Last year I stood on a street corner in Georgetown, Washington D.C. while a multitude of freedom loving Venezuelans around me dared to dream that their vote would finally free their homeland.  While it was not to be, in the endless voting lines and the tri-color conversations of a tireless people longing for a peaceful path to liberty I was amazed at witnessing the energy of a people seeking to be free.  We discussed our memories of a free Venezuela and our dreams for the future.  And we fought the darkness.  

Last week I sat with a group of new friends in an alley off Istiklal Street in Istanbul.  They were from Morocco, from Egypt, and from Kurdistan in Iraq.  Some were smoking shisha, some drank juice and I was sipping a hot Turkish tea as we talked about the values that could bring freedom at last to the Muslim world.  Principles of natural rights, of tolerance without extremes and the pre-eminent position of reason over tradition.  And we fought the darkness.

Wherever I go I find men and women of courage fighting for freedom.  They do so often at great risk – like women-journalists trying to navigate Egypt’s complicated political landscape; like young people daring to dream of a Venezuela where their opinions would not be punished; like those who advocate for reason in a world of sometimes violent tradition.  Together these “thousand points of light” are uniting to illuminate a global movement for liberty.  And it’s gaining ground.  Slowly through each hard-fought battle the principles of the enlightened man are taking hold; as the tireless continue to fight the darkness.