SECRETARY KERRY: Uncertainty, even the fear, of what’s happening to Europe with these
refugees of Syria, of terrorism, it’s different.
And everybody feels that.
And as a result, in some quarters there is a pessimism in the air.
I believe we have good reason, actually, to be optimistic about the future.
And the reason is the size, the durability, the capacity, the talent, the extraordinary
resilience of this alliance in one form or another that has been expressed not just in
the formality of this alliance since it came into being since World War II, but throughout
the last century.
Yeah, there’s violence in the world; you better believe it.
But you know what?
It’s changed.
The 20th century was defined by state-on-state violence and millions upon millions of people
dying.
There are actually fewer people dying in conflict today than ever before.
And despite the challenges we face, between 1990 and 2015, remarkable things have happened
that changed life for hundreds of millions of people.
The rate of child mortality fell by over one-half.
Life expectancy has increased dramatically around the world, particularly in developing
countries.
In 2001 there were less than a million kids going to school in Afghanistan and all of
them were boys.
Today there are almost 8 million kids going to school and 40 percent of them are girls.
More than two-and-a-half billion people have gained access to clean water in the last few
years and the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more than one-half.
It is for the first time in history below 10 percent.
I could run a longer list of things, and you know them, that we’re doing – productivity,
the changes of technology.
A century ago, the numbers of people brought into the near middle class or middle class
in China and India and many other countries – a century ago this month, the battle of
Verdun was just beginning – the most excruciating chapter of a horrific war that would cause
37 million casualties and kill one German and French man out of every five.
Seventy years ago – seventy-five years ago, to be precise, millions of refugees were streaming
not into Europe, but out of Europe – seeking refuge from a confrontation with fascism that
would climax in unprecedented savagery and the Holocaust.
Fifty years ago, half of Europe lived behind the iron curtain.
A quarter of a century ago, Europe was witness to a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing that
would rage for years.
My friends, we cannot come to Munich to a security conference and ignore the underlying
message of this history.
This moment is not as overwhelming as people think it is.
We know what needs to be done, and most importantly, we have the power to do it.
The transatlantic community is not strong because we’ve somehow been exempt from tragedy
or strife.
We’re strong because we are resilient; because in a decade after decade we have stood together
to defend our security, our prosperity, our values; and because we have resisted attempt
after attempt to divide and make us turn on one another; and above all, we are strong
because of the core beliefs that hold us together.
We need to heed the advice of President Kennedy on his trip to Berlin the year this Munich
Security Conference began: “Lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today,” he said, “to
the hopes of tomorrow.”
If we do that – if we remember the values at the heart of our partnership, if we take
the lessons of history, of what we’ve been able to accomplish and what this incredible
alliance means – I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever we’re going to get this right,
we’re going to get through this moment, and we’re going to build the prosperity
and the security and the stability that every single one of us wants.
We are going to do just fine.
Thank you.
(Applause.)