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]