About 12 years ago, I gave up my career in banking to try to make the world a safer place. This involved a journey into national and global advocacy and meeting some of the most extraordinary people in the world. In the process, I became a civil society diplomat.
Prije dvanaestak godina odustala sam od svoje karijere u bankarstvu kako bih pokušala učiniti svijet sigurnijim mjestom. Kroz taj nacionalni i globalni pokret upoznala sam izvanredne ljude. U tom procesu, postala sam diplomatkinja za civilno društvo.
Civil society diplomats do three things: They voice the concerns of the people, are not pinned down by national interests, and influence change through citizen networks, not only state ones. And if you want to change the world, we need more of them.
Diplomati za civilno društvo čine tri stvari: zalažu se za dobro društva, ne staju samo na nacionalnim interesima i pokreću promjene kroz umrežavanje građana, i to ne samo u državi. Ukoliko želimo promijeniti svijet, trebamo više takvih ljudi.
But many people still ask, "Can civil society really make a big difference? Can citizens influence and shape national and global policy?" I never thought I would ask myself these questions, but here I am to share some lessons about two powerful civil society movements that I've been involved in. They are in issues that I'm passionate about: gun control and drug policy. And these are issues that matter here. Latin America is ground zero for both of them.
Ali mnogi se i dalje pitaju "Može li civilno društvo zaista učiniti veliku promjenu? Mogu li građani mijenjati i oblikovati nacionalnu i globalnu politiku?" Nikad nisam mislila da ću se to pitati, ali evo me ovdje da podijelim što sam naučila o dva snažna pokreta civilnog društva u kojima sam sudjelovala. Vezani su uz probleme koji me pokreću na akciju: kontrola oružja i propisi o drogama. I to su problemi koji su ovdje važni. Latinska Amerika vrvi tim problemima.
For example, Brazil -- this beautiful country hosting TEDGlobal has the world's ugliest record. We are the number one champion in homicidal violence. One in every 10 people killed around the world is a Brazilian. This translates into over 56,000 people dying violently each year. Most of them are young, black boys dying by guns. Brazil is also one of the world's largest consumers of drugs, and the War on Drugs has been especially painful here. Around 50 percent of the homicides in the streets in Brazil are related to the War on Drugs. The same is true for about 25 percent of people in jail. And it's not just Brazil that is affected by the twin problems of guns and drugs. Virtually every country and city across Central and South America is in trouble. Latin America has nine percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of its global violent deaths.
Primjerice, Brazil -- ta prekrasna zemlja, domaćin TEDGlobal-u, drži najružniji svjetski rekord. Mi smo prvi u svijetu po nasilnim ubojstvima. Jedna od 10 osoba ubijena u svijetu je iz Brazila. To znači da više od 56 000 ljudi umire nasilnom smrću svake godine. Većinom su to mladi dečki, crnci, ubijeni oružjem. Također, Brazil je jedan od najvećih potrošača droga na svijetu i Rat protiv droge je posebno bolan ovdje. Oko 50% ubojstava na ulicama Brazila povezano je s Ratom protiv droga. Isto vrijedi i za oko 25% ljudi u zatvoru. I nije samo Brazil zahvaćen zajedničkim problemom droge i oružja. Skoro svaka zemlja i grad u Srednjoj i Južnoj Americi je u problemima. Latinska Amerika obuhvaća 9% svjetske populacije, ali 25% nasilnih smrti u svijetu.
These are not problems we can run away from. I certainly could not. So the first campaign I got involved with started here in 2003 to change Brazil's gun law and to create a program to buy back weapons. In just a few years, we not only changed national legislation that made it much more difficult for civilians to buy a gun, but we collected and destroyed almost half a million weapons. This was one of the biggest buyback programs in history -- (Applause) -- but we also suffered some setbacks. We lost a referendum to ban gun sales to civilians in 2005.
Ovo nisu problemi od kojih možemo pobjeći. Ja sigurno nisam mogla. Prva kampanja u koju sam se ja uključila započela je ovdje u 2003. godini s ciljem mijenjanja zakona o oružju u Brazilu i stvaranja programa koji bi otkupio oružja. U samo nekoliko godina, ne samo da smo promijenili zakon u državi, koji je građanima znatno otežao kupovanje pištolja već smo skupili i uništili skoro pola milijuna oružja. To je bio jedan od najvećih programa otkupa oružja u svijetu -- (Pljesak) -- ali pritom smo naišli na neke prepreke. Izgubili smo referendum o zabrani prodaje oružja građanima 2005. godine.
The second initiative was also home-grown, but is today a global movement to reform the international drug control regime. I am the executive coordinator of something called the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The commission is a high-level group of global leaders brought together to identify more humane and effective approaches to the issue of drugs. Since we started in 2008, the taboo on drugs is broken. Across the Americas, from the US and Mexico to Colombia and Uruguay, change is in the air.
Druga inicijativa se također odvila u našoj zemlji, ali ona je danas globalni pokret za promjenu međunarodnog režima kontrole oružja. Ja sam izvršna koordinatorica Svjetske komisije kaznene politike o drogama. Komisija je visoka udruga svjetskih vođa koji su ujedinjeni s ciljem definiranja humanijih i učinkovitijih pristupa problemu droge. Odkad smo počeli s radom u 2008.god., drogiranje više nije tabu tema. Kroz cijelu Ameriku, od SAD-a, preko Meksika, Kolumbije, do Urugvaja, promjene su vidljive.
But rather than tell you the whole story about these two movements, I just want to share with you four key insights. I call them lessons to change the world. There are certainly many more, but these are the ones that stand out to me.
Više nego podijeliti s vama cijelu priču o ta dva pokreta, željela bih vam ispričati četiri ključna zaključka. Ja ih nazivam "lekcijama koje će promijeniti svijet". Dakako da postoji više njih, ali ove su one koje se meni čine važnima.
So the first lesson is: Change and control the narrative. It may seem obvious, but a key ingredient to civil society diplomacy is first changing and then controlling the narrative. This is something that veteran politicians understand, but that civil society groups generally do not do very well. In the case of drug policy, our biggest success has been to change the discussion away from prosecuting a War on Drugs to putting people's health and safety first. In a cutting-edge report we just launched in New York, we also showed that the groups benefiting most from this $320 billion market are criminal gangs and cartels. So in order to undermine the power and profit of these groups, we need to change the conversation. We need to make illegal drugs legal. But before I get you too excited, I don't mean drugs should be a free-for-all. What I'm talking about, and what the Global Commission advocates for is creating a highly regulated market, where different drugs would have different degrees of regulation.
Dakle, prva lekcija je: Promijeniti i kontrolirati priču. Možda je to očito, ali ključni sastojak diplomacije civilnog društva jest da se najprije promijeni, a zatim kontrolira priča. To je nešto što političari veretani razumiju, ali što grupe civilnih društava inače ne rade baš najbolje. U slučaju politike o drogama, naš najveći uspjeh je u tome što smo preusmjerili rasprave s vođenja Rata protiv droge na to da su ljudsko zdravlje i sigurnost najvažniji. U najnovijem izvještaju kojeg smo upravo poslali u New York, pokazali smo da najviše koristi od ovog tržišta od 320 milijardi imaju upravo bande kriminalaca i karteli. Stoga, kako bi umanjili moć i profit tih grupa, moramo promijeniti razgovor. Moramo ilegalne droge učiniti leganima. Ali prije nego vas uznemirim, mislim da tržište droga ne bi trebalo biti u kaosu. Ono o čemu ja govorim, i što Svjetska komisija zagovara jest stvaranje visoko kontroliranog tržišta, gdje bi za različite droge postojale različite razine kontrole.
As for gun control, we were successful in changing, but not so much in controlling, the narrative. And this brings me to my next lesson: Never underestimate your opponents. If you want to succeed in changing the world, you need to know who you're up against. You need to learn their motivations and points of view. In the case of gun control, we really underestimated our opponents. After a very successful gun-collection program, we were elated. We had support from 80 percent of Brazilians, and thought that this could help us win the referendum to ban gun sales to civilians. But we were dead wrong. During a televised 20-day public debate, our opponent used our own arguments against us. We ended up losing the popular vote. It was really terrible. The National Rifle Association -- yes, the American NRA -- came to Brazil. They inundated our campaign with their propaganda, that as you know, links the right to own guns to ideas of freedom and democracy. They simply threw everything at us. They used our national flag, our independence anthem. They invoked women's rights and misused images of Mandela, Tiananmen Square, and even Hitler. They won by playing with people's fears. In fact, guns were almost completely ignored in their campaign. Their focus was on individual rights. But I ask you, which right is more important, the right to life or the right to have a gun that takes life away? (Applause)
Kao i za kontrolu oružja, bili smo uspješni u mijenjanju, ali ne toliko i u kontroliranju priče. I to me dovodi do sljedeće lekcije: Nikad ne podcjenjujte svoje protivnike. Ako želite uspjeti u mijenjaju svijeta, morate poznavati svoje neprijatelje. Morate upoznati njihove motive i stajališta. U slučaju kontrole oružja, zaista smo podcijenili svoje protivnike. Nakon prilično uspješnog programa sakupljanja oružja, bili smo ushićeni. Imali smo potporu 80% stanovništva Brazila, i mislili da nam to može pomoći da pobjedimo u referendumu za zabranu prodaje oružja građanima. Ali nismo mogli biti više u krivu. Tijekom 20-dnevne javne debate, koja se prenosila na televiziji, naš protivnik je iskoristio naše argumente protiv nas. I tako smo izgubili većinu glasova. Bilo je zaista grozno. Nacionalna organizacija za oružje - da, američka NRA došla je u Brazil. Oni su svojom propagandom potopili našu kampanju, i to, kao što znate, povezuje pravo na posjedovanje oružja s slobodom i demokracijom. Jednostavno su sve to upotrijebili protiv nas. Koristili su i našu nacionalnu zastavu, našu himnu o nezavisnosti. Pozivali su se na prava žena i zlouporabili slike Mandele, Tiananmenskog trga, pa čak i Hitlera. Pobijedili su tako što su u ljudima izazvali strah. Zapravo, oružje su potpuno ignorirali u svojoj kampanji. Koncentrirali su se na prava svakog čovjeka. Ali, ja vas pitam, koje je pravo važnije - pravo na život ili pravo na posjedovanje oružja koje oduzima život? (Pljesak)
We thought people would vote in defense of life, but in a country with a recent past of military dictatorship, the anti-government message of our opponents resonated, and we were not prepared to respond.
Mislili smo da će ljudi glasati u obranu života, ali u zemlji s nedavnom prošlošću vojne diktature, naši su protivnici bili u prednosti govoreći protiv vlade, a mi nismo bili pripremljeni za odgovore.
Lesson learned. We've been more successful in the case of drug policy. If you asked most people 10 years ago if an end to the War on Drugs was possible, they would have laughed. After all, there are huge military police prisons and financial establishments benefiting from this war. But today, the international drug control regime is starting to crumble. Governments and civil societies are experimenting with new approaches. The Global Commission on Drug Policy really knew its opposition, and rather than fighting them, our chair -- former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso -- reached out to leaders from across the political spectrum, from liberals to conservatives. This high level group agreed to honestly discuss the merits and flaws of drug policies. It was this reasoned, informed and strategic discussion that revealed the sad truth about the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs has simply failed across every metric. Drugs are cheaper and more available than ever, and consumption has risen globally. But even worse, it also generated massive negative unintended consequences. It is true that some people have made these arguments before, but we've made a difference by anticipating the arguments of our opponents and by leveraging powerful voices that a few years ago would probably have resisted change.
Lekcija naučena. Bili smo uspješniji u mijenjanju politike o drogama. Da ste prije 10 godina pitali ljude je li kraj Rata protiv droga moguć, oni bi vam se samo nasmijali, jer ogromni zatvori vojne policije i financijske ustanove imaju velike koristi od tog rata. Ali danas se međunarodni režim kontrole droga počinje rušiti. Vlade i civilna društva eksperimentiraju s novim pristupima. Svjetska komisija kaznene politike o drogama je zaista upoznala svoje protivnike i umjesto da se borila s njima, naš je predsjednik - bivši predsjednik Brazila Fernando Henrique Cardoso uspio doprijeti do vođa kroz politički spektar, od liberala do konzervativaca. Ta visoko pozicionirana grupa se dogovorila da će iskreno raspraviti o dobitima i gubicima propisa o drogama. I upravo je ova razumna, informirana i strategijska rasprava razotkrila tužnu istinu Rata protiv droga. Rat protiv droga je jednostavno podbacio u svakom smislu. Droge su jeftinije i dostupnije nego ikad prije, i potrošnja je globalno narasla. Ali što je još gore, izazvao je ogromne negativne neplanirane posljedice. Istina je da su neki koristili ova argumente i prije, ali mi smo učinili razliku jer smo očekivali koje će argumente koristiti naši protivnici i jer smo iskoristili moćne glasove koji bi se prije nekoliko godina vjerojatno opirali promjeni.
Third lesson: Use data to drive your argument. Guns and drugs are emotive issues, and as we've painfully learned in the gun referendum campaign in Brazil, sometimes it's impossible to cut through the emotions and get to the facts. But this doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. Until quite recently, we simply didn't know how many Brazilians were killed by guns. Amazingly, it was a local soap opera called "Mulheres Apaixonadas" -- or "Women in Love" -- that kicked off Brazil's national gun control campaign. In one highly viewed episode, a soap opera lead actress was killed by a stray bullet. Brazilian grannies and housewives were outraged, and in a case of art imitating life, this episode also included footage of a real gun control march that we had organized right here, outside in Copacabana Beach. The televised death and march had a huge impact on public opinion. Within weeks, our national congress approved the disarmament bill that had been languishing for years. We were then able to mobilize data to show the successful outcomes of the change in the law and gun collection program. Here is what I mean: We could prove that in just one year, we saved more than 5,000 lives.
Treća lekcija: Koristi informacije kako bi pokrenuo svoje argumente. Oružje i droge su emotivni problemi, i kao što smo na bolan način naučili kroz referendum o oružju u Brazilu, ponekad je nemoguće prodrijeti kroz emocije i doći do činjenica. Ali to ne znači da ne bi trebali ni pokušati. Sve do nedavno, mi jednostavno nismo ni znali koliko je Brazilaca ubijeno oružjem. Iznenađujuće, zapravo je lokalna sapunica pod nazivom "Mulheres Apaixonadas" - ili "Zaljubljene žene" pokrenula nacionalnu kampanju kontrole oružja u Brazilu. U jednoj od najgledanijih epizoda, glavnu glumicu u sapunici ubio je zalutali metak. Brazilske bake i kućanice su bile bijesne, i budući da je umjetnost imitirala stvaran život, ta epizoda je uključivala snimku stvarne povorke za kontrolu oružja koju smo organizirali baš ovdje, vani na Copacabana plaži. Smrt i povorka na televiziji su imali velik utjecaj na javno mišljenje. Kroz par tjedana, nacionalni kongres je prihvatio prijedlog zakona o razoružanju, koji je bio godinama na čekanju. Nakon toga smo mogli pokazati podatke u kojima se vide uspješni ishodi promjene u zakonu i programa sakupljanja oružja. Ovo želim reći: Mogli smo dokazati da smo samo u jednoj godini spasili više od 5 000 života.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
And in the case of drugs, in order to undermine this fear and prejudice that surrounds the issue, we managed to gather and present data that shows that today's drug policies cause much more harm than drug use per se, and people are starting to get it.
A što se tiče droga, kako bih smanjili strah i predrasude koje su vezane uz taj problem, uspjeli smo pronaći i prezentirati podatke koji pokazuju da današnji propisi o drogama uzrokuju više štete nego samo korištenje droge, i ljudi to počinju shvaćati.
My fourth insight is: Don't be afraid to bring together odd bedfellows. What we've learned in Brazil -- and this doesn't only apply to my country -- is the importance of bringing diverse and eclectic folks together. If you want to change the world, it helps to have a good cross-section of society on your side. In both the case of guns and drugs, we brought together a wonderful mix of people. We mobilized the elite and got huge support from the media. We gathered the victims, human rights champions, cultural icons. We also assembled the professional classes -- doctors, lawyers, academia and more.
Moja četvrta lekcija je: Ne bojte se povezati različite ljude. Ono što smo naučili u Brazilu, a to se može primjeniti i na ostale zemlje, jest važnost povezivanja različitih i nepovezanih ljudi. Ukoliko želite pomijeniti svijet, pomoći će vam da imate različite profile ljudi na svojoj strani. U oba slučaja - oružja i droga, uspješno smo povezali zaista različite ljude. Pokrenuli smo elitu društva i dobili veliku podršku medija. Okupili smo žrtve, borce za ljudska prava, kulturne ikone. Također smo okupili i profesionalce -- doktore, odvjetnike, akademike i ostale.
What I've learned over the last years is that you need coalitions of the willing and of the unwilling to make change. In the case of drugs, we needed libertarians, anti-prohibitionists, legalizers, and liberal politicians. They may not agree on everything; in fact, they disagree on almost everything. But the legitimacy of the campaign is based on their diverse points of view.
Ono što sam ja naučila u proteklih nekoliko godina jest da vam je potrebna koalicija voljnih i nevoljnih da bi promijenili stvari. U slučaju droga, trebali su nam libertarijanci, anti-prohibicionisti, legalizeri i liberalni političari. Oni se ne moraju slagati u svemu; zapravo, oni se ne slažu skoro ni u čemu. Ali vjerodostojnost kampanje temelji se na njihovim različitim mišljenjima.
Over a decade ago, I had a comfortable future working for an investment bank. I was as far removed from the world of civil society diplomacy as you can imagine. But I took a chance. I changed course, and on the way, I helped to create social movements that I believe have made some parts of the world safer. Each and every one of us has the power to change the world. No matter what the issue, and no matter how hard the fight, civil society is central to the blueprint for change.
Prije više od deset godina imala sam osiguranu budućnost radeći u investicijskoj banci. Bila sam toliko odvojena od svijeta diplomacije civilnog društva koliko možete zamisliti. Ali ipak sam riskirala. Promijenila sam smjer u životu, i usput, pomogla sam da se započnu društveni pokreti koji su učinili neke dijelove svijeta sigurnijima. Svatko, baš svatko od nas ima moć da promijeni svijet. Bez obzira na vrstu problema i težinu borbe, civilno društvo je ključno za planiranje promjene.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)