Learn English with Angelina Jolie Speech in defense of internationalism English Subtitles
[Applause]
good evening I am truly honored to be
here with you tonight
and thank you to the foundation for
inviting me and thank you all for
sharing in this moment we are here in
the memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello and
the 21 other men and women most of them
UN workers who died with him in the
bombing of the UN headquarters in
Baghdad August 2003 we remember all
those who died to acknowledge each
valuable life cut short and the families
who share even today in their sacrifice
we also remember them for the power of
the example they set brave individuals
from 11 different countries working to
help the Iraqi people at the direction
of the United Nations Security Council
and on behalf of all of us this is
sometimes forgotten that in serving
under the UN flag they died in our names
as our representatives and at their head
Sergio was a man of extraordinary grace
and ability as many who knew him will
testify a man who gave 30 years to the
United Nations rising from a field
officer to High Commissioner for Human
Rights and Special Representative to
Iraq from Bangladesh to Bosnia to South
Sudan to East Timor
he spent the majority of his career in
the field working alongside people
forced from their homes by war and
assisting them with his skill as a
diplomat and a negotiator perhaps the
greatest testament to his contribution
is how much his advice would be valued
today as the Syrian conflict enters its
seventh year as we live through the
gravest refugee crisis since the
founding of the United Nations
as 20 million people are on the brink of
death from starvation in Yemen Somalia
South Sudan and Southeast Nigeria I
cannot imagine that there is anyone in
the leadership of the United Nations who
would not welcome the opportunity to
consult Sergio or to send him into the
field once more he is truly missed it is
humbling for me to speak tonight in the
presence of members of Sergio’s family
and his former colleagues I never knew
Sergio but I have stood before the
plaque in the place where he died I felt
profound sadness at the fact that the
conflict in Iraq the source of so much
Iraqi suffering to this day had claimed
the lives of men and women whose only
intention was to try to improve a
desperate situation but I also saw
clearly the value and nobility of a life
spent in service to others Sergio was a
man who never turned down an assignment
no matter how difficult and dangerous or
as others have put it who handled one
impossible task after another he was a
man to borrow the words of Thomas Paine
whose country was the world whose
religion was to do good he will always
remain a hero and inspiration to all who
follow in his footsteps
the UN’s work did not end there in the
rubble of canal house 14 years ago
hundreds of UN staff have served and
continue to serve in Iraq as they do
from Afghanistan to Somalia because the
task of building peace and security can
never be abandoned no matter how bleak
the situation my thoughts on Sergio’s
life and legacy derived from my 16 years
with UNHCR the agency he spent so much
of his career serving and representing
but I also speak as
distant from my country the United
States I believe all of us who work with
the UN preserve this duality the United
Nations is not a country it is a place
where we come together as nations and
people to try to resolve our differences
and to unite in common action as a
citizen I find myself looking out on a
global environment that seems more
troubling and uncertain than any time in
my lifetime and I imagine many of you
feel the same we are grappling with a
level of conflict and insecurity that
seems to exceed our will and
capabilities with more refugees than
ever before with new Wars erupting on
top of existing conflicts some already
lasting decades we see a rising tide of
nationalism masquerading as patriotism
and the re-emergence of policies
encouraging fear and hatred of others we
see some politicians elected partly on
the basis of dismissing international
institutions and agreements as if our
countries have not benefitted from
cooperation but actually been harmed by
it we hear some leaders talking as if
some of our proudest achievements are in
fact our biggest liabilities whether it
is the tradition of successfully
integrating refugees into our societies
or the institutions and treaties we have
built rooted in law and human rights we
see nations that played a role
a proud role in the founding of the
International Criminal Court withdrawing
from it on the one hand and on the other
we see arrest warrants for alleged war
crimes issued but not implemented and
other crimes ignored altogether we see a
country like South Sudan assured by the
international community into end
and then largely abandoned not by the UN
agencies and NGOs but effectively
abandoned without the massive support
they need to make a success of
sovereignty and we see resolutions and
laws on the protection of civilians and
the use of chemical weapons
for instance clouded repeatedly and in
some cases under the cover of Security
Council vetoes as in Syria many of these
things are not new but taken together
and in the absence of strong
international leadership they are deeply
worrying when we consider this all of
this and more as citizens what is our
answer do we as some would encourage us
to think turn our backs on the world and
hope that the storm will pass or do we
strengthen our commitment to diplomacy
and to the United Nations I strongly
believe there is only one choice
demanded by reason as well as by
conscience which is the hard work of
diplomacy and negotiation and reform of
the UN this is not to say that in any
way this is an easy road and there are
reasons for people to feel insecure
today the level of conflict and lack of
solutions combined with the fear of
terrorism the reality that globalization
has brought vast benefits to some and
worsened the lot for others the sense of
disconnects between citizens and
governments or in some countries the
lack of governance the overall feeling
that for all our gains in technology and
connectedness the less we are in control
of forces shaping our lives all these
factors and more have contributed to a
sense
a world out of balance and there are no
easy answers and despite the millions of
people who have lifted themselves out of
poverty in our lifetime the difference
between the lives of those of us born in
wealthy democratic societies and those
born into slums and refugee camps in the
world is a profound injustice we see it
and we know it’s wrong at a simple human
level that inequality is contributing to
instability conflict and migration as
well as to the sense that the
international system serves the few at
the expense of the many but again what
what is our answer as citizens do we
withdraw from the world where before we
felt a responsibility to be part of the
solutions I am a proud American and I am
an internationalist I believe anyone
committed to human rights is it means
seeing the world with a sense of
fairness and humility and recognizing
our own humanity in the struggles of
others it stems from a love of one’s
country but not at the expense of others
from patriotism but not from narrow
nationalism it includes the view that
success isn’t being greater than others
but finding your place in a world where
others succeed too and that a strong
nation like a strong person helps others
to rise up and be independent it is the
spirit that made possible the creation
of the UN out of the rubble and ruin and
60 million dead of World War two so that
even before the task of defeating Nazi
ISM was complete that generation of
wartime leaders was forging the UN if
governments and leaders are not keeping
the flame of internationalism alive than
his citizens we must the challenge is
how to restore that sense of balance and
hopefulness in our countries while not
sacrificing all we have learned about
the value and necessity of
internationalism because a world in
which we turn our back on our global
responsibilities will be a world that
produces greater insecurity violence and
danger for us and for our children this
is not a clash between idealism and
realism it is the recognition that there
is no shortcut to peace and security no
substitute for the long painstaking
effort to end conflicts expand human
rights and strengthen the rule of law we
have to challenge the idea that the
strongest leaders are those willing to
dismiss human rights on the grounds of
national interests the strongest leaders
are those who are capable of doing both
having strong values and the will to act
upon them doesn’t weaken our borders or
our militaries it is their essential
foundation and none of this is to say
that the UN is perfect because of course
we know it is not I have never met a
field officer who has not railed against
the shortcomings as I imagined Sergio
did in his darkest moments and he like
all of us wanted a UN that was more
decisive less bureaucratic and that
lived up to his its standards but he
never said it was
pointless and he never threw in the
towel the UN is an imperfect
organization because we are imperfect
it is not separate from us our decisions
particularly those made by the Security
Council have played a part in creating
the landscape that we are dealing with
today we should always remember why the
UN was formed and what it is for and
take that responsibility very seriously
we have to recognize the damage we do
when we undermine the UN or use it
selectively or not at all or when we
rely on aid to do the job of diplomacy
or give the UN impossible tasks and then
under fund it for example today there is
not a single humanitarian appeal
anywhere in the world that is funded
even by half of what is required in fact
worse than that appeals for countries on
the brink of famine today are 17 percent
seven percent five percent funded for
example and of course emergency aid is
not the long-term answer no one prefers
that kind of aid not citizens of donor
countries not governments not refugees
they do not want to be dependent it
would be far better to be able to invest
all of our funds in infrastructure and
schools and trade and enterprises but
let’s be clear emergency aid has to
continue because many states cannot or
will not protect the rights of citizens
around the world it is what we spend in
countries where we have no diplomacy or
our diplomacy is not working and until
we do better at preventing and reducing
conflict we are doomed to be in a cycle
of having to help
or shelter people when societies
collapse as another legendary UN leader
who was also killed in the line of duty
DAG hammarskjöld said everything will be
alright you know when when people just
people stop thinking of the United
Nations as a weird Picasso abstraction
and see it as a drawing they make
themselves the UN can only change if
governments change their policies and if
we as citizens ask governments to do
that it is moving if you think about it
we are the future generations envisioned
in the UN Charter when our grandparents
resolved to spare future generations the
scourge of war as written they were
thinking of us but as well as dreaming
for our safety they also left us a
responsibility President Roosevelt
addressing the US Congress in January
1945 six months before the end of World
War two said this in the field of
foreign policy we promised to stand
together with the United Nations not for
the war alone but for the victory for
which the war was fought and he went on
the firm foundation can be built and
will be built but the continuance and
assurance of a living peace in the long
run must be the work of the people
themselves so today we have to ask
ourselves if we are living up to that
mission they gave us the start what have
we done with it it is clear to me that
we have made huge strides but our
agreements and institutions are only as
strong as our will to uphold them if we
do not for whatever reason
we bequeath a darker more unstable world
to all of those who come after us it is
not for this that previous generations
shed blood and worked so hard on behalf
of all of us the memory of those who
came before us holds us true to our
ideals resting unchanged in time they
remind us who we are and what we stand
for they give us hope to stay in the
fight as Sergio did until his last
breath 14 years since his death there is
a stronger need than ever before for us
to stay true to the ideals and purposes
of the United Nations that is what I
hope his memory holds for us today we
cannot all be Sergio’s but I hope all of
us can determine that we shall be a
generation that renews its commitment to
unite our strength to maintain
international peace and security and to
promote social progress and better
standards of life and larger freedom but
in the final analysis if we do not even
if that level of vision eludes us and we
continue to simply manage rather than
overcome our generations challenges we
just have to keep working determinedly
patiently and you can be certain that as
you do that you follow the example of
one of the UN’s finest sons and that to
do even a little of his good to apply
ourselves to the work he left unfinished
in whatever way we can is a worthy task
for all of us thank you
[Applause]