Jacinda Ardern, the leader who loves politics because she loves people

With the release of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s memoir a few days ago, titled ‘A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir’, we should reflect on two events and suggest them to Arab leaders, particularly the corrupt.
This woman left a moral lesson at the peak of her political achievements: she resigned from the prime ministership without succumbing to the temptation of the chair. She loves politics because she loves people, a sentiment unknown to corrupt and failed politicians.
New Zealand witnessed one of the most horrific terrorist attacks under her leadership, when a far-right Australian male killed 51 worshippers at a mosque and streamed the crime live on Facebook. The world then listened to Ardern in admiration as she delivered an unprecedented humanitarian speech entitled “They Are Us,” in which she said: “Many of those -dir-ectly affected by the shooting may have been immigrants to New Zealand,´-or-even refugees. They chose to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home.”
Ardern then embraced the victims’ families, visited Muslim mosques and homes, patted the shoulders of wives and children and wept with them, offering one of the rarest moral lessons in contemporary politics.
In her memoir, Ardern recounts how US President Donald Trump called her after the massacre. “We discussed what might happen to the terrorist,” she writes. “I specifically used the word ‘terrorist,’ and he asked me if we were calling the shooter that.” She replied, “Yes, he was a white man from Australia who deliberately targeted our Muslim community, and we are calling him that.” Trump did not respond but asked if America could do anything. She answered, “You can show empathy and love for all Muslim communities.”
This was the opposite of the prevailing policy of division. Ardern stated that the terrorist “chose us because he knew New Zealand openly welcomed people from all religions. He wanted to destroy that.”
In another incident in 2022, just months before her resignation, Ardern was standing at a hand-washing station at Auckland airport when a woman approached her, leaned in until Ardern could feel the warmth of her skin, and sarcastically said, “Thank you for destroying the country!” Then, she turned and walked away, leaving Ardern standing like a high school student humiliated by an insult.
Though she was an inspiring political figure to the whole world, except for that mocking woman, Ardern dramatically announced her resignation in January 2023, after six years in office.
“How could she do this to us?” her admirers cried, at a time when the world was collapsing before their eyes.
This woman practiced politics with empathy and emotion, opposing racism, and represented women as a symbol of a more rational era when international rules and norms still meant something. This was the period when other female leaders, like Angela Merkel in Germany and Theresa May in Britain, were emerging.
In an interview with Guardian editor Katherine Viner about her memoir, Ardern says: “You choose to blame. You blame the other, blame the immigrant, blame other countries, blame multilateral institutions. But that doesn’t solve the problem at its root. In fact, all that happens in the end is a marginalised group of people who feel resentful and angry, and they become more entrenched.”
And now, her memoirs have been released as a form of emotional power, as this woman carved a global path that reminds us of a different style of governance, from wearing the hijab and embracing grieving families after the mosque massacre to maintaining composure, intelligence, and humanity amidst the shock that affected her people and all Muslims worldwide.
As a result, it reached a point that has been dubbed “Jacinda Mania,” with many people wishing for a prime minister like her, how could they ever have that?
While ruthless leaders clinging to power rest their heads on Machiavelli’s The Prince, today’s Arab leaders could greatly benefit from reading Ardern’s new memoir.
Guilt is a part of the life of New Zealand’s former prime minister. She says, “You can’t get rid of it, you just try to suppress it.” So, which of the Arab leaders feels guilty?

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