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Persuading across Borders
Actress and activist Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy and a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency, speaks frequently with the desire to raise awareness of and influence policies related to the plight of refugees worldwide. This can be a particular challenge culturally, as some groups in wealthy and stable nations are rather removed from the experiences of refugees and cannot fathom what it would be like to be robbed not merely of one’s home but also of one’s sense of security, even one’s country, by political turmoil or natural disaster.
In one speech, Jolie explained:
In 2002, 2010, and 2012, I was in Ecuador visiting some of the many Colombians who had fled the conflict. I said to the families that I met that I looked forward to visiting Colombia itself, when peace made it possible for refugees to return. Today, I have met returning Colombian refugees, but not for the reasons I had hoped. Over 400,000 Colombians, who had been displaced to Venezuela, have now been forced to return by the catastrophic situation there. They are alongside 1.3 million Venezuelan refugees who have sought protection in Colombia. In addition, 3.3 million Venezuelan nationals are crossing the border for short periods of time, to find supplies and basic assistance. The impact on public services here in Colombia is staggering. Some border hospitals are now providing emergency healthcare to as many Venezuelans as Colombians. Many schools have doubled the number of students in their classrooms (Jolie, 2019).
By evoking American values like compassion, working together to find solutions, and leadership in her appeal for assistance for refugees worldwide, Jolie establishes that helping refugees is an ethical goal that her American audience should commit to. She engages her audience members’ emotions by noting that the human response is not to blame a victim of war or violence for their circumstances, or for their requests for help for their defenseless children.
Jolie follows up by detailing the kindness, generosity, and character she has seen in the refugees she has met during her charitable work. In this way, she puts a human face on the plight of refugees while also establishing her own credibility, showing she is not merely a movie star lending her face to a cause: she is on the ground working for the change she is advocating.