Young leaders taking responsibility for the future

Yala- Young Leaders Conference

Good morning to my fellow future leaders of the Middle East. We are here together today to discuss how we are going to contribute most directly and most effectively to the long-term future of our region and of our many peoples. In the past, the younger generations had little choice but to stand by as our representatives -- some elected, some not -- executed national, regional, and geopolitical events unfolded and shaped our societies and the very future of our lives and those of our families. Today, that is no longer the case at all. Today, it is the members of our generation who have been most responsible for the achievement of incredible social and political changes in the Middle East that benefit all of the citizens of our respective nations.

After decades of oppression by government authorities in Egypt, it was members of our generation who inspired the civil opposition to the continued reign of terror of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, now in the process of standing trial for his crimes while Egyptian society recovers. Likewise, it was members of our generation who worked tirelessly, sometimes enduring the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle against the oppression of the long and corrupt regime of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Nor are we content with those achievements to date. Members of our generation are working just as hard on rebuilding those societies in positive ways to enable all of our brethren to enjoy the relative freedom, equality, and prosperity that are now available to all of us.

Meanwhile, the struggle -- and therefore, the importance of our continued dedication, courage, perseverance, and leadership -- is only beginning elsewhere in the Middle East, such as in Syria, where hundreds have already been killed and thousands brutalized because of their opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. In Saudi Arabia, we have inspired the questioning of age-old rules that conflict with fundamental contemporary concepts of the equality of all persons, especially in connection with gender. In Iran, it is members of our generation who have begun challenging the policies and leadership decisions responsible for the substantial exclusion of the Iranian people from full participation in the modern global economic opportunities that should be available to us all and that should be limited only by our abilities and our ambition rather than by our citizenship in nations that continue to violate the expectations of the rest of civilized society instead of cooperating with the nations that stand by ready to offer us their valuable assistance.