Subject: For Review: HRC speech in Canada
From: Dan Schwerin <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>, Joel Benenson <[email-masked]>, Jim Margolis <[email-masked]>, John Anzalone <[email-masked]>, Mandy Grunwald <[email-masked]>, Robby Mook <[email-masked]>, Cheryl Mills <[email-masked]>, Philippe Reines <[email-masked]>, Huma Abedin <[email-masked]>, Nick Merrill <[email-masked]>, Jake Sullivan <[email-masked]>
Cc: Ethan Gelber <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 20:37:44 +0000

All, tomorrow HRC is giving two open press speeches in Canada with publicly-ticketed general audiences.  I’d love your thoughts on the draft, attached and below.  Except for some local color, the idea is to use the same speech in both cities.
As you’ll see, I’m proposing a speech about our shared struggle against violent extremism in the wake of the Paris attacks (and Ottawa in October), with particular emphasis on how important it is for democracies like the United States and Canada to be strong, inclusive, and prosperous at home and not give in to division and demagoguery.  The theme of making sure every American has a stake in our prosperity and our democracy is something HRC and WJC are both thinking about a lot these days, so this is a chance to begin playing with some related ideas.  This also feels like an interesting way to connect a domestic agenda to international concerns and HRC’s SecState record.
Please take a look and send me any thoughts or concerns.  HRC is eager to read a draft herself so I’ll be sharing with her later this afternoon.
Thanks very much.
Dan

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
REMARKS TO GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE LEADERSHIP LUNCHEON
WINNIPEG, CANADA
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015

Thank you, Winnipeg!  Thank you Gary, Victor, and everyone at CIBC.

I’m delighted to be here in the “The Peg.”  I know sometimes you’re called the “Chicago of the North.”  Well, as someone who grew up in the “Winnipeg of the South,” let me just say, I feel right at home.

In fact, that’s how I feel whenever I come to Canada.  Our two countries have so much in common.  No two nations in the world are closer.  No border is longer or more peaceful.  No one trades more.  Or shares more core values.

Canada and the United States are strongest when we’re standing side-by-side.

You can see it right here in Manitoba, where plans to link your hydro electricity with wind power produced in Minnesota hold the potential to reduce costs and increase use of clean energy on both sides of the border.

You can see it in the courageous efforts of Canadian and American doctors and aid workers to bring help and hope to Ebola-ravaged West Africa.

In so many ways, in so many places, the alliance between our two countries and the broader community of democracies remains a cornerstone of peace, prosperity, and progress.

Today, that’s as important and urgent as ever.

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris, and the foiled plot in Brussels, are stark reminders of the threats we face together.  In the brutal burst of automatic gunfire we heard the echoes of Boston, London, Madrid, and so many others.

It was only three months ago that Ottawa was targeted.  Canadians pulled together then, just as Parisians and people across Europe and the world are doing now.  Here in Winnipeg, that very night, you went to the polls and elected your first-ever Métis [May-TEES] mayor.  Regardless of politics, it was a statement about the values of pluralism and openness that define our democracies.

Those were the same values under assault in Paris.

The slaughter of satirists and Jews sharpened the true contours of this struggle.  It is not just a matter of law enforcement or military action.  We are in a contest of ideas.

Now, let’s be clear: Islam itself is not the adversary.  The vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people.  We see that everyday in Canada and the United States, with so many of our neighbors and fellow citizens.

But we can’t close our eyes to the fact that there is a distorted and dangerous strain of extremism within the Muslim world that continues to spread.  Its adherents are few in number, but they are causing profound damage – most especially to their own communities.

With these vicious few, we are confronting an ideology of hate.  A worldview based on tearing down and dividing rather than building up and bringing together.  The claim to absolute truth.  Total intolerance for the beliefs and rights of others.

Like previous ideological struggles, this is a generational challenge.  And it must be waged on many fronts.

First, we have to craft our strategy in the Middle East with an eye to this battle of ideas.

Canada, the United States and many other nations are working together to stop the spread of ISIS and other violent extremists in the region.  These militants are targeting religious and ethnic minorities, kidnapping and beheading civilians, persecuting women, and attracting foreign fighters, including some with Western passports who could easily return home.

This fight is crucial.  And more broadly, we have to do everything we can to empower moderates and marginalize extremists throughout the Middle East and the wider Muslim world.

It’s no coincidence that the places where minorities are persecuted and dissent is forbidden make fertile ground for radicalism.

It’s also no coincidence that the women’s lives aren’t valued or their rights respected tend to be sources of conflict and instability.

Too often concerns about these issues are dismissed as soft or second-tier.  But they’re at the heart of this challenge.

Second, we have to be smart about how we defend ourselves and go after terrorists.  In addition to robust military and law enforcement actions, we also need to target terrorist financing, recruitment, and propaganda.  That requires close international cooperation.  And as Secretary of State, I worked hard with Canada and others to build up a network of global counterterrorism collaboration.

We also have to do a better job contesting online space, including websites and chat rooms where extremists inspire and recruit followers.  I’m proud of the work we’ve begun in this area, but there’s a lot more to do, as we can see from the success that ISIS continues to have online.

Third, and this is the point I really want to emphasize today, we have to show the world that free people and free markets are still the hope of humanity.

The great democracies have to set an example.  Standing up for our values in our own countries and communities is just as crucial as promoting them abroad.

And today there are many forces tugging at the fabric of our societies.  Demagogues who play on fears of immigrants and minorities.  Economic stagnation that hollows out communities and puts the dream of upward mobility out of reach for too many families.  Deep frustrations that erode trust in our leaders, our institutions, even our neighbors.

We can’t give in to these forces of entropy. We have to go back to first principles.  The values written into our democratic DNA.  Freedom.  Equality.  Opportunity.  Pluralism.

We have to remember that whatever our differences, we’re all in this together.  For our democracies to meet the tests ahead, all our people have to believe they have a stake in our prosperity and our future -- no matter where they’re from, what they look like, how they worship, or who they love.

In the United States, we recently lost one of our wisest political sages, Mario Cuomo.  He used to talk about the nation as a family.  The “family of America.”   We are all bound one to another, he said, and everyone needs a seat at the table.  That’s democracy.

Now, as a new grandmother, I like that idea quite a lot.  Because ever child should have the same opportunities in life as my baby granddaughter.

In the United States, that’s what we call the American Dream.  But it really is a universal dream.  It’s what’s always drawn people to our shores -- dreamers and dissidents and anyone willing to work hard to build a better life.  Canada and the United States are both nations built by immigrants and energized by diversity.

It hasn’t always been easy or smooth, but at our best, we welcome everyone into the family.  We expand the circle of opportunity and equality wider and wider.  We make room at the table.

But today, across the world’s great democracies, we’re grappling with difficult questions that cut to the core of this promise.

Can we relearn how to work together… and grow together?

How do we make sure that new waves of immigrants enrich rather than embitter our communities?

What will it take to give our young people the opportunities they need and deserve?

As we answer these questions, there’s a lot we can learn from each other.

Here in Canada, you’ve shown that the economic inequality that we see in the United States and many other countries isn’t inevitable -- despite facing similar long-term challenges from globalization and automation.  You’ve invested in your middle class and it’s made a real difference.

Last night, President Obama offered a vision for helping the middle class in the United States reclaim its seat at the table.  The proposals he offered are an important start.  And there is so much more to do -- to bring a sense of security and possibility to families struggling with stagnant wages and sinking hopes… to restore sanity and balance to our politics… reform our broken immigration system… and re-stitch the fraying fabric of American life.

The debates are different in each nation, but our fundamental goals are the same.  And everything I’ve seen and done around the world has convinced me that the future belongs to vibrant democracies like ours.

Despite our many challenges, we are uniquely prepared to continue leading in the 21st century, just as we did in the 20th.

You and I are fortunate to live in remarkably resilient and resourceful countries.  And the things that make us who we are as Americans and Canadians – our diverse and open societies, our devotion to human rights and democratic values – give us a singular advantage in our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.

Extremism, authoritarianism, Putinism – none of them can compete with democracy at its best.

That’s what we saw on the streets of Paris in the wake of the attacks as millions of people came together in solidarity.

And there was no better symbol of the spirit of Paris than the young Muslim immigrant named Lassana [phonetics] who worked at the kosher market and risked his life to protect his Jewish customers.  He said the market had become a new home and his colleagues and customers a “second family.”

When the terrorist arrived and the gunfire began, Lassana moved quickly, hiding as many people as he could in the cold storage room and slipping out to help the police.

“I didn’t know or care if they were Jews or Christians or Muslims,” he said afterwards. “We’re all in the same boat.”

What a rebuke to the extremists’ hate.

The French government is now granting Lassana full citizenship.  But when it mattered most, he proved he was a citizen already.

That’s the power of an open society.

That’s why the future is ours -- if we come together and live our values.

Thank you.

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