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Events >> 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy
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Remarks at Twentieth Anniversary CelebrationCarl Gershman President, National Endowment for Democracy November 6, 2003 I want to thank President Bush for his stirring message and for honoring us with his presence here today. I also want to thank Vin Weber, who is such a wonderful NED Board Chairman, the entire NED Board and all the past NED Board Members, as well as our congressional friends for their continued support for the NED and its mission. We've come a very long way since President Reagan launched the NED with his Westminster Address. I dare say that many never thought we would make it to this day. But we have made it, and I think that we are stronger today as a result of all the trials and challenges we've experienced. Like democracy itself, which has to be constantly worked at and defended, the NED's existence and the opportunity it affords us to pursue our democratic mission are things we have never taken for granted. We value this opportunity all the more because we've had to fight for it, and we want to use this occasion today to thank all those who have stood with us over the years and supported our work. We consider each of you to be a part of the NED family writ large. Most of all, we want to extend our thanks and solidarity to the democratic activists throughout the world whom we have been privileged to work with and support. If we have learned anything over the years, it’s that democracy is not a product for export but is a process, a set of principles, and a political system that must grow from within. We can encourage this growth in many different ways, and we have. But it can only happen where there are people with the courage to fight for democracy and the perseverance to build it, step by step. Such people exist all over the world ( in dictatorships where people hunger for freedom, and in post-authoritarian countries where people use whatever political space and rights they have achieved to fight for more space and more rights. They exist in the most unlikely places, within cultures far removed from what we call the West, and many continue their fight from exile. They know there are no short cuts to democracy or any easy answers. But they persist in their struggle, and they deserve our help. And of course they receive it, through the NED’s party, labor, and business core institutes and directly through the NED and its staff, whom I would like to salute today for their extraordinary ability, unqualified professionalism, and profound commitment to the cause of democracy. I just received a message from Elena Bonner, the widow of Dr. Andrei Sakharov, who has a special appreciation of the NED and its staff: “Let’s recall,” she writes, “that ‘endowment’ means not only money and political support. It also means ‘talent.’ Today we celebrate the organization and its devoted personnel that nurture the human talent for democracy.” It was a belief in the dignity of all people and the universality of the democratic idea that inspired the people who founded the NED. We remember those who are no longer with us; Dante Fascell, Lane Kirkland, Al Shanker, Louis Martin, John Hurford, and Walt Raymond – as well as those who remain active and steadfast, among them my dear friend John Richardson and Bill Brock, Frank Fahrenkopf, Chuck Manatt, and Allen Weinstein, who presided over the study that conceptualized the NED. We pledge to carry forward their distinctly American vision into what we know will be a difficult future in a troubled world. We also know, though, that the human spirit cannot be intimidated, crushed or denied, and that democracy will inexorably move forward, one step at a time. It is in that spirit that we look to the future with determination, confidence and hope. Thank you for coming this morning, and please join us now for lunch in the adjoining room. |
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