Women shares ideas to advance democracy

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

Salzburg, Austria. The first time I ever really thought about Austria was in 1964, when my father and I saw the movie The Sound of Music. I loved the story of the young nun, Maria, and her adventures with the widowed Capt. Von Trapp and his children as they challenged and then escaped from the Nazis. The songs from the soundtrack became an integral part of our musical life as high schools performed their versions of the story and countless piano students practiced their scales by playing "Doe, a Deer" over and over again.

Although I later learned more about the history of Austria -- its importance during the Austro-Hungarian empire and its occupation by the Allies for 10 years after World War II -- I'll never forget the sight of Julie Andrews twirling beneath the towering mountains in the lush, green meadows around Salzburg.

Years later, when Chelsea was around four years old, Bill and I rented The Sound of Music to watch at home. Over the next several years, we probably saw the movie a dozen times, and despite my well-known tone deafness, the three of us would sing the songs at any excuse.

This week, I finally had the opportunity to visit Austria. Two significant events brought me to this country, which is playing a pivotal role in the affairs of a newly unified and democratic Europe.

The first was a conference of women from Central and Eastern Europe, organized by the American Ambassador to Austria, Swanee Hunt. This gathering, called "Vital Voices: Women in Democracy." was designed to give women the chance to share ideas and strategies about advancing democracy in their countries and ensuring that women are included in all aspects of society.

What was remarkable about the conference was not only that women were joining with each other to address the barriers they face in politics, law and business, but that they were doing so in a way that would have been unthinkable under communism: forming networks, learning from one another, talking freely, taking control. Meeting those women in Vienna, I felt proud of all that America had done to support freedom in Central and Eastern Europe.

I felt similar pride in Salzburg, where I heard repeatedly about how America helped Austria rebuild itself after World War II. One 79-year-old woman showed me the intact CARE package she had received from an American pen pal in 1946. She saved it because it had done nothing less than help her transcend the wounds of war.

I came to Salzburg to participate in the golden anniversary of the Salzburg Seminar, started 50 years ago by three Harvard students. The goal of the seminar was to bring young Americans and Europeans together in a safe setting to share ideas and find ways to shape their common future. The seminar's founders believed that the strength of Europe's postwar democratic foundation would depend not solely on physical and economic renewal but on spiritual and intellectual renewal as well.

As I arrived at Schloss Leopoldskron, the 250-year-old Baroque villa where scenes from The Sound of Music were filmed and where the seminar has been housed from the beginning, I tried to imagine the vision it must have taken to embark on this project.

In July of 1947, Europe lay in ashes. Ideology was dividing the world into enemy camps. The fate of Austria was uncertain. Most people measured time in days and hours, fearful of putting their trust in anything more permanent. The basic premise of the seminar, that a better future was possible through dialogue, was almost too much to believe.

So, too, was the idea that men who just a short time before had faced each other on the battlefields of Europe could sit across from each other at a table and exchange ideas.

But that is exactly what happened.

As our world has widened, so has the seminar. Initially, it concentrated on relations between the United States and Europe. Then, as the Cold War cast its shadow over our lives, the seminar shifted its focus to the relationship between democratic and communist nations. Today, the seminar is concerned with how we live together in a truly global society. The group I spoke to -- experts in primary and secondary education -- came from more than 40 different countries.

Despite this evolution, the seminar's mission has remained constant: to help people come together across their differences to find common ground.

In this respect, the Salzburg Seminar shares the same core values as another initiative whose 50th anniversary we celebrate this year: the Marshall Plan. To be sure, there are enormous differences between the two. But the fact remains that both put in place the elements essential to democracy's success: In the case of the Marshall Plan, giving people the opportunity to rebuild their communities; in the case of the Salzburg Seminar, promoting tolerance and understanding.

Both initiatives helped secure peace in Western Europe. Both helped pave the way for communism's fall in Central and Eastern Europe. And both truly made it possible for the hills of Europe to come alive with the sound of democracy.

-- Creators Syndicate