Name: A complicated hero in the war on dictatorship
Uploaded: 2008-11-11T01:00:00Z
Duration: 22 min 49 s
Description: Would you negotiate with someone you knew to be evil, to save lives? Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world's worst dictators to help their people survive crisis. It's a compelling story told with a fiery passion.

Would you negotiate with someone you knew to be evil, to save lives? Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world's worst dictators to help their people survive crisis. It's a compelling story told with a fiery passion.

A complicated hero in the war on dictatorship

Confronting genocide requires more than moral outrage; it demands political pressure and engagement, even with those deemed evil. During the Rwandan genocide, more Americans called Congress about endangered gorillas than about murdered people. A new generation, led by students, is building a movement that forces leaders to pay attention, yet progress remains fragile and incomplete. The story of a UN diplomat who negotiated with dictators reveals the necessity of humility, boldness, and preserving dignity in the face of atrocity.