Welcoming Remarks
The Community of Democracies Non-Governmental Forum
Seoul, Republic of Korea, November 9, 2002

“Global Solidarity for Expanding and Strengthening Democracy”
Amb. Robert E. Hunter
Chairman, Council for a Community of Democracies

I am sure I speak for everyone here, in saying that I am delighted -- indeed privileged -- to be in a country that has shown what it means to create democracy...not as something received from others; not as something out of a text book; but something fought for and struggled for by so many people in the Republic of Korea.  This is a solid and strong democracy by any definition.  It is an honor to be welcomed...and to join in welcoming all of you.

How appropriate, therefore, that the second Conference of the Community of Democracies – along with its critical partner, the Non-Governmental Forum -- is being held here in this capital.   I join all my colleagues from so many countries in congratulating the government of the Republic of Korea; the Sejong Institute;  the Korean NGO network; and all Korean non-governmental organizations -- our hosts here this week. Congratulate them for having worked so hard and successfully in making this conference possible...indeed, more important, for their role in transforming the politics and the society of this country, to make holding here a conference of democracies both possible and symbolically significant.  And thanks also to the International Planning Committee… who brought Warsaw to Seoul and next to Chile and beyond.

For those of us coming here from around the world, it is clear that this conference is a partnership between our Korean hosts and our hope -- no, our determination -- that that partnership will be further strengthened as a result of this conference, and of the practical steps that it will recommend in support of democracy in countries and societies everywhere... democracies old and young, and those only recently aspiring...as we all understand that the task of democracy is to validate its worth, day by day, and to promote both its ideals and efforts to make it real in each and every generation.

We understand the great advance in relations among states and peoples by this conference, first in Warsaw, now in Seoul, next time in Chile, and beyond -- in helping to provide the means and the meaning of dialogue between governments and this Forum.  And I join the organizers in urging everyone here to use this Forum, not for grand and grandiloquent rhetoric -- though celebration of democracy's advance is never misplaced; but rather to decide, collectively, upon concrete, tangible, and achievable actions, drawing upon the talents and insight and commitment represented  here, sharing the “best practices” of everyone here, to help advance democracy in the world and specifically cooperation among democratic states and peoples both among themselves and with people who themselves are struggling also to sup at freedom's table.

I do not think I take anything away from the “other conference” here in Seoul – official representatives of 100 states and international institutions – to argue that it is by the NGOs and their “people partnerships” – recognizing that, by its very nature – democracy is decentralized -- that the most critical work will be done…by those who take democracy from the realm of theory to the province of practice at the grassroots, growing democracy from the people upward to viable and effective political, social, and economic institutions.

This is a time for action.  The Cold War, which so much symbolized the division of the world into those who had a chance to pursue basic rights and values and those who did not, is now a decade behind us.  There is no longer any excuse, any reason of realpolitik, to shortchange any country or people or culture in the universal aspiration to shape one's own destiny.  It is not a clash, but a unity, of civilizations, on the basis of universal aspirations and universal, individual goals.  Freedom, democracy, human rights -- these are not afterthoughts or expedients, but the true purpose of politics among nations.  The battle for hearts and minds was a sideline of Cold War efforts; today it is stage center -- because the democratic method and spirit are the core of true and lasting security. 

Action includes understanding that democracy and human rights go together -- in the security of the person, in free expression of political rights, and in economic progress and also justice.  Democracy can flourish anywhere under any conditions; but it is most likely to succeed where there is education, from the cradle to the grave; and health; and development where there is a chance to build free societies and association and media; where economies develop and aspire to fairness; and where the fortunate "haves" understand that resources are more important than rhetoric in giving democracy a chance.  Action means understanding that the advance of democracy and human rights and economic justice are instruments in combating today's challenge of terrorism, just as it was in combating the false appeal of the totalitarians in the century just past.

Today, for the first time in history, most of the countries in the world are free and democratic -- at different stages on the road, but the same road, and travelling in the same direction.  But "majority" is not "all."  And we who have had the chance to be farther advanced have an obligation to help those who are coming after; because the democracy of one will only finally be validated when that course is being traveled by all.

We welcome participants from countries whose citizens are already free to fulfill their potential at the dawn of the 21st century -- what can become the "century of democracy," following the worst century in human history,  when democracy was challenged in so many parts of the world and when and so many paid the ultimate price for freedom.   There is an old saying: "there are no atheists in foxholes."  We can also say that there are no cynics in countries that have just attained their freedom and have just begun the long and patient work of building democracy one brick at a time.   Blasé, indifferent, take it for granted democrats?  Come to Korea, to Taiwan, to Central Europe, to so many countries in Latin America and Africa and Asia, and I will show you people who value what democracy is all about, who take nothing for granted.

We also welcome here those from non-democratic societies where the blessings of liberty have not yet been achieved -- where still there is the midnight knock on the door that means oppression, imprisonment, torture, where the ultimate price of freedom is still being paid in the coin of suffering and human life.  We from free and comfortable societies salute you.  And we have an obligation to you and to others like you not to become blasé, or indifferent, or to reduce democracy to patriotic oratory.  Your heroism, individual, daily, unremarked, but ultimately a great human floodtide of aspiration that cannot be stemmed, deserves our support; and you shall have it.

And we would also welcome here, in spirit, those who could not come, because they were unable to leave their countries or, having come, would not be able to return home or, worse, because they are in prison or worse.  They are both symbol and substance of what we here must take unto ourselves as our further obligation to them and to our common, human values -- they inspire us, they mobilize us, they challenge us to make the indifferent aware, the powerful less certain of their position, the oppressors put on notice that their time, too, is limited, like those in the last century who trod that path and are no more.

I am, personally, particularly pleased to be here, representing the Council for the Community of Democracies in the United States, a direct result of Warsaw, which has joined several other U.S. non-governmental organizations.  And let us set the collective goal of creating more Councils for the Community of  Democracies in other countries represented here – or that could not be represented here because of oppression at home, so that the network will grow ever larger are ever more tightly drawn together.

The conference here this week -- governments and NGOs alike -- is the most important and representative meeting of democracy advocates and activists ever held; and, for that reason if no other, it is thus in the hands of the delegates here to help shape that history looking forward, by the decisions taken and by the actions that must flow from them: the “global solidarity for expanding and strengthening democracy.”

You will excuse me if, reflecting on this gathering, I also recall in my own country the gathering of democrats in Philadelphia two and a quarter centuries ago -- democrats, yes, who knew the price of failure -- that they must all "hang together or they would all hang separately" -- who did not know whether their radical experiment could succeed, and who, to "secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity," pledged “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." 

We here in Seoul are not faced with that uncertain prospect; but we are surrogates for those who do, in still too many countries around the world; and our responsibility is as great as it was for the founders of American democracy -- and Korean democracy, and Central European democracy, and on and on.  But on behalf of  those everywhere who do not yet share the blessings of freedom and democracy, it is truly, in this time that must bring democracy's global fruition, that we all, in one form or another, invest our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.