Amal Clooney, who is a French-British Lebanese international human rights lawyer, is turning 48 on February 3. She frequently represents victims of mass atrocities, from genocide to sexual violence. The lawyer is also the spouse of the celebrated Hollywood actor George Clooney, and together they established the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), a non-profit organisation aimed at protecting human rights and fighting injustices by providing legal aid and other services.
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On the occasion of Amal Clooney’s birthday, let’s take a look at one of the inspirational quotes from her 2018 graduation speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in which she encouraged young people to embrace activism and work towards bringing about change by fighting injustice.
She said, “We need young people with the courage to say this is our world now and there are going to be some changes.”
What is the meaning?
Here, Amal implores the young people to speak up and take action, particularly through this one line in her speech, “We need young people with the courage to say this is our world now and there are going to be some changes.”
There are several global crises, from the climate crisis to racial discrimination, and if young people do not collectively raise their voices against systemic injustices, they will inevitably be affected by them in the future. While speaking up may seem intimidating, this is precisely where courage is required, to bring uncomfortable truths into the open rather than allowing them to be brushed under the carpet.
Young people are the agents of change and can demand action by holding those in authority accountable. Most of the time, youth are assigned as the inheritors of the future, but there is no future without the present. So for a better, more hopeful tomorrow, the present must first be reshaped for good.
The speech is especially useful and relevant for a graduation ceremony. directly to new graduates who are ready to step out into the world and shape the world around them, with their novel ideas.
Why is this relevant today?
Amal’s rest of the speech gives context to why the youth need to speak up and stop seeking permission to engage in activism, as the world around them is becoming more and more hostile, with major threats to basic human rights. The international human rights lawyer portrayed a picture of the turbulent global state rife with gender-based violence, attacks on press freedom, discrimination against marginalised communities and divisive politics which foster discord and animosity.
“Courage, as they say, is contagious.People who have had the courage to change their societies—in India, in South Africa, in the United States—inspire each other and create rights for future generations,” she stated.“But when I look at the world today, I see that courage is needed more than ever.”
“At a time when women all over the world face physical abuse, restrictions on their ability to work, own property, travel and even have custody over their children, we need courage. At a time when the LGBT community and every continent struggles for equal rights, freedom from imprisonment and even death, we need courage,” Amal reminded.
“At a time when more journalists are in prison around the world than at any time in the last three decades—and even here at home, [where] the media is under attack from the White House—we need courage,” the lawyer remarked, “And at a time when our politicians try to conflate the terms ‘refugee’ and ‘terrorist’ and make us fear one another, we need courage.”
