Your chance to experience her sellout Australian visit
Prescient speech now available to download
In a very powerful presentation made by Hillary Clinton in Australia and New Zealand in May this year, four themes are covered. One of them deals with still-newsworthy allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Secretary Clinton’s 70 minute speech from her sell out exclusive appearance at The Growth Faculty Women World Changers series is now available to download at the members’ Business Book Club.
“Clear and present danger to democracy”
“When people ask me how I’m doing, I answer ‘As a person I’m okay but as an American, I’m pretty concerned’,” the former U.S. Secretary of State and failed presidential candidate told audiences in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne.
“What we’ve learned about Russian interference in the election is more than alarming. It’s a clear and present danger to democracy and it’s right out of Putin’s playbook. We know now that Russia had agents using Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, even Pinterest, to place targeted attack ads and negative stories, intended not only to hurt me, but to fan the flames of division within our society.”
“Vladimir Putin has positioned himself as the leader of an authoritarian and xenophobic movement. He wants to break up the EU and NATO, weaken America’s traditional alliances, and undermine democracy. We are living through a global struggle between liberal democracies like yours (Australia & New Zealand) and mine (America,) and a rising tide of illiberalism and authoritarianism.”
“Our world is at a crossroads”
In the speech, the first woman U.S. presidential nominee talked of the ripple effect.
“So where do we go from here? I don’t have all the answers. I believe our world is at a crossroads, and what we do next not only as governments, but as business leaders, members of the media, influencers and ordinary citizens matters enormously... We can see this authoritarian movement rippling out from the Kremlin reaching out across Europe and beyond, emboldening right wing nationalist and separatists, racists and even neo Nazis.”
“The consequences of democratic backsliding in this region have enormous global significance. I’ve said for a long time, much of our shared future in the 21st century and beyond will be written in Asia. We will all be better off if the U.S. is an open, engaged, optimistic player, and that means pursuing purposeful engagement with China and using a steady hand in North Korea. I’m pleased to see diplomacy blossoming in Korea but I hope we all remain clear-eyed about how hard negotiations will be and how often North Korea has broken promises."
Standing ovation
Secretary Clinton received a standing ovation for her speech, which drew heavily from her bestselling autobiography What Happened.
The loudest applause came when she shared personal reflections on the aftermath of what she called “the first reality TV election in American history.”
“Everyone gets knocked down in life. What matters is whether you get back up and keep going. (It’s a) lesson drilled in from an early age by my mother. It’s served me well and it’s universal. When asked how did I manage to get out of bed…there were times when I was tempted to pull the covers over my head and stay in bed. I spent time with friends and family, especially my grandchildren and I read a lot – I like mystery novels because the bad guy usually gets it in the end.”
Alternate nostril breathing, and other tips to get by
Secretary Clinton gave some of her tips for dealing with failure:
“I watched a lot of house and garden television, which had me organising closets, I played with my dogs, practised yoga, tried alternate nostril breathing and, yes, I had my fair share of chardonnay. I’ve had some good chardonnay from here in Australia.”
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