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Fifth Assembly
Keynote Address:
Alejandro Toledo
Former President of Peru
April 6, 2008
First, let me applaud the words of the First Lady and the organizers of this beautiful event. I traveled 38 hours to get here. Just as human rights do not have colors, democracy does not have boundaries. Global warming is not just an issue of one country. The issue of clean water is not just an issue of a single country. Therefore, I’ve come from so far away, to Ukraine for the first time, to tell the people of Ukraine that you have millions and millions of men and women who are putting their minds and hearts in the fight for Ukraine to be free and a democracy. And I know what that means. I fought for my freedom. I know that people in the world think that I am stubborn. Yes! I’m a survivor and a fighter. If you need an additional one in Ukraine, you can count on me.
There is nothing more beautiful than being free and expressing what you believe and having the level of tolerance necessary to entertain different points of views. Nobody has the truth. But to be free is not just having political democracy. To be free is not only being able to say what you believe. To be free involves the capacity to choose, and you can only choose once you have a nation rooted in its own culture with mutual respect in the face of internal diversity. To be free means constructing a nation that has its own identity, with people who believe political democracy is not enough if it is not accompanied by economic and social democracy. The time has come to build political democracy that delivers concrete results for the poor and for the excluded. In democracy! In democracy! People who have access to clean water; people who have access to good quality education and health; people who have access to electricity; people who have the courage to stand up and say I also need my human right to live with dignity. But for that you first need democracy.
Secondly, for democracy to be rooted in a nation we need to build strong democratic institutions, a judicial system that works, that transmits the message to the common citizen. Even the poorest citizens need to have the sense that justice can be ensured in a democracy. A judicial system should also provide legal stability to attract capital investment for economic growth because growth generates jobs and income and reduces poverty. Freedom of the press that does not distort is also necessary; a press that does not sell its soul to other people; a press that informs; a press that tells the truth. Strong democratic institutions include a parliament of equality in which the members do not serve only the interests of a corporation or people outside the country.
Strong democratic institutions enable citizens to demand accountability. Those in government should provide information to the people who voted for them. With accountability, the probability of corruption is reduced. Don’t let politicians within the country or from outside the country massage democracy. Democracy does not belong to a single country. Democracy does not belong to some country that has a monopoly. Democracy is like a tree that you plant in your own country; you fertilize it, you water it, you give it love, and you trim it to your own style. Democracy can not be transplanted as some other country wishes. We needed to enroot it; we need to feel that it belongs to us. And we need to be ready to fight for it.
I have had 118 death threats on my life. One hundred and seventeen as a fighter in the street, and one as President. And I’m still here for you, to tell you that I’m ready to continue the fight in my country and all around the world. I’m fighting for democracy in Burma. People will say, “Are you crazy? What does Peru have to do with Burma?” But there is a lady there who does not have the freedom of expression just to be a candidate. Democracy does not have a boundary, and that is why I assume that those who have organized this event have brought us all together from different corners of the world, independent of our color, sharing one value, one concept, and you trim that concept to your own style. We need to enroot it and we need the support and the solidarity of the rest of the world.
I want to conclude by saying that Ukraine is already, almost in my view, just about on the other side of the river. I don’t think there will be a return, and I’m sure some people are very concerned about that, but today we see an end to government getting into our bedrooms without our permission or interfering with the Internet that our kids manage better than we do. We already know that democracy in Ukraine is just about on the other side of the river no matter how sorry about that some people might be.
Thank you very much.
Back to Opening Plenary Session Remarks.
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