By Alliance President Terry Gips
Yes, we were all starstruck seeing George and Amal Clooney up close, but even more mesmerizing was their brilliance, brutal honesty, incisive analysis, impactful strategies and persistent hard work to right some of the world’s most grievous wrongs. They gave me hope — we have powerful allies in the battles we’re facing. Following Part 1 of my Skoll World Forum experience in Oxford, England, I promised to share about this powerhouse couple, including George’s unrelenting, irreverent humor and sweet, deep love for Amal.
Amal, who went to Oxford College and Law School 24 years ago, spoke about her work with the Clooney Foundation for Justice: “We are waging justice for human rights. We do that wherever we see the rule of law break down. There’s a war on truth and truth tellers. And a war on women.” She described how they provide free legal support for victims and said, “We’re as determined as ever” and revealed her inner drive: “When I see evil and impunity it makes me angry. I try to turn that into action.” But she warned, “We’re not as organized as our foes are.”
Amal’s Accomplishments and Their Strategy for Taking on the World
“My wife’s a badass,” George said in admiration. He added, “She’s the first and only one willing to take the Taliban to court. She’s gotten more journalists out of jail than anyone else. As the son of a journalist, I feel lucky to know her, much less to marry her.” It was so sweet.
As their website says, “We founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice because we believe in a world where human rights are protected and no one is above the law. Justice, like war, must be waged; it doesn’t just happen on its own. So we gather evidence of mass human rights abuses, provide free legal support to victims and work to ensure that perpetrators are held to account. The fight for justice has some difficult foes and we are staring down some alarming global trends.“
They are “actively investigating war crimes in Ukraine, monitoring sham trials targeting women and journalists and fighting against a global trend of authoritarianism that seeks to punish those who speak truth to power.” It means a lot that they’re taking on such huge battles and the Alliance for Sustainability supports their efforts.
George spoke about their uphill work in 40 countries in his refreshingly honest and salty way: “We fail a lot. This is a long project of failing. F–k. The long arc of justice does bend. We’ll get there.” As just one example, he shared: “We were dealing with Darfur in 2004 and 20 years later my wife has them in court.” This was an important reminder that even powerful, wealthy and famous stars struggle and it meant a lot to hear him say, “It’s nice to be in a room of people who get shit done.”
Their Strategic Approach, the Power of Storytelling and Being Flexible for Impact
He shared the Foundation’s strategic approach, “You can’t guilt shitty people to stop. But you can guilt the people who do business with them. They say they didn’t know. But we talk to them so they know now.” This is a helpful reminder that putting pressure on business can be an effective method for changing public policy.
One key he pointed out is the power of sharing a compelling story, “Storytelling is relating to people about where they are, it’s not peas and carrots.” In other words, if we only tell a bland story we will not be able to effect change. George added that this work comes with challenges: “When I wrote Good Night, Good Luck I was being called a traitor for opposing the Iraq War.”
When Amal was asked what we can do, she replied, “Look for new partners. I convened a group of business leaders at the UN. I asked them what can you do?” She then shared how she’s been working together with Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates and they’re visiting each other’s projects to lend support because the three recognize that their individual areas of focus are all needed: law, health and education.
George concluded, “Impact is a big deal. When something doesn’t work, we need to change and keep moving and be flexible to change.”
Thank you Amal and George for your inspiring dedication. You have wealth, power and privilege and could just sit back and enjoy but you continue your challenging work in the trenches. I hope each of you reading this will join in this work and feel even more emboldened to take on the challenges we face.
You can see their talk and other Skoll World Forum highlights here on the Skoll YouTube channel.2