Freedom and safety

A lesson from a demining test

Maybe, for you Americans out there, it's time for a little break.  We are wonderful at talking to, for, about and past ourselves, and not so good at listening to other people.  So maybe for just a few moments we could pause to remember some of the people who allow us to have our quarrels, to have our election season, to have our elections, some of the people who are actually taking risks for the words like freedom and democracy that we throw around so casually, especially this time of year.

This could many groups, of course! I mean the Ukrainians. They are doing us a lot of good, as we tend to forget. They are holding back a Russian army so that other countries can keep all of their soldiers in the barracks.  They are deterring China from invading Taiwan by showing that offensive operations are risky and unpredictable.  They are making nuclear war less likely by ignoring Putin's bluffs.  They are defending the international order, which is based on states and borders.  And, yes, they are defending democracy as such, including our own.  They have bought us time since 2022 to recover from Covid and economic collapse by bearing the brunt of this crisis on their own.

This month the Biden administration is decising how much it will help during its last three months in office.  President Biden has a chance to leave with a legacy, by creating structures that will allow for aid to Ukraine to continue, and by inviting Ukraine to join our most important institutions.  Given the uncertainties ahead, though, the question goes far beyond that of how President Biden will be remembered.  If we allow Ukraine to lose, or if we vote for Putinist candidates who want Ukraine to lose, the costs will be horrible in Ukraine, but will be felt around the world.

So of course we can hope the president does the right thing.  And we can vote for the right people the next time around.  And if you are American and care about Ukraine, voting, canvassing, and donating for pro-Ukrainian candidates in American elections is likely the most important thing that you can do right now.  But if you are not American, or if you are American and can spare a little money, there are plenty of other ways to make a direct difference. 

You can do something to help Ukrainians be safer, even as they help us to be safer. Let me just suggest a specific step that I know something about, having seen the tools for myself.

When I was in Ukraine last month, I visited a competitive test for mine-clearing robots.  The moment was one of cooperation: private companies had brought their robots for a test organized by a couple of government ministries, with the participation of a presidential tech platform, in connection to a fundraiser supported by people around the world.  Along with Mark Hamill, I am supporting this fundraiser, called Safe Terrain, because mine-clearing robots can save human lives and prepare the way for humans to return to their normal lives.  Mark and I announced the fundraiser on my birthday, two months ago, and we are three-quarters of the way to the goal ($307,000 of $441,000 -- thank you to all of you who have donated!).

There were some fascinating moments at the test.  The detonation of anti-tech mines is very loud. I learned a great deal about the demining technology.  But I wanted to share with you a human detail that has stayed with me.  After it was all over, after the three robots had detonated mines safely, we all took some pictures together: the tech and corporate teams, the officials, the visitors.  Just as the photographer was about to begin, one of the corporate representatives told him to wait: one of the robots was blocked from the shot.  But here is the interesting thing: it wasn't her robot.  It was the robot of one of the other, competing firms.  She wanted to make sure that it was in the picture.

Not the photo I am talking about, which had a big group. This is me and the Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, Mykhaïlo Fedorov, with the three competitors.

A small thing, perhaps.  Just a momentary gesture, it might seem.  But it was someone doing something for someone else, amidst the pressure of a competitive trial, under the stresses of a war.  It was someone who, for that moment, was not thinking about herself, but about fairness, about the good outcome.  Sometimes people do have to fight for democracy, as the Ukrainians are doing right now, but democracy itself is not a fight.  Freedom is not all about just doing what we feel like doing, just because we want to, right at the moment.  It is about seeing other people, hearing other people, working together, creating a world in which we can all be more free. 

I'm in southwest Ohio now, and I see that spirit here too, not of course in everyone, but in many people, the ones who care about the country, the ones who are not just arguing, the ones who are doing the little things they can do, the ones who want to open things up rather than close them down.  I'm trying to do the little things I can do, too, in my own country, but I don’t want to take for granted that I can. Along the way, today, I am also going to make a donation to those robots, or to the people behind them.