Rebels are different. At some point they decided to challenge the powerful and that changed their lives.
TAKE A STAND; LESSONS FROM REBELS
Sometimes they rebel to change a regime, other times to prevent abuse and discrimination, but in all cases to correct an injustice.
To be a rebel, first, you have to take a stand. Neutrality, author Elie Wiesel says, helps the oppressor, never the victim.
It’s not easy to be a rebel. Rebelliousness has a high cost. To question and challenge those who are in power -presidents, candidates, businessmen, millionaires…- is always uncomfortable. And to be a rebel you have to conquer your fears.
In this book, journalist Jorge Ramos draws his lessons from thirty years of interviews with about thirty rebels and powerful people. They tell him how they reached power, what they did with it and, in the case of the rebels, how they fought those who were ruling. These are fascinating conversations. Some of them happen in places that signify power, like the White House, the Supreme Court, New York City tallest buildings and presidential palaces. But others were conducted in the jungle, in basketball courts and in empty schools.
This book is full of secrets. Almost all the interviews were done, first, for television. Precisely because of that, very few people knew what happened behind the cameras, before and after the interview. Here we find out how the interviewer gets ready and prepares, and how the interviewees reacted once the lights were turned off.
Ramos has two rules for interviewing the really powerful: one, assume that if you don’t ask the tough questions nobody else will; and two, think that you will never talk to that person again. These two rules have given him the journalistic freedom reflected in this book.
Yes, he takes a stand.
“Are you a journalist or an activist?” he’s been asked recently.
His answer has been always the same: “I’m just a journalist who asks questions.”
TAKE A STAND; LESSONS FROM REBELS
FEATURED INTERVIEWS FROM THE BOOK
Barack Obama
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Bill Gates
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Benjamin Netanyahu and Hannan Ashrawi
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ABOUT TAKE A STAND – FULL INTERVIEWS – IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN 3 MIN.
