I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the European Dream.
I have a dream that one day Europe will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the white peaks of Russia the sons of different-sex couples and the sons of same-sex couples will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Hungary, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that our children will one day live in Europe where they will not be judged by the social class they were born in, but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have dream that one day, down in Turkey, with its vicious president, with its president having his lips dripping with the words of autarchy and separation, one day right down in Turkey little Muslim boys and Muslim girls will be able to join hands with little Christian boys and Christian girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the world shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that we go back with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of Europe into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of the world’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside… let freedom ring “
And if Europe is to be a great region this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of Croatia,
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of the Alps,
Let freedom ring from the heightening Pyrenees of Southern France,
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Balkan of Former Yugoslavia,
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of Poland.
But not only that;
Let freedom ring from the wonderful fjords of Norway.
Let freedom ring from Zugspitze of Germany.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of the Netherlands. From every mountainside, let freedom ring…
…and when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white women, Jews and Muslims, gay men and straight men will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last!”
(B. Kuhn, Budapest im August 2013; ergänzt)
