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N. Gingrich: Address to Rally of Hope VI
Written by Newt Gingrich, Speaker, House of Representatives (1995-1999), United States
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Address to Rally of Hope VI
May 9, 2021
Thank you for involving me in this remarkable, historic moment. When Rev. Dr. Moon founded the Universal Peace Federation, he had a dream. He thought that the progress of Rallies of Hope would really help change the human race, and people’s attitudes towards violence. Mother Moon has built on that. Because of their hard work, they have been able to touch the hearts of millions of people.
I have been to a number of their meetings. I have seen people from around the world, and I know the reach they are developing. It is based on a very simple premise, that we have to reach out to each other, beyond the politicians, beyond the governments. This is really an important thing.
There’s a brand-new program that has been developed: Think Tank 2022, with 1,100 experts from all over the world, working together with 1,100 experts from Korea. The goal is for them to use their wisdom and experience and come together to find a way to unify Korea peacefully, bringing together the Korean people and the Korean government as a way of avoiding the very grave danger of nuclear war.
This is really important. It is important because we know that governments by themselves have failed for three generations. They simply have not been able to reach beyond their bureaucracies, their biases and their fears. Yet, people working with each other, talking with each other, trying to help each other create bonds—that gives us the opportunity to strengthen cooperation.
We have already seen this working with the United States, Korea and Japan, the South Korean government and the North Korean government, trying to find ways to work together. And now there is an opportunity on a worldwide basis to bring other people who want to promote peace and prosperity, both on the Korean peninsula and around the world.
I have seen the kind of work that the Universal Peace Federation is doing. And I have seen the kind of impact that The Washington Times is having. Now, with this new Think Tank 2022 there will be a whole range of new innovations, new recommendations, new kinds of inner parliamentary work, where people come together, outside the traditional formal structures, looking at food security, looking at the environment, looking at opportunities for humans to have greater prosperity.
I think that this Think Tank 2022 is going to be able to map options that broaden dramatically the potential for people to work together. Potentially, it could also lead to expanding people involved to include Russia, China, Mongolia, India, Vietnam, so that you begin to have an entire region moving towards a dialogue that wants to achieve peace, and wants to ultimately have people living side by side, working side by side, trusting each other, and in times of crisis, reaching out to help each other.
You are going to see high-level international teams, visiting stakeholders around the world, working together: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines. All of these are a chance to create a common dialogue so that relationships can be built with the diplomatic corps of North Korea, and people in the North Korean Foreign Office can come to have relationships, even friendships, around the world that broaden their perspective. I think this is an important direction.
Let me say, I feel this very deeply. My father served in Korea in 1953, in the last year of the Korean War in the US Army. He went back years later, as a professional soldier, and spent a year helping defend South Korea. My family has had a deep, long involvement in what has happened in the peninsula. I do believe that, in the long run, we are really going to find a way to talk with each other, work with each other, create a better future with each other, or sooner or later, there will be a catastrophic disaster.
I think that is why what is happening, what The Washington Times is working on, what the Universal Peace Federation is working on, what Think Tank 2022 is working on, is so important.
I appreciate your being involved. I hope you will reach out to your friends. I hope you will carry a message of optimism, a message of hope, and a message that together we can create a safer, freer and much more desirable future.
Hon. Newt Gingrich served as US Congressman from 1978 to 1999 and Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999.
To go to the Dialogue and Alliance: Toward a Unified World of Peace, Part Two, click here.