so this idea, obstructed by authoritarians, resisted by elites, fought by centex, -- fought by cynics, sometimes bullied, but again and again it rises, the idea of a freely elected representative assembly, wherever people seek freedom and self rule. in the 1950's and 1960's, it happened in the former european colonies in africa and asia. in the 1990's, and central and eastern europe, in the countries freed from soviet control. and most recently, in the countries of the arab spring. and as we meet on the streets of hong kong, the independence of the legislative council, legco, is the principal demand of demonstrators. in sudan, people are fighting and dying for an assembly. so they have one simple remedy, for which thousands have fought and died over the years, to elect their own representatives. and assisting those demands should be a common endeavor between the great representative democracies, foremost among them the united states and the united kingdom. it is not and it never was quite that simple. as a descendent of british emancipator william wilberforce, i'm also aware you are m