2009-01-26
Sean Penn, Rae Abileah and the art of listening I found these two accounts very interesting to read together. In Mountain or Snakes (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-penn/mountain-of-snakes_b_146765.html, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-penn/mountain-of-snakes-part-i_b_147239.html) Sean Penn reports his experiences traveling to Venezuela and Cuba and meeting with Chavez and Raul Castro. In her diary of the (http://codepink4peace.org/blog/2008/12/a-week-in-iran-raes-diary/, http://codepink4peace.org/blog/2008/12/week-two-in-iran-raes-diary/) Rae Abileah recounts her trip to Iran with the Fellowship of Reconciliation Iran Peace Delegation.
These are two reports of visits to countries the US officially sees as pariah states. Penn is able to meet with high profile leaders. Abileah is part of an interfaith mission and meets with community leaders. But they both have an ability to listen without judging and they communicate that to the reader. They are not uncritical and they are honest about what they see and hear. And I came away convinced that relations with these countries can be improved, must be improved and that listening is the key.
Labels: code pink, communication, cuba, iran, rae, sean penn, venezuela
