Joss Stone, an English singer, actress and songwriter, while talking to her fans on her podcast, A Cuppa Happy; discussed a charity trip she had taken to Libya with musician, Nitin Sawhney, during which a group of militia had “looked after” her.
Stone rose to fame, in 2003, with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions. The album was shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Prize.
Stone, as a part of her Total World Tour, wanted to perform in every country in the world from 2014 to 2019. However, after sparking controversy post the playing concerts in North Korea and a Gulf country. She had been detained in Iran and deported before she could play her 200th show.
Stone explained how she started looking at things “differently” post a group of militia showed her around a refugee camp. She further recalled an exchange with a man in Afghanistan; where he asked her what would she say if she met the Taliban leader.
To which she replied, “I’d say, ‘Nice to meet you, my name is Joss, what is yours’.” “That’s how you are supposed to approach the world because you don’t know what happened, how they got to that position. Maybe that’s a bit of a crazy thought but it worked for me.”
Stone believes that the militia personnel are people just trying to survive and protect.
She further added, “Obviously you want people to change, but they’re not going to do that all the while they’re hated, they’re only going to do that when they get love. I think you can’t just go, ‘No’ and wag their finger at them, it won’t work.”
