Speakers of Parliaments from around the world meeting at the United Nations in Geneva for the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, gave Michael Douglas a standing ovation following his 25-minute keynote speech opening the conference.
Mr Douglas, an Academy Award winning actor and UN Peace Messenger, spoke on the theme “A world in turmoil: Parliamentary cooperation and multilateralism for peace, justice and prosperity for all.”
He warned the audience that “these are the most dangerous times of my life.” However, he observed that the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) are doing incredible work to build bridges between peoples and governments, resolve long-standing conflicts, help fulfil human needs through sustainable development, build accountable governance and advance nuclear arms control and disarmament.
“I believe we can deliver a positive vision for the future, like the one I absorbed, almost through osmosis, growing up in parallel with the United Nations,” he said. “And I believe we can plant the seeds of a future – where might is not measured in missiles, but in the strength of institutions that deliver justice, freedom, and opportunity. In democracies free of corruption… societies free of want…and the next generation, free of fear.”
The conference was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization comprising 181 member parliaments, and hosted by the United Nations. It included the Speakers (Presidents) and/or Deputy Speakers of seven of the nine nuclear armed countries (China, France, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United Kingdom) and most of the nuclear allied countries (including Japan, South Korea and nearly all of the NATO countries).
Mr Douglas emphasized the important role of parliamentarians in advancing multilateralism and disarmament, including nuclear disarmament. He praised IPU and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament for assisting parliamentarians in this role, including through the joint production of Assuring our Common Future, an online parliamentary handbook on disarmament for security and sustainable development.
And he offered a pro-active version of hope for parliamentarians to embrace in order to help build peace, common security and a nuclear-weapon-free world.
“I have a verb for you. And it is, quite simply, to hope” he said. “I’m not talking about wishful thinking, or willful ignorance. The idea that if we stop talking about nukes, they’ll just go away… if we turn a blind eye to dark money, it doesn’t exist.“
“No, hope is facing hard truths with clear eyes – and believing we can make a difference anyway. It’s planting seeds of peace and prosperity, even if we’re unsure we’ll live to see them blossom…and trusting that the next generation will tend them, help them take root and grow.”
“Today, as the Doomsday Clock ticks closer to midnight…as China Syndrome appears less fiction than prophecy…our mission sometimes feels like a desperate holdout against the inevitable,” he continued. “But that hope isn’t naïve…it’s necessary. Because without it…without hope in the face of overwhelming odds…we wouldn’t see new treaties formed, or old arsenals destroyed. We wouldn’t see young people dreaming, marching, campaigning for a safer world. We wouldn’t see folks of every political stripe coming together to say that a nuclear war must never, ever be fought.”
“So, let us be verbs,” he concluded. “Let us tell our story, expand our movement, and hope that together, we can create that future. There isn’t a moment to lose.”
- Watch the video of Mr Douglas’ speech
- Watch an IPU interview with Mr Douglas