Remarks by President George W. Bush at the Celebration of Human Freedom

Thank you. Please be seated.

Ammar [Abdulhamid], thank you for your kind words. All of us here today join you in hoping and praying for the end of violence and for the advance of freedom in Syria.

Now let me thank each of the dissidents and democracy advocates who have joined us. Your example is one of conscience. We honor your sacrifice, we celebrate your courage, and we will support your struggle for as long as it takes.

I want to thank all of you for attending the Washington launch of the Freedom Collection. I actually found my freedom by leaving Washington, but it is good, on occasion, to be back and to see old friends.

I want to thank those who work for the Bush Foundation in Dallas. Mark Langdale is the president. I thank Jim Glassman, the founding director, and all those who work for the Bush Institute. I want to thank you, Senator Shaheen, for joining us today. Victor and Katerina, we are honored you are here. Thank you for your leadership of the Orange Revolution.

Members of Congress will be joining us, and we appreciate you taking time from your busy schedules. Members of the diplomatic corps, thank you for being here. And members of the Bush administration — the mighty Bush administration — thanks for showing up.

These are extraordinary times in the history of freedom. In the Arab Spring, we have seen the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism. Great change has come to a region where many thought it impossible. The idea that Arab people are somehow content with oppression has been discredited forever.

Yet we have also seen instability, uncertainty, and the revenge of brutal rulers. The collapse of an older order can unleash resentments and power struggles that a new order is not yet prepared to handle.

Freedom is a powerful force, but it does not advance on wheels of historical inevitability. History proves this point. The American Revolution of 1776 produced George Washington, who embodied the democratic habits of a new nation. The French Revolution of 1789 eventually produced Napoleon, who set out to conquer Europe. The outcome of a freedom revolution is determined by human choices and the creation of durable democratic traditions.

Some look at the risks inherent in democratic change, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and find the dangers too great. America, they argue, should be content with supporting the flawed leaders it knows in the name of stability. But in the long run, this foreign policy approach is not realistic.

It is not realistic to presume that so-called stability enhances our national security. Nor is it within the power of America to indefinitely preserve an old order that is inherently unstable. Oppressive governments distrust the diffusion of choice and power, choking off the best source of national prosperity and success. The hoarding of power leads to cronyism, corruption, inefficiency, and resentment. This is the in-built crisis of tyranny. It fears and fights the very human attributes that make a nation great: creativity, enterprise, initiative, and responsibility.

Dictators can maintain power for a time by force and by feeding resentments toward enemies, internal or external, real or imagined. But eventually, in scarcity and mediocrity, their failure becomes evident.

In every nation, a few eyes open first. It is dissidence to see the shabby reality of oppression and refuse to live any longer with lies and humiliation. Dissidents show defiance, courage, and stubbornness — but above all, they have a genius for hope. Václav Havel once said that politics is not the art of the possible; it is the art of imagining the impossible and then making it happen. From Havel to Mandela to Aung San Suu Kyi, dissidents have practiced the art of the impossible.

America does not get to choose if a freedom revolution should begin or end in the Middle East or elsewhere. It only gets to choose what side it is on. The tactics of promoting freedom will vary case by case, but America’s message should ring clear and strong: we stand for freedom and for the institutions and habits that make freedom work for everyone.

The day when a dictator falls or yields to a democratic movement is a glorious day. The years of transition that follow can be difficult. People forget that this was true in Central Europe, where democratic institutions and attitudes did not spring up overnight. From time to time, there has been corruption, backsliding, and nostalgia for communist rule. There have been threats to independent media and civil society. Essential economic reforms have sometimes proved painful and unpopular.

It takes courage to ignite a freedom revolution, but it also takes courage to secure a freedom revolution for future generations through structural reform. Both types of bravery deserve our strong support.

This is now the challenge in parts of North Africa and the Middle East. After the euphoria, nations must deal with questions of tremendous complexity. What effect will majority rule have on the rights of women and religious minorities? How can militias be incorporated into a national army? What should be the relationship between a central government and regional authorities?

Problems once kept submerged by force must now be resolved by politics and consensus. Yet political institutions and traditions are often weak, and some remain unreconciled to freedom.

We know the problems, but we have also seen a source of hope. The people of North Africa and the Middle East now realize that their leaders are not invincible. They can be held to account. Citizens of the region have developed habits of dissent and expectations of economic performance. Future rulers who ignore those expectations — who try returning to oppression and blame-shifting — may find an accountability of their own.

Oppression depends on uninformed and inactive citizens, and in much of the greater Middle East, the era of the passive citizen is over.

As Americans, our goal should be to help reformers turn the end of tyranny into durable, accountable civic structures: strong constitutions; political parties committed to pluralism; free elections; the rule of law and property rights; hopeful economies drawn into open world markets; healthy civic institutions; and protections for the rights of minorities and women.

This work will require patience and creativity, and active American leadership. It will involve the strengthening of civil society, with a particular emphasis on the role of women. It will require a consistent defense of religious liberty. It will mean the encouragement of development and education and health, of trade and foreign investment, and of people-to-people contacts.

There are no guarantees, and there will certainly be setbacks. But if America does not support the advance of democratic institutions and values, who will

In promoting freedom, our methods must be flexible. Change comes at different paces in different places. Liberty often arrives not in leaps, but in steps. Yet flexibility does not mean ambiguity. The same principles must apply to all countries.

As a country embraces freedom, it finds economic and social progress. But only when a government treats its people with dignity does a nation fulfill its greatness. And when a government violates the rights of a citizen, it dishonors an entire nation.

One way to encourage freedom is to highlight and honor those who make it the defining cause of their lives. Laura and I had the privilege of meeting many dissidents and democracy activists at the White House. They inspired us deeply, and we did our best to assure them that they were not alone — that the hopes and prayers of a great nation were with them.

This is also one of the primary goals of the Bush Institute. We are gathering the stories and artifacts of democratic reformers, not just to celebrate the past, but to educate the next generation. We want a young activist in Venezuela to hear Bob Fu talk of his struggle with despair. We want a dissident to learn how others dared to attempt the impossible.

The Freedom Collection is a continually updated project designed to share the inspiration and lessons of great reformers and dissidents. Our goal is to provide both moral support and practical knowledge. Thomas Jefferson once wrote about the contagion of liberty. With the Freedom Collection, we aim to spread it.

There is nothing easy about the pursuit of freedom. In America, we know something about this. We have faced challenges since our independence: protecting minorities, building a national army, defining the relationship between a central government and regional authorities. At times, these challenges have nearly torn us apart.

It took many decades to struggle to live up to our founding promise. But we never ceased believing in the power of those ideals — and we should not today.

For all the difficulties, the advance of freedom remains the most powerful and hopeful trend of our time. In 1900, not one country in the world met the modern standards of democracy, including our own. By 1950, there were 22. Today, according to Freedom House, there are now more than 110 electoral democracies.

No advance of freedom is inevitable, and any gain can be lost. But there is a reason for the momentum of liberty across the centuries. Human beings were not designed for servitude. They were created for better things. And the human soul is forever restless until it rests in freedom.

Thank you.