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    "ocrText": "FOIA Number:\n2006-1733-F\nFOIA\nMARKER\nThis is not a textual record. This is used as an\nadministrative marker by the William J. Clinton\nPresidential Library Staff.\nCollection/Record Group:\nClinton Presidential Records\nSubgroup/Office of Origin:\nFirst Lady's Office\nSeries/Staff Member:\nSpeechwriting\nSubseries:\nLaura Schiller: HRC Speeches 11/94 - 8/95\nOA/ID Number:\n24624\nFolderID:\nFolder Title:\nHRC Foreign Speeches 1994-97: [5/27/97 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands]\nStack:\nRow:\nSection:\nShelf:\nPosition:\nS\n61\n2\n2\n2\nUniversity of Amsterdam\n5/27/97\nAS PREPARED\nFIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON\nREMARKS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM\nAMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS\nMAY 27, 1997\nPrincess Margriet; Mrs. Kok; Mayor Patijn; Ambassador and Mrs. Dornbush;\nVim Slootweg of UNICEF; Sylvia Borrem of NOVIB; President Gevres,\nAdministrators, Faculty, Students, and Friends:\nIt is an honor to be here. Let me thank UNICEF, Novib and the Atlantic\nPacific Exchange for sponsoring this gathering. This is my first trip to the\nNetherlands and I must say that the individuals and groups assembled in this hall are\na testament to the Dutch example of community and partnership: A university that\ngives voice to ideas and knowledge and is part of this great city's living history. An\norganization that reflects the commitment of nations and governments to securing\nour common future by protecting our children. An NGO that brings together public\nand private interests to create opportunity for more people worldwide. A foundation\nthat provides for greater dialogue and understanding between our nations. And of\ncourse, lots of tulips which, for me, just confirms something that you already know:\nSocial progress and flowers go hand-in-hand.\nIn a few hours, my husband will arrive in the Netherlands to help mark the\n50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan -- and to help celebrate a legacy of\ninternational commitment and cooperation that is needed just as urgently among our\nnations now as it was 50 years ago.\nFor today, on the eve of a new century, we see even more clearly that the\nenduring power of Secretary of State George Marshall's vision rested not solely in\nthe financial commitment it represented, but in its understanding of our joint\nopportunities and responsibilities to create a united, peaceful and democratic\nEurope.\n1\nThe Marshall Plan helped restore the economies of nations on this side of a\ncruel and arbitrary line that divided the Continent. But just as important, it gave\nstrength to the democratic ideals upon which prosperity and peace depended:\nfreedom, opportunity, responsibility, community and respect for human dignity.\nIt reminded us, through the darkest days of a Cold War, that economic\nrenewal and the flowering of democracy go hand-in-hand.\nToday, we live in a time of great transformation. As promising as the future\nis, powerful forces are reshaping our world -- both for good and for ill. And the map\nto the future is still filled with uncertain forks in the road, just as it was in\nMarshall's day.\nOne need only read the daily headlines to know that, even as country after\ncountry embraces democracy and free markets, the rapid pace of change, global\ncompetition and the Information Revolution are creating new pressures on every\ninstitution in society, from governments on down to families.\nThe greatest threat to democracy is no longer a Communist monolith with\nimperial designs, but the volatile economic, political and social conditions that have\nemerged in the aftermath of the Cold War.\nWhile the superficial homogenization of the world means that people on\nevery continent wear the same jeans, eat the same fast food, and listen to the same\nmusic, these surface similarities do not override a longing for identity and meaning\nin our lives. Despite improving material conditions in advanced economies such as\nours, families seem under greater stress. The gap between rich and poor in many\ncountries grows wider. The social safety net -- health care, education, pensions,\ndecent wages and good jobs -- is in danger of fraying for those less able to navigate\nthis new world.\nThese pressures pose unavoidable questions for us as we approach the 21st\ncentury:\n2\nQuestions about how to balance individual and community rights and\nresponsibilities; about how families will raise children in the face of pressures from\nthe mass media and the consumer culture; about personal identity and work in an\nage of globalization, information overload and high technology; about the roles of\nwomen in society; about how people will be able to preserve their ethnic pride and\nvalue their national citizenship; about how nations will protect their sovereignty\nwhile cooperating regionally and globally with others; about how or whether\nmultinational corporations will be regulated within or across borders; and about how\ngovernments will combat threats from international cartels and terrorists.\nAs my husband often says, our challenge as democratic nations is to balance\nthe competing and sometimes contradictory pressures of global integration and\ndisintegration.\nIn the United States and across Europe, there is serious debate underway\nabout how to achieve that balance -- and particularly, how to sustain economic\ngrowth without tearing at the social fabric.\nIn my country as in yours, the government is working hard to provide citizens\nwith the tools of opportunity they need to confront the realities that await them in\nthe 21 st century. We are working hard to promote disciplined economic policies\nwhile still ensuring that our people are equipped with the education, health and jobs\nthey need to succeed in a highly competitive world.\nThis is not to minimize equally pressing concerns of trade, diplomacy, and\ndefense. We know, for example, that expanding the family of democratic nations in\nEurope is vital to our interests individually and collectively as democracies.\nHowever, I would suggest that the future of democracy depends not solely on\nour concept of realpolitik between and among nations, but on what I have come to\ncall real life politik. In other words, building and sustaining democracy is not just\nabout allowing free elections, creating free markets, and protecting people's legally\nprotected rights. It's about the internalization of democratic values in people's\nhearts, minds and everyday lives. It is about developing an \"alliance of values\"\nbased on a shared belief in freedom, opportunity, responsibility, community and\nrespect for human rights.\n3\nAnd it is about every nation rethinking how it can strengthen this alliance of\nvalues by doing more for its own people and for humanity.\nYou, the Dutch, have understood this better than most. Both when it comes to\ninvesting in your own people -- and in supporting social investments that improve\nthe prospects for democracy and prosperity around the world.\nYour leadership is reflected not only in the amount of foreign assistance you\nprovide -- seven-tenths of your gross national product -- but in the public support\nsuch assistance enjoys among your own citizens. This has been an historic\ncommitment: I recently learned that the first loan John Adams secured for the new\nCongress of the United States in 1782 came from banks in Amsterdam.\nToday, the impact of Dutch assistance is felt around the world. In Bosnia.\nAmong refugees in Central Africa. In the special attention you have paid to health,\nhealth, education, and women's issues at home and abroad.\nGiven this long tradition of social investments, I am especially proud of the\ncollaborative efforts between our governments and their development programs to\nenable people the world over to take responsibility, seize opportunities and live up\nto their God-given promise.\nTwo years ago I had the privilege of speaking at the United Nations Summit\non Social Development in Copenhagen. What I said at the time, and what I believe\nis equally true today, is that social investments are as critical to democracy and\nprosperity around the world as free markets and trade.\nBut as we think of ways to protect our most vulnerable citizens at a time of\nincreased global competition\nas we consider the best strategies for creating\nconditions that can encourage individual initiative and a vibrant civic life\nas we\nseek to ensure human rights, especially for women and children\nwe must also\nrecognize that solutions cannot be solely government-driven or market-driven. They\nmust reflect a balance of public, private, and individual power.\nFrom the great capitals of Central Europe to villages in Africa, I have seen\nhow social investments are giving more people, especially women, the chance to\nparticipate fully in the political, economic, social and civic lives of their countries.\n4\nAnd more often than not, I have seen that such investments are the result of\ninnovative public-private partnerships sponsored by groups like NOVIB and other\nnon-governmental organizations, UNICEF, corporations, foundations, and\ngovernments.\nWhen I was in Central Europe last summer, I saw how the development of\nNGOs was becoming synonymous with the burgeoning of civil society. Grass roots\norganizations were building the pillars of democracy by helping to strengthen the\nfree press, create an independent judiciary, establish a civics pedagogy for teachers,\nsteward the environment, and honor the rights of all citizens, including minorities.\nI saw the same grass roots efforts in a village in Senegal, where women\nperformed a skit that taught local villagers about the importance of participating in\nlocal politics and taking responsibility for their common concerns.\nFrom India to Uganda, I have seen a growing commitment to the education of\ngirls. Economic prosperity is simply not possible when half of the population is not\ntaught to read and write. And no investment yields greater rewards in developing\nnations than investments in the schooling of girls. I have seen myself how education\nhas lifted whole populations out of poverty, enhanced women's roles as mothers,\nand increased their participation in civic life.\nEqual rights and equal opportunities for women must also mean increasing\naccess to health care and valuing women for the work they do.\nRecently I was in Central America, where government leaders, private\neconomists, and business people are recognizing that expanding economic\nopportunity to those on the margins -- especially women -- is essential to democratic\nprogress. No wonder microcredit is finally finding its rightful place as a vital tool in\nthe alleviation of poverty and the building of democracy around the world.\nThroughout the developing world, we have also seen the transformation that\ncan occur when women have access to health care, including family planning. Not\nonly do such programs givs women the chance to determine the number of children\nthey have, they help reduces maternal mortality. And family planning is shown to\nhave positive economic effects, enabling families to become more prosperous and\nthus improving the prosperity of nations as well.\n5\nIn places as distant as Brazil and Zimbabwe I saw family planning programs\nthat brought education and resources to people too long deprived of what most of us\ntake for granted. And I am pleased that the United States Agency for International\nDevelopment is working with your government in the Philippines on a program for\nmedical education in reproductive, maternal and child health.\nWe have also witnessed in recent years the toll that ethnic conflict and civil\nstrife have taken on the world's poor and disadvantaged, especially women. In\nBosnia. In Rwanda. In other areas where the cataclysmic effects of violence and war\nleave their greatest scars on women and children.\nHere again, I commend the Dutch people for recognizing that those of us who\ncare about democracy have an obligation to help people rebuild their lives when\nhistory and circumstances have conspired against them.\nAnd I want to offer special thanks for the Dutch role in drawing world\nattention to the tragic abuse and exploitation of children. You have galvanized many\npeople and many nations to respond to that challenge, as I have seen from Thailand,\nto Brazil, to Nepal, where programs are working to rescue girls and boys from\nbondage, sexual exploitation, and abuse in sweatshops and factories.\nAlthough I am not a student of Dutch history, I do know that your country has\nlong been a leader in upholding the ideals of tolerance and respect for individual\ndignity and in promoting the common good. One reason that these values have\nthrived here is that you seem to have an uncommon capacity to achieve consensus,\neven in the face of serious problems. In fact, I recently read an article in which a\nleading Dutch economist, discussing the \"polder economy,\" said that \"a tradition of\nconsensus runs deep in the Dutch psyche.\"\nIt is a tradition that every nation would do well to learn from as we confront\nthe political, social and economic challenges of a new century. Cooperation,\npartnership, and a belief in our shared future is as essential to us now as it was when\nthis continent was emerging from the ruins of war a half century ago.\nLater today, I will visit the house on Prisengracht Street where Anne Frank\nand her family hid during the Second World War. Tomorrow, I will travel with my\nhusband to The Hague for the commemoration of the Marshall Plan.\n6\nAt each stop, I know I will gain greater insight into the unique role this\ncountry has played in moving us closer to a world in which peace, justice, and\nfreedom prevail. And I will leave for home on Thursday with a new appreciation of\nthe ties that have existed between our nations -- from the time the Dutch traders\narrived in New York in 1609 to our joint efforts to bring peace and democracy to\nBosnia and Haiti in the 1990s.\nBenjamin Franklin once said: \"In love of liberty and in defense of it, Holland\nhas been our example.\" And I might add, the world's example. With your continued\nleadership -- and with the continued cooperation of our friends across this continent\nand around the globe -- we will fulfill George Marshall's vision in a lasting\ntestament to humanity.\nThank you.\n###\n7"
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