Everybody's talking and nobody's listening: a personal reflection on the United Nations.

• Author: Levey, Gregory

NOW THAT I SPEND MY TIME TEACHING university students about international communication, I often reflect on my days as a speechwriter at the United Nations. I sometimes give examples from my own experiences at the Organization--how speeches are written, how communication takes place in a sometimes heated context, the personalities, the politics and how all these intersect in the inspiring and maddening place that is the United Nations.

In my classes, I tell my students stories about how I watched the principles of communication play out in the General Assembly, the Security Council or in hushed and secret meetings in other UN chambers. They seem to enjoy these reflections, some no doubt imagining themselves someday working at that grand building in New York City. It is just a shame, though, that most of the time I am using the United Nations as an example of what not to do.

I was a speechwriter for the Israeli Government at the United Nations over a particularly tumultuous period in the Middle East, which included the assassination of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Rantisi, the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, countless Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and Israeli military actions in Palestinian civilian areas, as well as the lead-up to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement from the Gaza Strip. There was a lot of action on the ground--and at the United Nations, there was definitely a lot of talk. I'm just not sure if there was, or is, ever a whole lot of listening.

At a recent meeting of the Security Council to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the representative from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) left immediately after making a statement on behalf of his country. The American Ambassador, John Bolton, did not take this kindly. "I want to call your attention to that empty chair", he told the Council. "That is the second time in three months that the representative of DPRK, having asked to participate in our meetings, has rejected a unanimous resolution of the Security Council and walked out of this chamber."

The United Nations was born out of the spirit of dialogue--and walking out of a meeting certainly does not foster that spirit. The DPRK representative, however, is by no means alone in exhibiting this sort of behaviour. In fact, the United States itself, as well as so many other Member States, falls into the same unconstructive patterns, such as the reciprocal snubbing...