested, is that while New Zealand clearly saw immense leadership from its Prime Minister, but at its base is “a society that itself led by its empathy.”
Adil Najam is the inaugural Dean of the Pardee School and a commentator on foreign policy and diplomacy. Learn more about him here.