白宫
华盛顿特区
2021年12月10日
 
拜登总统在民主峰会闭幕会上的讲话

南院礼堂（South Court Auditorium）
艾森豪威尔行政办公楼（Eisenhower Executive Office Building）
美东标准时间下午1时57分
 
总统：感谢各位参加民主峰会（Summit for Democracy），并对作为我们国家和国际力量根源的共同价值观再次作出承诺。
在这次会议准备期间和过去两天里，我们听到来自世界各个地区的政府领导人以及民主改革人士谈民主面临的挑战和重振民主的机会。
从亚利桑那州的梅萨（Mesa, Arizona），到德国的曼海姆（Mannheim），我们促进了全球各地市长之间和其他在第一线通过基层政府——管理——展现民主实力的领导人之间的交流和联系。
我们凸显了保护媒体自由的重要性，以及提高妇女和女童的地位如何是对使民主成功的投资。
我们着重关注了赋予人权卫士权能的必要性，并且确保让技术——给我们的生活带来这么多功能的技术被用于推进民主和使人民更加意气风发，而不是用于压制束缚人民。
我们倾听了年轻人的担忧——未来与他们最为攸关，他们明确表达了这点——倾听了什么对他们最要紧以及确保在我们的民主社会中有他们的声音是多么重要。
虽然我们每一个国家面前都有独特的挑战，许多具体情况各异，但是，我们面临的威胁和我们寻求的解决方案有着共同背景。这不是一场任何人单独面对的斗争。它是所有人的斗争。
我们的承诺，对我们自己，对我们自己的人民，以及对彼此的承诺，将不仅巩固我们的民主；通过反击专制，打击腐败和促进所有人的人权，这将帮助在富饶的民主大地上播种，在全世界遍地开花。
我为我们所目睹的汇集全球人民支持共同民主价值观的能量和热情感到鼓舞。
仅举一个例子。在峰会前，巴拿马、哥斯达黎加和多米尼加共和国总统组成了“加强民主机制联盟”，旨在就透明度、人权、经济发展和在整个地区加强民主进行合作。
我希望随着我们明年就此展开行动，将会更多看到这种激励人心的承诺与合作。
我希望我们每一个国家都将衡量努力的结果，以便我们能够在明年第二届民主峰会上汇报取得的进展。我希望届时我能够当面欢迎你们所有人。
在我们这里，正如我昨天所说，美国致力于在国内加强民主，并与全球各地伙伴共同证明，民主国家能够在对人民最重要的问题上满足人民的需要。
在国内，这意味着要将美国的全部承诺变为现实——包括使《自由投票法案》（Freedom to Vote Act）和《约翰·刘易斯投票权促进法案》（John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act）通过生效。
因为在世界各地存在的情况在美国也有。投票的神圣权利，自由投票，自己的选票必须算数的权利，是民主的起点自由——对所有民主国家都是如此。有了它，一切都有可能。没有它，几乎什么都不可能。
所以，我们必须携起手来，做到这点，我们也必将做到。
美国也将继续为战胜这场疫情而努力，与世界卫生组织、新冠疫苗全球获取机制  COVAX以及其他合作伙伴一道，挽救生命，让全球获得COVID-19新冠疫苗免疫，增进所有人的健康安全。
我们正在调动民主伙伴关系的力量，如七国集团（G7）和四方伙伴（Quad），以便扩大我们共有的能力，生产和运送疫苗，帮助让每个地方的每个人都打上疫苗。
我们以严肃的态度和紧迫感对应气候危机——并作出我们在全球年轻人那里看到的明确道义回响。
我们明确，民主价值观是国际体系的核心，它们也是几十年来全球发展与繁荣的根本因素。
我们致力于与所有持这些价值观的国家合作，建立将主导我们在21世纪前进的道路规则——包括在网络安全和新兴技术问题上——从而让后代继续得到我们所得到的自由和民主的恩惠。
我想在这次民主峰会结束之际与大家谈的最后一点是，我们知道我们前面的工作有多么艰巨，但是，我们也知道我们能够胜任这个挑战。
正如我此前所说，也正像这次聚会所显示的，民主遍四方。
专制永远无法熄灭燃烧在全球，在世界四面八方的人们心中的自由之火。
它不分国界。它用每一种语言发出声响。它活跃在全球各地斗争前线的反腐败活动人士、人权卫士、新闻工作者、和平示威者的心中。
它活跃在市政会议、工会选举，以及在世界各地每当人们走到一起共同解决问题和消除分歧的日常小小行动中——采用公民社会赋予个人权能的各种方式，使个人能够就事关他们的生活和切身利益的问题直接发表意见。
因此，捍卫民主要求有全社会的努力。它要求我们所有人。
作为政府领导人，我们有责任倾听公民的声音，巩固民主的防护栏，推动改革，以便让透明和响应民意的政府更有能力抵御来自专制主义和那些想赤裸裸以权谋私者的攻击。
大家知道，我们必须与私人行业共同努力打击腐败，建立更公平的经济，让更多的人分享成果。
我们必须向我们的公民赋权，让他们能够以最高理想为准则向我们所有人问责，确保让我们言行一致。
在我们结束第一会议之际，让我们共同重申我们的决心：未来将属于珍视人类尊严而不是践踏人类尊严的人；属于释放人民潜力而不是扼杀人民潜力的人；属于让人民能够自由呼吸而不是用铁掌窒息人民的人。
你们知道，正如爱尔兰诗人谢默斯·希尼（Seamus Heaney）曾写道的：
……千载难逢，
冀盼的正义浪潮
澎湃涌生，
希望和历史与之合拍。
那浪潮不是凭空涌现，不是偶然发生。
它之所以出现，是因为人们释放出了理想与意志的不可抗拒的力量。
是民主能够让希望和历史与之合拍。
今天，希望和历史在我们手中。
所以，让我们立雄心大志，一起来迎接挑战。
谢谢你们。我期待明年我们将落实各自的所有承诺。谢谢你们。
 
欲查看原稿内容: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/12/10/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-summit-for-democracy-closing-session/
本译文仅供参考，只有英文原稿才可以被视为权威资料来源。

DECEMBER 10, 2021•SPEECHES AND REMARKS
South Court AuditoriumEisenhower Executive Office Building
1:57 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everyone for participating in the Summit for Democracy and for renewing our dedication to the shared values that are the root of our national and international strength.
In the lead-up to this gathering, over the last two days, we’ve heard government leaders, as well as democratic reformers from every region of the world, talk about the challenges that democracy is facing and the opportunities for its renewal.
We’ve facilitated conversations and connections among mayors around the globe — from Mesa, Arizona, to Mannheim, Germany — and other leaders who are on the frontlines of demonstrating the power of democracy through local governments — governance.
We’ve shone a spotlight on the importance of protecting media freedom and how advancing the status of women and girls is an investment in the success for our democracies.
And we’ve focused on the need to empower human rights defenders and make sure technological and — technology enables so much of our lives that is used to advance democracies to lift people up, not to hold them down.
We’ve heard the concerns of young people who have had a greater stake in the future than anyone else — and they’ve made that clear — about what matters to them most and how important it is to make sure their voices are included in our democracies.
And though each of our nations faces unique challenges and many of the specific circumstances are different, the threat we face and the solutions we seek have a common antecedent.  This is not a struggle of any one facing it alone; it’s all of us.
And the commitments we’ve made to ourselves, to our own people, to one another will not only strengthen our own democracies by pushing back against autocracies fighting corruption and promoting human rights for all people — this is going to help seed the fertile ground for democracy to bloom around the world.
And I’m so encouraged by the energy and the enthusiasm we’ve seen to rally people around the world in support of our shared democratic values.
As just one example: In advance of the Summit, the presidents of Panama, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic formed, quote, an “alliance to strengthen democratic institutions,” end of quote, to cooperate — to cooperate on transparency, human rights, economic development, and strengthening democracy throughout the region.
This is the sort of inspiring commitment and partnerships that I hope we’ll see more of as we undertake this issue in the next year of action.
And I hope that each of our countries are going to measure the results of our efforts so that we can report back on our progress at a second Summit for Democracy next year, when I hope to welcome each of you in person.
For the — for our part, as I said yesterday, the United States is committed to strengthening our democracy at home and to working with parties around the world — around the globe to prove that democracies can deliver for people on issues that matter most to them.
Here at home, that means working to make real the full promise of America, including by enacting both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Because what’s true around the world is also true in the United States: The sacred right to vote, to vote freely — the right to have your vote counted is the threshold of liberty for democracy — for every democracy.  With it, anything is possible.  Without it, virtually nothing is possible.
So, we have to come together and get it done, and we will.
The United States is also going to continue our efforts to beat the pandemic, working with the World Health Organization, COVAX, and other partners to save lives, vaccinate the world against COVID-19, and advance health security for everyone.
We’re leveraging our democratic partnerships, like the G7 and the Quad, to amplify our shared capacity to produce and to deliver vaccines and to help get shots in arms for everyone everywhere.
We’re taking on climate crisis — the climate crisis with a seriousness and urgency, responding to the moral — with moral clarity we’re seeing coming from young people around the world.
And we’re affirming the democratic values that are at the heart of our international system and which have been the foundational elements of — for decades — of global growth and prosperity.
And we’re committed — we’re committed to working with all who share those values to shape the rules of the road that are going to govern our progress in the 21st century, including on issues of cybersecurity and emerging technologies so that future generations continue to reap the benefits of liberty and democracy, as we have.
And the final message I want to impart as we close out this Summit for Democracy is that we know how hard the work is that’s going to be ahead of us, but we also know we are up to the challenge.
Because as I have said before, and as this gathering has demonstrated, the democratic world is everywhere.
Autocracies can never extinguish the ember of liberty that burns in the hearts of people around the world, in every portion of the world.
It knows no borders.  It speaks every language.  It lives in anti-corruption activists, human rights defenders, journalists, peaceful protestors on the frontlines of this struggle all around the world.
And it lives in town council meetings, union elections, daily small acts that occur around the globe whenever people come together to solve problems and to bridge differences, and in all the ways civil society empowers individuals to have a direct say in the issues that impact on their — their lives — impact on them personally.
And so, defending democracy demands a whole-of-society effort.  It requires all of us.
As the leaders of governments, we — we have a responsibility to listen to our citizens, to strengthen the guardrails of democracy, and to drive reforms that are going to make transparent, accountable governments — governance more resilient against the buffering and — the buffeting forces of autocracy and those who want — and the naked pursuit of power ahead of the public good.
You know, we have to work together with the private sector to combat corruption, to build more equitable economies where more people can share in the benefits.
We have to empower our citizens to hold accountable — to hold all of us accountable to the highest ideals and to make sure our actions align with our words.
And as we close out the first gathering, let’s — let us together reaffirm our determination that the future will belong to those who embrace human dignity, not those who trample it; who unleash the potential of their people, not those who stifle it; and who give their people the ability to breathe free, not those who seek to suffocate their people with an iron hand.
You know, as the great Irish poet Seamus Heaney once wrote:
“…once in a lifetime,The longed-for tidal waveOf justice can rise up,And hope and history rhyme.”
That tidal wave doesn’t come out of nowhere.  It doesn’t happen by accident.
It happens because people unleash the irresistible power of their dreams and their determination.
Democracy is what makes it possible for hope and history to rhyme.
And today, hope and history lie in our hands.
So let’s raise up our ambitions and rise up to meet the challenges together.
Thank you, and I look forward to following through in the next year on all of the commitments that we’re making individually.  Thank you.
Q  President Biden, inflation just hit nearly (inaudible) — (music played over audio feed).
THE PRESIDENT:  (Inaudible) peak of the crisis, and I think you’ll see it change sooner than — quicker than — more rapidly than it will take than most people think.
Every other aspect of the economy is racing ahead.  It’s doing incredibly well.  We’ve never had this kind of growth in 60 years.  But inflation is affecting people’s lives.
But if you take a look at it, if you — if we were — if and when, God willing, we get the Build Back Better proposal — if you look at what — what’s inflation all about for people?  They’re paying more for things they need than they had to pay before.  That’s the bottom line.
Now, if they’re paying considerably less for childcare, considerably less for healthcare, considerably less for insulin, considerably less — and go down the list — of being able to take care of their parents — all of the things that are in the Build Back Better plan — the reason why people think it’s going to — economists think it’s going to, in fact, diminish the impact on inflation is because it’s reducing costs for ordinary people.  Reducing costs for ordinary people.
So, I think it’s — but in the meantime, in order to get that up and running — and we don’t have a single Republican willing to support it yet.  In order to get that up and running, it’s going to be focused all on the downside.  The downside is prices have gone up because of supply chain concerns.
We’ve worked hard on the supply chain concerns.  I think you’re going to see — you’ve already begun to see, and you’re going to see over the next couple months the oil prices, gas prices — prices of gas pump come down.
You know, the biggest — one of the — a third of the increase in inflation is used automobiles.  So, I mean, it is a real problem, but the point is that has to do with supply chain as well, but it also has to do with the fact that not everybody is looking for a used automobile.  But those who are, they’re paying higher prices because there’s fewer of them because of COVID and what was sold out and the like.
So I think it’s — it really is — it’s a real bump in the road.  It does affect families.  When you walk in the grocery store and you’re paying more for whatever you’re purchasing, it matters.  It matters to people when you’re paying more for gas, although in some states, we’ve got the price down below three bucks a gallon.  But the point is: It’s not gone down quickly enough.  But I think it will.
(Cross-talk from reporters.)
Wait.  Wait, wait, wait.  What’s the follow-up?  I’m sorry.
Q    Can you get Senator Manchin on board — with the inflation numbers this high — with the Build Back Better bill?
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I — I don’t know the answer to that.  I’m going to be talking to him at the beginning of the week.  And I think, if you look at what most people are saying — most of the economists are saying: This Build Back Better bill is not going to increase inflation; it’ll diminish inflation.  It has a negative impact on inflation, not a — it doesn’t raise inflation.
But that’s hard for people to think about right now because inflation is up, and there’s a direct correlation in most people’s mind: “Well, why is there inflation?”  “Well, government is spending money.”  Well, that’s not the reason for the inflation.
The reason for the inflation is that we have a supply chain problem that is really severe and it’s causing a significant increase in prices in things that, in fact, are hard to get access to.  Because, at the bottom — the bottom of it all is COVID.  COVID has had a serious impact on the ability to produce a whole lot of necessary products, particularly those imported from the Pacific and other places.
I’ll take your question and stop.
Q    Mr. President, what’s your response to the Supreme Court leaving the Texas abortion law in place?  And what specifically are you going to do?
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, my problem is I haven’t seen — I just got back — I just walked here from delivering Bob Dole’s eulogy, so I haven’t seen the report.  I will take a look at what the Supreme Court said.  I don’t know what it said.  I don’t know what it said because the last three hours I’ve been involved with Bob Dole’s eulogy and funeral.  And — but I will — I will have a comment.
Q  Providers will sue if the law remains intact.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don’t — I’m not going to comment on something I don’t know yet, but I will comment.
Thank you all so very much.
2:10 P.M. EST