Madam Secretary
In the midst of the confusion surrounding her arrival and the uncertainty as to whether she would come at all, Madeleine Albright appeared entirely unfazed when she was finally escorted past vocal demonstrators into the Oxford Union last Tuesday. For the former US Secretary of State, whose steadfast position in the Clinton administration saw her on first name terms with almost every world leader, the commotion worried everyone else more than it did her and she swept into the building smiling, and happy to be introduced to each of those waiting for her, determined to "just get on" with the speech.
"In the Clinton administration, there was an unbridgeable divide between those who had gone to Oxford and the 'rabble'", Albright quipped, describing how "honoured" she felt to be speaking in a venue that was incomparable in terms of "tradition" and "reputation". Albright joined that administration in 1997 as the first female Secretary of State in America, having been involved in Democratic politics since the early 1970s.
"Some people didn't think that there could be a female Secretary of State," Albright recalls, "They thought that foreign men would not be able to deal with it. I found most of the problems came from men within my own government...who had all known me too long. They were all figuring out how it was possible that Madeleine had become Secretary."
Albright believes that being a woman was an advantage, permitting her to be both "humane" and "hard", as well as both charming and firm, and allowing her to switch signals. "I wish there were more women though," she admits, having been instrumental in establishing links between herself and the six other female United Nations representatives (despite there being 185 countries represented) when she worked there. Together they worked to ensure the appointment of two female judges to the UN War Crime Tribunal and to have rape declared as a 'weapon of war'. "I think there is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women".
Her stint at the United Nations came to an end in 1996 and it was not long before Clinton nominated her for the gruelling job of Secretary of State. It was at this point that she realised that the painful divorce she had endured in the 1980s had enabled her to climb that high, and that had she still been married she would never have been in that position. "For others it might [have been possible]," Albright acknowledges, "but not for me".
In her recently published memoir, Madame Secretary, Albright cites her greatest achievement as pushing "the Clinton administration to act against the Serbian slaughter of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians." The lack of definitive action against the genocide in Rwanda by the US still however weighs heavily on her. "I was an instructed ambassador. I didn't like my instructions and did say so. But I really wish that I had screamed louder. My soul would have felt better if I had". Another cited failure was the lack of any peace accord between the Israelis and Palestinians, although Albright maintains that the offering made to Yasser Arafat at Camp David was "the best that the Palestinians will ever see", especially given her belief the "bloodshed has since shattered the process for peace".
Her unfaltering patriotism to a country that is not her native land (she was born in Prague and lived in Europe until the age of eleven), is a little fierce at times, notably when she explained that as an ex-Secretary of State, she finds it virtually impossible to criticise her government when abroad, despite them being of different political persuasions. That said, Albright is candid in her criticisms of the Bush administration, particularly with regard to the treatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Having supported the International Criminal Court and having played a key role in the creation of the UN War Crime Tribunal, Albright has "great concerns" about "what is going on in Guantanamo Bay and also about the implications of the Patriot Act. I never thought we were above the law."
Given her reluctance to "make statements against her government", Albright was consequently guarded in her comments about Iraq, restricting them to stating that she understood the 'why?' of the war, but not the 'why now?' nor the 'what next?'. She does however acknowledge that something more needs to be done in order for the reconstruction process to succeed. Ultimately, she believes, the Iraqis need to be put at the centre of the decision-making, emphasising particularly the importance of Iraqi women participating "fully in shaping the future of their country".
Albright's masterful knowledge of international affairs is evident in the plausible suggestions she makes regarding the problems currently facing the world, such as the global AIDS pandemic and the crises in Zimbabwe and Cuba, each of which is weighted with extraordinary personal insight. She describes herself as a firm believer in the importance of trans-Atlantic co-operation - citing deep bonds and a similar outlook, with both sides of the Atlantic known for their "love of peace", their "commitment to the rule of law" and their "support for the dignity of rights". "I am indeed worried about the fissures that have opened between my government and certain European governments", she admits.
An alarmingly diminutive figure, above whom everyone towers, it is hard to believe that this woman was for some time amongst the most powerful in the world. She exudes an unexpected warmth, appearing to be as delighted with the substantial audience in the chamber as they were with her and confiding that she had been particularly pleased by the final question from the floor, in which a young man cordially invited her for a drink after the proceedings. This is not an example of another icy 'Iron Lady', a woman playing a man so as to make her voice heard, but rather of a woman being a woman, and equally being proud of it. At times coquettish, at others frank and charming, Madeleine Albright is above all a formidable character.
Photo: Frederic Aranda
23rd Oct 2003