2014 Commencement: Ambassador Samantha Power

good afternoon everyone welcome to spring in Cambridge it is my very great honor to welcome back to the Harvard Kennedy School a true scholar an extraordinary public servant a practitioner of the highest order a former Harvard student and HKS faculty member longtime colleague and friend Ambassador Samantha power now Samantha power is one of those people has such extraordinary talent energy and passion that I'm told she brings sunshine and warmth wherever she goes she has indeed had a remarkable career and if you just simply go on to Google or look on the official biography expedience over these are the kinds of things you will learn she began her career after college covering the Yugoslav war as a journalist now she graduated from a place you may have heard of it's called Yale but she did overcome that eventually by attending Harvard Law School so we're very clear on that but she reported as a journalist from places like Bosnia East Timor Kosovo Rwanda Sudan and Zimbabwe she decided to move to Harvard then and became a founding executive director of our Carr Center for Human Rights plays positions he held from 1998 to 2002 she was also the Anna Lindh professor of practice of global leadership and public policy here in 2003 she won a Pulitzer Prize for her book the problem from hell America and the age of genocide and that was indeed based on work she did here as a student at the Harvard Law School in 2004 Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world she became Barack Obama's chief foreign policy adviser while he was in the Senate and then advised him during the presidential campaign when Obama became president she helped lead the State Department transition team and served as special assistant to Obama and the senior director for multinational affairs and Human Rights on the National Security Council until she moved to the UN she played quite a central and pivotal role in finding creating the world wide open government partnership and atrocities prevention board during her time she worked on issues ranging from un reform LGBT and women's rights issues promotion of religious freedom protection of religious minorities human trafficking and so on along the way she is written in her co-edited four books including the really quite remarkable chasing the flame Sergio Vieira de Mayo and the fight to save the world he was again it was also the basis of an award-winning documentary now she's the u.s. permanent representative the United Nations and a member of President Obama's cabinet proving she has been proven to be a steady and strong leader in the face of enormous ly interesting challenges in crises most visibly and recently in the situation in Ukraine now look she's got all these unbelievably impressive talents her commitment her ability and so on inspire us all but there are a few things that you would have a harder time finding in your google searches and I thought would be helpful to have some of those now this one you would find that she ambassador power actually spent her early childhood in Dublin in the Dublin search suburb of Castle Knox she was born there and she moved the United States at the age of 9 first to Pittsburgh and then Atlanta she I'm told she may deny this but she's practiced speaking in front of a mirror to lose her Irish accent so I'm sure if you saw Sam you would never guess that she was Irish it would never occur to you now in Atlanta she was a high school basketball star indeed it was there that she got the extraordinarily appropriate moniker the tower of power and she you know this proved actually essential to her career because subsequently she played basketball with the likes of Barack Obama and George Clooney another fact which you could by the way find now in fact she was so such a good athlete both in high school in college that she was originally interested in a career in sports journalism her plans changed though when she saw televised footage of the tienamin square & 19 89 during an internship in Atlanta with for an affiliate of CBS Sports and for that we all are very very lucky we're also very very lucky in spite of the fact that she's been in Pittsburgh Atlanta Washington and New York she remains a Boston Red Sox fan I hope that's true okay that's that's very reassuring so this is a woman of character as well as enormous capacity the other thing that I think those of us that that see what's and produces are often intimidated by the extraordinary quality of the work the careful and concise thinking and so forth so we did ask one of her colleagues what it was like while she was working on the book a problem from Hell here at the HK s around the Carr Center this colleague mentioned well I come into her office I'd seem to see her on the floor and her jogging clothes crawling about gathering up typescript muttering now where is that quote she's just one of those people whose crazy intensity on any project is an inspiration a source of all to all-around Sam power really is one of those people who more than any single thing is a human being and who can a person who cares about humanity but also spends a great deal of her time thinking and working systematically to understand both the nature of the extraordinarily difficult problems she faces but also strategies that are practical and plausible to actually make change happen it is indeed quite fitting that that in john f kennedy's graduation address he that he gave at american university he said no problem of human destiny is beyond you and beings mans and womans reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable and we believe we can do it again Sam power is that tower of power who constantly solves the seemingly impossible please join me in welcoming Samantha power thank you Thank You Dean Elwood it is a huge honor to be among you here in the cold today particularly with a chance to pay tribute to the 2014 MPP MPA MPA ID and PhD graduates and and congratulations to the kennedy school for keeping with the long and sacred government tradition of creating more acronyms than any normal human being can process I'm particularly honored that two of my favorite colleagues are here with us today maybe others as well but I can't quite see out but Michael Ignatieff and Graham Allison two of the liveliest co-conspirators that I could have had in a very formative learning period for me here at the Kennedy School they are phenomenal teachers remarkable leaders and great and always present friends I'd also say the same about your Dean Dean Elwood and I'd add that Dean Elwood has a lot to be proud of in about his time as dean here at the Kennedy School today looking at the list of degree recipients he has at least 555 reasons but also by doubling financial aid during his tenure he has made it possible for many of you to attend this school and without this aid many more of you would be so weighted down by debt that you wouldn't be able to leave here and pursue careers in public service so let's give Dean Elwood a big round of applause for this in particular your families are here with you in body or in spirit today not just because this is Harvard though of course that doesn't hurt they are here because they support the path that you have chosen they have given you the blessing to do the work of serving the greater good I hope you can draw strength and inspiration from them and from their faith in you and I know you will join me now in thanking them as the Dean mentioned I went to law school here I wrote most of my first book here I taught my first class here and coming back here brings me closer to my loved ones the Boston Red Sox most importantly it is here in fact right over there at Charlie's that I had my first date with another loved one my husband cass sunstein who is also here today thank you Charlie's Cassidy each new Barack Obama separately before the venn senator ran for president and we each worked on the Obama presidential campaign but we somehow did not know one another then one day Cass sent a grumpy email to a confidante complaining somewhat harshly about his particular group of campaign advisers pace of work the only problem was that casts accidentally sent the email to everyone working on the campaign including all of those about whom he was complaining ever done something like that raise your hand well I have to so my heart went out to Cass Sunstein and I emailed him and asked him if he would like to meet to discuss the need to return to communication by carrier pigeon and now thanks to his errant email that successful first meeting at Charlie's we are married with a five-year-old son and a daughter who will turn to this weekend now I tell you this story because while I have a serious message for you today my more personal appeal is to stay open to all that is around you professionally and personally you never know when lightning will strike now email and dating advice aside at the Kennedy School you have fine-tuned the basic skills you need to become formidable public servants advocacy talking your way into Heifetz --is leadership class despite being short by 200 bidding points strategic planning nabbing a seat near the microphone at forum events so you can box out those pesky Harvard undergrad overachievers and research methodically tracking the list of Daley Kennedy School receptions to make sure you never have to pay for a soggy Egg Roll or a plastic cup of boxed wine now my task today is easier than that of most commencement speakers who often have to try to motivate departing students to try to go out and change the world on May 18 1963 the man from whom your institution takes its name gave the commencement address at Vanderbilt University in the heart of the American South in the weeks leading up to his speech the nation had been confronted by horrific events in Birmingham Alabama we're police dogs had been unleashed on brave african-americans determined to end segregation President Kennedy spoke that day about how the protection of our rights is incumbent upon the fulfillment of our responsibilities equality of opportunity does not mean equality of responsibilities he said all Americans must be responsible citizens but some must be more responsible than others all of you American and international students alike came to the Kennedy School because you wanted to take on more responsibility for the world around you and now that you have received a top-rate graduate education you bear even more responsibility than when you got here you are ready you have been trained to work within systems built on respect for the rule of law and fundamental human rights this makes sense as there is no region in the world that has not been touched by the expansion of democratic norms and values but there may be one thing you have not fully prepared for and it is the subject of my remarks today even as some countries continue steadily along the path toward greater democracy others have taken some concerning steps back with respect to political rights and civil liberties still others seem caught in a rut of tyranny from which even the ambitions and the aspirations of their people have not yet freed them your challenge is to ensure that democracy expands deepens and delivers as President Obama told graduates of West Point earlier today the United States must continue to lead efforts to confront threats to democracy and to advance freedom and human progress in doing so we and by we I mean those of us who are privileged to serve in government but also we citizens who have decided to make the world's problems our own we must address several distinct phenomenon that some have begun wrongly to attribute to democracy for starters in some of the younger democracies countries that have been on the path toward greater democracy and rule of law progress has slowed or setbacks have occurred this shouldn't come as too big a surprise because we know it is much tougher to build a system of genuine checks and balances than it is to depose an autocrat in too many places the outward marker of a democracy elections marks the absence of basic rights and the strong institutions needed to defend them in Ukraine one of the electoral democracies born out of the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Maidan protests started last year because successive elections had done little to end the state's rampant rampant corruption and authoritarian tendencies in Venezuela the current government came to power through an election but when protesters turned out to criticize certain policies security forces brutally beat them and locked up up opposition leaders on false charges additionally in some places where citizens have demanded the right to choose their own leaders the democratic transition has coincided with political instability and a dramatic increase in ethnic and religious conflict for all of the jubilation that accompanied the original Arab Spring this journey was never going to be easy think for a second how hard it is to grow trustworthy institutions on fallow ground where for decades rulers governed by fear where people on the losing side of a political contest could never reasonably expect to have a shot at winning the next time around where there had never before been a next time around look at Egypt where millions who demanded their dignity forced a dictator from power but we're successive governments that followed have employed old-school repressive tactics attacking protesters suppressing dissent and muzzling journalists and finally at the very moment when we most yearn for a city or cities on the hill models that serve as proof that the democratic system can deliver many older established democracies are delivering too much dysfunction gridlock and partisanship are too common political influence can seem to be a special privilege reserved for those with wealth and power the birthplace of democracy Greece has witnessed the near complete collapse of the economy massive unemployment and riots and successive governments forced from power as support for traditional parties has plummeted the popularity of the racist and anti-semitic Golden Dawn party has grown alarmingly even spreading into high schools this trend is not limited to Greece in the European Parliament elections last week parties from Britain France and Denmark scored big by running on platforms that replace the sacred principle of democracy inclusive pluralism with xenophobic nationalism at this point you're probably asking what does all of this mean for me what does it mean that the model that you studied when the model that you've studied and in which you are supposed to become agents of change is being challenged in these ways well one thing it means is that because of the path you've chosen the challenges being posed to democracy are personal for you whether you'll be working for governments or the NGOs monitoring them in a newsroom or in a classroom your success in promoting these values will depend in large measure on how well you work within and on behalf of democracy true democracy complete with checks and balances offers what no other system can you know already that democracies are less likely to go to war are less corrupt and on average are wealthier than non democracies you are also familiar with Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sens mark finding that no genuine democracy has ever experienced a famine but I want to emphasize something else today democracy wins out in the long run because it offers a chance to fix its own mistakes it is the only system built on the premise that if something is not working people can actually correct it from the bottom up in fact democracy works best when people are given the opportunity to constantly monitor and repair the kinks in the machinery and given the choice nearly everybody would welcome the chance to rein in abusive police to stop paying bribes to get social services and to ensure that their children have access to quality education self correction is not destabilizing it is stabilizing as President Obama put it today respect for human rights is an antidote to instability and the grievances that fuel violence and terror democratic governments that respect human rights have not and will not fail to deliver on their promise nor had they lost their intrinsic appeal in fact the opposite is true a few weeks ago the world's largest democracy held elections - in every three voters in India more than 550 million people went to the polls and the people brought a new party into power here's what a representative of the outgoing party said after the results came in quote we believe that in a democracy winning and losing is part of the game this time the mandate is clearly against us I accept the mandate with humility end quote how about that for democracy how about an outgoing party acknowledging that it lost because it failed to live up to the people's demands rather than blaming the voters for their shortcomings or worse still refusing to cede power this is what happens when a government recognizes that its authority emanates from and can be taken away by the people it serves and this culture of accountability is not built on Elections alone it comes out of initiatives like India's landmark 2005 right to information law among other things the law allowed people living in rural areas for the first time to see how local budgets were being spent and so community leaders who had long suspected that local officials were pocketing money meant to build local roads and schools could actually open the books and see for themselves what was being spent where knowing many rural areas lacked electricity nevermind the Internet these leaders went to local community centers and painted the facts just the facts on the outside walls of these centers for all to see and just like that entire communities became public auditors suddenly villagers flocked to check out the walls and to discover for the first time how funds were supposed to have been invested in their communities citizens saw large expenditures on infrastructure school textbooks and clean water that they knew had never been made local officials had to explain themselves and if their answers fell short the people could give them the boot give people a chance to fix their broken systems and they will seize it similarly to those who are disillusioned with what's happened in places like Syria places where people took valiant first steps toward demanding democracy only to suffer a horrific backlash I would remind you that what we are witnessing in the Middle East is not the consequence of too much democracy but rather the toxic consequences of too little democracy for too long to those who would argue that such fear cannot be overcome and such can vengeance cannot be changed I would point you to Tunisia the Arab Spring began there as you all know when a humble street vendor who was humiliated and beaten by local officials went to his governor for help he wanted to work within the system he went to his governor but he was turned away it was only when he could see no other way to secure change that he set himself on fire show me a clearer illustration of hopelessness in the face of injustice of living in a system that lacks the means for self correction but look at what's happened in Tunisia since that time the Tunisian people not only unseated a dictator but also replaced him with a diverse mix of Islamists and secularists after two years of intense negotiations those representatives approved a new constitution which recognizes fundamental freedoms and the separation of powers many people claimed an Arab democracy would never respect the rights of women or religious minorities now Tunisia has a constitution that protects both yet it would be a mistake to look at the achievement at this achievement as the work of Tunisia's leaders alone it was the Tunisian people backed by human rights defenders civil society groups a vibrant press NGOs and so many others who pressed these new leaders to reach such a compromise even in places where leaders have repeatedly failed to live up to their pledges citizens have shown remarkable patience with democracy this past weekend millions of Ukrainians voted and elected a leader who promised to replace the graft and divisive nosov his predecessor with accountability and unity notwithstanding their recent history Ukrainians hold out hope in democracy not because they are naive or because they have short memories but out of a reasoned pragmatism they know that no model gives them a better shot or a greater hand in correcting the mistakes of the past here at home while we Americans are entitled to feel frustrated with one standoff after another in Washington or the outsized influence of a wealthy few in politics the truth is that the American system has time and again risen to advance its and all people's rights I can't tell you how proud I am to serve under a president who has made it possible for gay people to serve openly and proudly in the Armed Forces and in a federal government in which gay employees enjoy the same federal benefits as they're straight colleagues or to have served alongside a Secretary of State who so eloquently declared that gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights or to speak to you in a state that not only repeatedly had an out gay member of Congress but whose courts were the first to legally recognize same-sex marriage in the United States none of these once unthinkable changes would have been possible if citizens had not fought doggedly to make them happen if agents of change people like you had not challenged their government and their courts to right historic wrongs it is because we believe deep down in what democracy makes possible and because we have seen what it can produce that we can endure the challenges of a system that can sometimes feel broken it is because when we look towards our president today we can trace a line straight back to those courageous men and women who braved police dogs in Birmingham in 1963 it's also why we feel a profound responsibility to reject the false choice between strengthening fundamental rights at home and doing so abroad we can and we must do both indeed it is our own relentless inch-by-inch effort to form a more perfect union that allows us to stand credibly and passionately for democracy and human rights abroad president obama has instructed all of his diplomats to make supporting civil society an integral part of american foreign policy to support the change makers who are on the front lines of the struggle for universal rights it is no coincidence that civil society and journalists are often the first to come under fire when democracy is backsliding that's why every day American diplomats stand up for the right of people to organize peacefully for change bringing real resources and sustained diplomatic pressure to bear there is no hidden agenda here simply a fundamental expression of our support for and belief in democratic values indeed all of the steps toward more inclusive and rights respecting democracies in India in Tunisia in the United States and in so many other democracies young and old can be traced back to the demands of citizens and the agents of change who have inspired and empowered them and all of these changes would have been impossible if the system itself were not predicated on fixing its own mistakes I said earlier that you were a group that did not need to be convinced of the importance of pursuing public service but in closing let me remind you of why it is so important that you be your smartest most relentlessly dedicated and most empathetic selves as you head out into the world to take up this calling as we sit here today at least 200 Nigerian girls are in captivity they were targeted quite simply because they chose to get an education I suspect you will not hear me utter a line like this one again but here goes Boko Haram understands something very important about those girls they understand that educated girls will ask smart questions an educated girl will question whether she wants to grow up in a society where she is condemned and to silence and servitude an educated girl will question the values of a justice system that sentences a woman to death simply because of her religion or that of the man she loves has happened two weeks ago in Sudan to a woman who just yesterday gave birth to a child in prison and an educated girl will question whether a woman should earn less than a man simply because she's a woman as a woman named Lilly Ledbetter asked in the United States for all of those reasons Boko Haram understands that a generation of girls armed with books with pencils and with the ambition to learn is a greater threat to their close-minded vision of the world than any military just look at the girls who have escaped Boko Haram's clutches do you know where they are they're back in school in a place where heavily armed soldiers are too afraid to go out on patrol these girls are brave enough to walk back into the classroom and yet while Boko Haram is right to be afraid of these girls they are wrong to think that they can keep them from claiming a future within their reach these girls bring us back to an unimpeachable truth if you give people the tools to correct the parts of their government that are broken as only democracy can whether it is access to education or access to health care a fair wage or a fair justice system a free press or freedom of information they will seize them and they will defend their rights as tenaciously as have those brave girls in Nigeria so go out there graduates and use the tools you now have to fix these problems help make democracy work better here and abroad and remember that you now that you have acquired new tools there even more responsibility I know that you will shoulder this responsibility with poise and exercise it with world-changing impact best of luck thank you and congratulations thank you Sam and I'd like to it was spectacular I'd like to welcome all of you to come join us inside now where it's slightly warmer where we'll have some cupcakes lemonade and good company thank you very much you

Channel: Harvard Kennedy School

Views: 8,160

Rating: 4.6153846 out of 5

Keywords: Samantha Power, United Nations, UN, Commencement speeches, Harvard Kennedy School

Id: _i2QmbGxwxQ

Length: 35min 8sec (2108 seconds)

Published: Thu May 29 2014