Secretary Clinton's Remarks at the 2010 Democracy Video Challenge Award Presentation

2010 Democracy Video Challenge Award Presentation

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Judith A. McHale
Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

September 10, 2010

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UNDER SECRETARY MCHALE: Come on in. These are the stars of the show, the real stars of the show. They probably feel a little uncomfortable because they’re normally on the other side of the camera. (Laughter.)

Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be here with all of you today. I’m Judith McHale and I have the great privilege of introducing you to some great filmmakers. These are the winners of our Democracy Video Challenge, which is in its second or third year that we have done this, where we reach out to young filmmakers around the world and ask them to submit videos which illustrate how they think about – the contest is called Democracy Is… and so they interpret in film, in a two-minute film, what democracy means. And it’s absolutely extraordinary. The sort of versions and interpretations of this are really incredibly well done, but also very moving. We have – obviously, all of us have an enormous commitment to democracy and to see how these young filmmakers interpret that world, I invite you all to see it.

We’re also delighted to have some of our partners here with us today, without whom we could not have done it. And I’d also especially like to thank Lori Brutten from IIP, who has organized this, the sort of State Department genius behind this, and Dawn McCall, our new head of IIP, who have joined me here today.

But most importantly, I’m delighted to have our Secretary of State, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with us today to say a few words about these great filmmakers. Secretary Clinton.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much, Judith. And this is an especially exciting day for us here to celebrate these young activist filmmakers who are using technology to make their voices heard and, by doing so, giving voice to so many millions of others, and the State Department’s partners who have made the Democracy Video Challenge not only possible, but amazingly successful.

So far, over 3.5 million people around the world have been reached by our growing Democracy is… campaign. This is an effort led by Judith and her entire team to engage youth in a global dialogue on democracy. And we are about to kick off the 3^rd annual Democracy Video Challenge at the United Nations next week. So I am very eager to see what ideas this continues to generate.

The prompt for this challenge, as you know, is “Democracy is…” It’s open ended. It is meant to provoke thought and to spur ideas. It truly is a challenge that builds on the freedom that democracy provides for individuals to pursue their own dreams. Each of these young winners has captured six different visions of democracy – some satirical and lighthearted, some poignant and haunting – but each shaped by their own experiences and expressed through their own unique artistic lens.

Now, not all democracies look or behave exactly the same way. As our winner from Nepal said about his video – I hope you don’t mind me quoting you – (laughter) – “Democracy can exist in all countries and it doesn’t have a fixed shape or size.” But the fundamental tenets are non-negotiable. The videos we are honoring today capture essential truths about democracy across the world and respond to the deepest yearning of human beings to have a right to their own lives and their own dreams. Democracy is about fair play. Democracy equalizes the voices of people. And democracy is a learning process.

And so I said earlier this week at a speech I gave that democracy needs defending. And I think we have a very good cross-section of defenders standing here. Another one of our winners, whose beautiful video was inspired by the Green Movement in Iran, said, “I believe if I want democracy, I should fight for it! And this is my way of fighting.” And it gives me great hope to see what these young people are saying.

Now, here at the State Department, we talk a lot about the need to use 21^st century diplomacy to solve 21^st century problems. Well, this is the heart of that 21^st century diplomacy – connecting directly to people, particularly young people, who Judith constantly reminds me – (laughter) – represents what percentage of the world’s population? (Laughter.)

UNDER SECRETARY MCHALE: Sixty-five percent are under the age of 30.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Yeah. Boy, does that make me feel old, I gotta tell you. (Laughter.)

So this is about not only the next generation, it’s about this generation. I particularly want to welcome representatives of the countries of the winners who are here today, and thank you all for coming.

Now, Under Secretary McHale will come back to officially present the awards, which I think you will call the name and I will hand the award. Is that the way we will do it? So I will maybe come out around here, and as you call the name, if the winner will come up here, and then we can give the award. And I hope you all get pictures – that way? Is that okay? All right.

UNDER SECRETARY MCHALE: As Secretary Clinton has mentioned, these winners come from around the world, from each of the six different regions of the world, and they were voted on by people who were tuned into and watching constantly YouTube. So we also especially want to thank YouTube for helping us with this.

From Colombia, Juan Pablo Patiño. (Applause.)

From Ethiopia, Yared Shumete. (Applause.)

From Indonesia, Adhyatmika. (Applause.)

From Iran, Farbod Khoshtinat. (Applause.)

From Nepal, Anup Poudel. (Applause.)

And from Spain, Jual – I’m sorry, Joel Mardsen. (Applause.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we’re very proud of these winners and we are looking to follow them with great interest. We hope that this not only confirms their own ideas, but actually serves to generate more from them and encourage others to join their ranks. So let’s give our award winners another round of applause. (Applause.)

And Judith, why don’t we invite some of our partners and perhaps you could introduce them as well.

LORI BRUTTEN: (Inaudible), Steve Grove, the director of YouTube Student Politics; Rick Cotton, Chief Counsel of NBC Universal; Kate Raftery from the – Vice President for Learning and Citizenship at the International Youth Foundation; Patti Pearson, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Director of Special Projects.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Great. (Applause.) Great. Thank you all very much.

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Secretary Clinton with the Winners of the Second Annual Democracy Video Challenge

This is so cute. These winners are thrilled to be with our Secretary of State. Who wouldn't be? I voted in the online contest. There were so many entries, and so many were good. It was hard to choose. I love the award itself. Very cute - the whole affair.


Secretary Clinton meets with the Winners of the Second Annual Democracy Video Challenge, at the Department of State.

Secretary Clinton Meets With Winners of the First Annual Democracy Video Challenge

Remarks

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

September 18, 2009

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SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much, Jeremy. This is a great pleasure for me personally to be able to participate in this. And I am very grateful to have this start this year. I think it’s going to be an impressive and exciting venture. I thank you, Jeremy, for your leadership. I thank Under Secretary Judith McHale.
These six filmmakers are literally the cream of an impressive crop. More than 900 people answered our call to create videos that capture and celebrate democracy. We had a rigorous, independent jury process and online voting open to the public – kind of like American Idol. (Laughter.) And in the end, six videos stood out for their thoughtful and inspiring depictions of what democracy means to them.
And I want to thank our partners from the NGO community, the film and entertainment industry, academia, everyone who is here today to help make this contest possible this year, as our trial run, and then for years to come.
The video submissions represent an extraordinary diversity of ideas and opinions. Even though they demonstrate there are many ways to define democracy, its core meaning is universal. Here at the State Department, we work with governments, NGOs, civil society leaders, the private sector, all kinds of partners, to ensure that democracy can thrive and flourish in places that have known it, but lost it, or who have never known it before.
Democracy does not begin and end with free and fair elections, although that is obviously a sine qua non of being able to define a democracy. We need to think of democracy as an environment in which people can exercise civil and human rights without fear of persecution or retribution. We need to think of democracy as promoting transparent and effective governments that protect their citizens, provide help to those in need, and deliver results, which is one of the biggest challenges facing democracies everywhere. Democracy creates the conditions that bring people together to negotiate solutions to their own problems, the ones facing their country, and indeed, our world.
We build it across generations. And, frankly, we wanted to engage young people in a candid and open discussion. Then we wanted to stand back and see what we have heard and what we could see really working in the ideas and the thoughts of young people across the world.
For the six of you, democracy is one of the most difficult terms to explain, but the easiest to expound. It is fueled by the voice of the masses. It empowers the individual to make the individual powerful. It’s a smoothie – I like that, a smoothie – (laughter) – blending philosophical ideas, cultural norms, and aesthetic values. It means choosing your own way, finding your path, moving all the parts of society forward as one body. These are wonderful insights. And I think we ought to get the transcripts of the videos and distribute those widely, because they are different perspectives, but they have the same meaning.
This video challenge reminds us that young people will always find new and creative ways to participate in and further democracy. And we are going to continue working with you and others like you across the world. We want to keep the dialogue on democracy going forward. We think that this next generation of young people who are more connected, more able to communicate across oceans and boundaries, will give new meaning and purpose to democracy. That is our hope. That’s the bet I’m making on young people like these that stand before you.
So Jeremy, let’s get into the meat of the program, which is handing out the awards.
(The awards were presented.)