this past summer I found myself on the
Syrian border right next to the
mountains over which people had passed
fleeing the Civil War in a place called
the Bekaa Valley and that Valley is home
to 1 million refugees who have been
fleeing the scourge of war the tyranny
of Isis the daily bombardments of
Russian Syrian regime this was not my
first time in a conflict zone I’m an
international security specialist I
spent the last 10 years of my life
wandering through some of the most
violent and troubled parts of the world
from Afghanistan to Somalia
I’ve slept in refugee camps have talked
to people who are fleeing I’ve also
talked to the people who have been
perpetrators of violence my whole
professional life I’ve spent my time
working in some of the most violent
places on our planet our planet this is
us our little blue dot in the sky looked
at from this angle it actually seems
like our world is bursting with life
full of diversity from the blue whales
to the orange parakeets our world is
full of life and yet here we are killing
each other let’s take a couple more
steps back here we are hurtling through
space kind of makes you wonder where
we’re heading and you might think that
my being a witness to war has made me
cynical made me think that we’re
destined for despair and destruction but
the truth is that I believe that our
world is actually an unprecedented time
of human freedom never before have we
had conversations about justice and
equality on the world stage that we do
today this is the Golden Age of human
freedom kind of makes me think of the
words of the great Reverend Martin
Luther King jr. who said the arc of the
moral universe is long but it bends
towards justice that’s
hopeful kind of makes me feel good you
know it’s really comforting to think of
these words that somehow our world is
just hurtling through space that were
just somehow gonna end up on this
beautiful end point of freedom but that
is not what the good Reverend was
telling us at that time this was not an
observation about the natural laws of
the universe no at this time when the
Reverend Martin Luther King spoke these
words he was not telling us that we
would naturally end up at a point of
justice he was calling us to bend the
arc he was calling us to action and
indeed the world has changed profoundly
and in a remarkable way but that begs
the question of who bent it who bent the
arc of the moral universe and what I put
forward to you today is that our world
embarked on a new journey over 70 years
ago starting on the beaches of Normandy
as great men and women pushed back a
Nazi invasion of Europe that threatened
to burn our world with a tyranny of
fascism oppression racism
authoritarianism that was the starting
point of where the arc was bent forcibly
and through violence it was a time when
we nearly destroyed ourselves 60 million
deaths 6 million Jews slaughtered in the
Holocaust 2 nuclear strikes all within
six years
it was our moral bottom at that time the
ark had not been taught of course our
world had not somehow gone astray our
moral universe had shattered
this was our bottom it broke us as a
species it broke us as a planet but it
was from this place of brokenness that
we made a decision and it was this
unparalleled decision that has defined
our course ever since we decided that
never again would we allow this to
happen
our world it was in July of 1945 that
the winners and the losers of the Second
World War came together and they made a
decision that not only would we not
return to this violence we would set up
a new world the signing of the United
Nations Charter this was a tremendous
moment in human history it was the first
time in the history of our species that
as a planet we came up with laws and
norms and principles governing all of
the great powers in the international
system we decided that wars of
aggression would be outlawed that
collective security measures could be
taken to enforce the peace on the world
stage
we built multilateral institutions to
facilitate cooperation to bring about
peace it was a new age
now of course it was imperfect this was
born into the time when colonialism
still existed across the world where
many nations across Africa Asia and
Latin America were living under the
subjugation of European powers but the
idea was created a new order was created
the liberal international order now what
that was was a new way of interacting in
international relations based on
multilateral institutions principles of
norms of cooperation diplomacy those
principles defined how international
relations would take place in the years
following the violence of the Second
World War it wasn’t perfect but what it
did was it gave birth to a new era of
human freedom in time new nations
emerged out of the shackles of
oppression and colonialism claiming
their place on the world stage no longer
were the voices that were dominant in
the United Nations only the great powers
newly independent state
rose up and took their place in the
world and in doing so in joining the
United Nations they put forward a
powerful new declaration saying that all
people in the world had the right to
freedom in equality
and sovereign independence the
sacrifices that were made to ensure
freedom through the Second World War
that torch was carried forward to the
heroes of the decolonization era they
then rose up and carried forward the
torch of freedom and what happened in
this new liberal international order is
we started to have conversations in our
world about freedom and justice that we
had never before had equality of women
prevention of cruelty and inhumane
treatment conventions against torture we
came up with new laws and new
institutions to facilitate peace improve
trade between nations
this was an unprecedented trajectory of
our planet we began to talk about
equality of all human beings women
minorities LGBTQ communities this was
the first time our planet came together
and we became more committed and
connected to each other than ever before
this was the Age of Heroes formed in the
aftermath and in the ashes of the worst
conflict that our world had ever seen
and now I wish I could tell you that the
security of our path is guaranteed that
there is no way we could turn back the
arc that is bending towards freedom but
I cannot the fact of the matter is that
there are always people in this world
who live to see it burn there are always
those who are going to turn back the
tide of justice and try to impose again
the values of exclusion the values of
oppression there are always times when
our moral Center will be challenged but
what I put forward to you today is that
in these moments it is our
responsibility as those who have
inherited the freedom that was given to
us that it is our responsibility now to
respond to that never before since the
end of the Second World War have we seen
such a profound threat to the liberal
international order as we see today
across North America and Western Europe
we have seen the rise of right-wing
extremism ethno nationalist movements
and fascism that has threatened to turn
back the tide of justice that has taken
hold of our world over the past seven
decades we have seen leaders swear that
they will tear down the liberal
international order and return it to an
era of xenophobia isolationism hatred
and fear we see the very fabric and
values that have upheld the
international system under threat in
ways that we have never seen before and
so it falls to you once again to save
the world Falls to us now is our time
this is now the time for those people
who continue to hold and believe in the
ideals to stand up for freedom and when
I say you let me make that clear I
really do mean you not the person
sitting next to you this is not the time
to pass the buck it is not the time to
make excuses the fate of the world that
we currently enjoy now rests in those
who continue to believe in the values
and principles of the liberal
international order and of course that
might seem like a big call to march to
protest to sit in these things take
courage but fear not that courage that
is needed at these moments of crisis we
already have that think about those who
marched from Selma Alabama
to Montgomery fighting against dogs and
teargas and police brutality give their
courage that it took to march to freedom
that is our moral inheritance those are
the ancestors of our principles and so
therefore that courage it belongs to us
it exists in our bodies it exists inside
of us and it is ours to hold in half and
now we can take that courage and we can
bring it to standing rock think about
those who fought in the decolonization
struggles those who gave their lives to
say that they did not deserve to live
under the tyranny of colonialism and
imperialism who stood up proud at the
United Nations with their heads held
high as free nations that is our moral
inheritance we own that it is in our
bodies those are moral ancestors and we
can take their courage and we can then
bring it to our fight against those in a
positions of authority who would use
that authority to abuse refugees
vulnerable people those who are in a
position of oppression think about our
LGBTQ brothers and sisters those who
fought against the tyranny of shame and
exclusion bringing forth a new world in
which equity for all people became more
possible that is our moral inheritance
we own that and we can bring that
courage now to those people who still
need us to fight for human rights
we are the moral descendants of an age
of heroes of people who gave their lives
and sacrificed so that we could have an
unprecedented era of human freedom in
the world today we were born with the
birthright of that freedom and it is up
to us to then decide how we then carry
forth that that blessing
that we have been born with and so the
torch has been passed to us to decide
what we do next
this chapter has not been written who we
become in this next chapter that is our
choice but it is being passed to us from
those who are like our moral
grandparents telling us don’t fear child
rise up take your place in this world
bend the arc move our world into that
future the time is now ours where we
head next where our little blue dot goes
that’s our choice the path the torch is
being passed the mission is clear
Suda
[Applause]
Syrian border right next to the
mountains over which people had passed
fleeing the Civil War in a place called
the Bekaa Valley and that Valley is home
to 1 million refugees who have been
fleeing the scourge of war the tyranny
of Isis the daily bombardments of
Russian Syrian regime this was not my
first time in a conflict zone I’m an
international security specialist I
spent the last 10 years of my life
wandering through some of the most
violent and troubled parts of the world
from Afghanistan to Somalia
I’ve slept in refugee camps have talked
to people who are fleeing I’ve also
talked to the people who have been
perpetrators of violence my whole
professional life I’ve spent my time
working in some of the most violent
places on our planet our planet this is
us our little blue dot in the sky looked
at from this angle it actually seems
like our world is bursting with life
full of diversity from the blue whales
to the orange parakeets our world is
full of life and yet here we are killing
each other let’s take a couple more
steps back here we are hurtling through
space kind of makes you wonder where
we’re heading and you might think that
my being a witness to war has made me
cynical made me think that we’re
destined for despair and destruction but
the truth is that I believe that our
world is actually an unprecedented time
of human freedom never before have we
had conversations about justice and
equality on the world stage that we do
today this is the Golden Age of human
freedom kind of makes me think of the
words of the great Reverend Martin
Luther King jr. who said the arc of the
moral universe is long but it bends
towards justice that’s
hopeful kind of makes me feel good you
know it’s really comforting to think of
these words that somehow our world is
just hurtling through space that were
just somehow gonna end up on this
beautiful end point of freedom but that
is not what the good Reverend was
telling us at that time this was not an
observation about the natural laws of
the universe no at this time when the
Reverend Martin Luther King spoke these
words he was not telling us that we
would naturally end up at a point of
justice he was calling us to bend the
arc he was calling us to action and
indeed the world has changed profoundly
and in a remarkable way but that begs
the question of who bent it who bent the
arc of the moral universe and what I put
forward to you today is that our world
embarked on a new journey over 70 years
ago starting on the beaches of Normandy
as great men and women pushed back a
Nazi invasion of Europe that threatened
to burn our world with a tyranny of
fascism oppression racism
authoritarianism that was the starting
point of where the arc was bent forcibly
and through violence it was a time when
we nearly destroyed ourselves 60 million
deaths 6 million Jews slaughtered in the
Holocaust 2 nuclear strikes all within
six years
it was our moral bottom at that time the
ark had not been taught of course our
world had not somehow gone astray our
moral universe had shattered
this was our bottom it broke us as a
species it broke us as a planet but it
was from this place of brokenness that
we made a decision and it was this
unparalleled decision that has defined
our course ever since we decided that
never again would we allow this to
happen
our world it was in July of 1945 that
the winners and the losers of the Second
World War came together and they made a
decision that not only would we not
return to this violence we would set up
a new world the signing of the United
Nations Charter this was a tremendous
moment in human history it was the first
time in the history of our species that
as a planet we came up with laws and
norms and principles governing all of
the great powers in the international
system we decided that wars of
aggression would be outlawed that
collective security measures could be
taken to enforce the peace on the world
stage
we built multilateral institutions to
facilitate cooperation to bring about
peace it was a new age
now of course it was imperfect this was
born into the time when colonialism
still existed across the world where
many nations across Africa Asia and
Latin America were living under the
subjugation of European powers but the
idea was created a new order was created
the liberal international order now what
that was was a new way of interacting in
international relations based on
multilateral institutions principles of
norms of cooperation diplomacy those
principles defined how international
relations would take place in the years
following the violence of the Second
World War it wasn’t perfect but what it
did was it gave birth to a new era of
human freedom in time new nations
emerged out of the shackles of
oppression and colonialism claiming
their place on the world stage no longer
were the voices that were dominant in
the United Nations only the great powers
newly independent state
rose up and took their place in the
world and in doing so in joining the
United Nations they put forward a
powerful new declaration saying that all
people in the world had the right to
freedom in equality
and sovereign independence the
sacrifices that were made to ensure
freedom through the Second World War
that torch was carried forward to the
heroes of the decolonization era they
then rose up and carried forward the
torch of freedom and what happened in
this new liberal international order is
we started to have conversations in our
world about freedom and justice that we
had never before had equality of women
prevention of cruelty and inhumane
treatment conventions against torture we
came up with new laws and new
institutions to facilitate peace improve
trade between nations
this was an unprecedented trajectory of
our planet we began to talk about
equality of all human beings women
minorities LGBTQ communities this was
the first time our planet came together
and we became more committed and
connected to each other than ever before
this was the Age of Heroes formed in the
aftermath and in the ashes of the worst
conflict that our world had ever seen
and now I wish I could tell you that the
security of our path is guaranteed that
there is no way we could turn back the
arc that is bending towards freedom but
I cannot the fact of the matter is that
there are always people in this world
who live to see it burn there are always
those who are going to turn back the
tide of justice and try to impose again
the values of exclusion the values of
oppression there are always times when
our moral Center will be challenged but
what I put forward to you today is that
in these moments it is our
responsibility as those who have
inherited the freedom that was given to
us that it is our responsibility now to
respond to that never before since the
end of the Second World War have we seen
such a profound threat to the liberal
international order as we see today
across North America and Western Europe
we have seen the rise of right-wing
extremism ethno nationalist movements
and fascism that has threatened to turn
back the tide of justice that has taken
hold of our world over the past seven
decades we have seen leaders swear that
they will tear down the liberal
international order and return it to an
era of xenophobia isolationism hatred
and fear we see the very fabric and
values that have upheld the
international system under threat in
ways that we have never seen before and
so it falls to you once again to save
the world Falls to us now is our time
this is now the time for those people
who continue to hold and believe in the
ideals to stand up for freedom and when
I say you let me make that clear I
really do mean you not the person
sitting next to you this is not the time
to pass the buck it is not the time to
make excuses the fate of the world that
we currently enjoy now rests in those
who continue to believe in the values
and principles of the liberal
international order and of course that
might seem like a big call to march to
protest to sit in these things take
courage but fear not that courage that
is needed at these moments of crisis we
already have that think about those who
marched from Selma Alabama
to Montgomery fighting against dogs and
teargas and police brutality give their
courage that it took to march to freedom
that is our moral inheritance those are
the ancestors of our principles and so
therefore that courage it belongs to us
it exists in our bodies it exists inside
of us and it is ours to hold in half and
now we can take that courage and we can
bring it to standing rock think about
those who fought in the decolonization
struggles those who gave their lives to
say that they did not deserve to live
under the tyranny of colonialism and
imperialism who stood up proud at the
United Nations with their heads held
high as free nations that is our moral
inheritance we own that it is in our
bodies those are moral ancestors and we
can take their courage and we can then
bring it to our fight against those in a
positions of authority who would use
that authority to abuse refugees
vulnerable people those who are in a
position of oppression think about our
LGBTQ brothers and sisters those who
fought against the tyranny of shame and
exclusion bringing forth a new world in
which equity for all people became more
possible that is our moral inheritance
we own that and we can bring that
courage now to those people who still
need us to fight for human rights
we are the moral descendants of an age
of heroes of people who gave their lives
and sacrificed so that we could have an
unprecedented era of human freedom in
the world today we were born with the
birthright of that freedom and it is up
to us to then decide how we then carry
forth that that blessing
that we have been born with and so the
torch has been passed to us to decide
what we do next
this chapter has not been written who we
become in this next chapter that is our
choice but it is being passed to us from
those who are like our moral
grandparents telling us don’t fear child
rise up take your place in this world
bend the arc move our world into that
future the time is now ours where we
head next where our little blue dot goes
that’s our choice the path the torch is
being passed the mission is clear
Suda
[Applause]
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