Published: 04/09/2009
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — President Barack Obama took the stage amid cheers from the crowd. Flanked by Czech President Vaclav Klaus and first lady Michelle, Obama was in Prague to meet with EU representatives and speak on nuclear proliferation.
After a summit on the global financial crisis with G-20 nations in London and a celebration of NATO’s anniversary in Germany, the President arrived in the beautiful Czech capital. The timing for his first foreign tour while in office couldn’t have been more perfect. By chance, Obama’s visit coincided with my and my friends’ Spring Break trip through Prague, Brussels and Amsterdam.
After an overnight layover in Italy and a day spent bar-hopping through the pubs, beer gardens and expatriate hangouts of Prague, we wearily left our rented Soviet-era dorm room Sunday and made our way to Prague Castle, the site of the morning’s speech.
A number of demonstrators and security personnel were in attendance. Police lined every street corner, and Secret Service agents could be seen peeking over rooftops. We passed signs and banners calling for everything from action regarding global warming to marijuana legalization. Nearby, a rally was underway protesting the Bush administration’s planned missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. But for the most part, the citizens of Prague seemed ecstatic about the U.S. president’s visit, and after seeing Obama’s charisma in person, it was not hard to see why.
“This generation – our generation – cannot stand still,” Obama said to the enthusiastic crowd. Amid an increasingly interconnected world, the president called for increased unity between the U.S. and the EU, a goal that after living in Europe for months now, I can fully appreciate.
Getting to the heart of his speech, Obama turned to the topic of nuclear proliferation. The U.S.’s planned nuclear defense shield and arms reduction are hot topics in Prague, where Czech citizens are strongly reluctant to serve as middlemen in any missile exchange between the U.S., Russia or Iran.
Boldly breaking new ground, Obama vowed that his administration, working with President Medvedev of Russia, would drastically reduce nuclear arsenals over the next four years.
“Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st,” Obama said.
And with North Korea’s recent missile launch and renewed atomic activity in Iran, his call for action takes on grave importance. Particularly in Prague, a city that spent decades under the heavy hand of the USSR in a prime location in central Europe, that would have been on the front lines of any exchange between NATO allies and the Soviets.
With fears of financial meltdown gripping the globe, reducing nuclear stockpiles may not be the foremost topic on most American’s minds. But Obama’s call for the world to stand together in eliminating these weapons, to seek dialogue and clarity between former adversaries so that never again will cities from Prague to New York lie in fear of nuclear destruction, is concrete progress toward a better world.
A world free of nuclear weapons is a safer world for all, and a dream everyone can share in. But the U.S. cannot expect nations such as Russia, Iran or North Korea to halt weapons production while we cling to our own prodigious nuclear stockpiles. We must set the standard.
Obama ended his speech with the inspiring line, “human destiny will be what we make of it,” and its implications rang clear. The promise the president made Sunday in Prague will be a difficult one to fulfill as nuclear weapons are deeply ingrained in our ever-militaristic world. But the speech gave me hope that through diligent effort and increased conversation, the United States can act decisively by building a powerful precedent toward a world where no city’s fate hinges upon a nuclear trigger.
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/28391
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