I was basically concerned about what was going on in the world. I couldn't understand the starvation, the destruction, the killing of innocent people. Making sense of those things is a very difficult thing to do. And when I was 12, I became an actor. I was bottom of the class. I haven't got any qualifications. I was told I was dyslexic. In fact, I have got qualifications. I got a D in pottery, which was the one thing that I did get -- which was useful, obviously. And so concern is where all of this comes from. And then, being an actor, I was doing these different kinds of things, and I felt the content of the work that I was involved in really wasn't cutting it, that there surely had to be more.
Skrbelo me je, kaj se dogaja po svetu. Nisem mogel razumeti lakote, uničenja, ubijanja nedolžnih ljudi. Zelo težko je tem stvarem dati nek smisel. Ko sem bil star 12 let, sem postal igralec. Bil sem najslabši v razredu. Nobenih kvalifikacij nimam. Povedali so mi, da sem dislektik. Pravzaprav imam nekaj kvalifikacij. Dobil sem zadostno pri lončarstvu, to je vse, in očitno je bilo koristno. Tako da vse tole prihaja od zaskrbljenosti. Kot igralec sem počel različne stvari. In čutil sem, da zadovoljstvo z delom ni bilo dovolj, da je moralo obstajati nekaj več.
And at that point, I read a book by Frank Barnaby, this wonderful nuclear physicist, and he said that media had a responsibility, that all sectors of society had a responsibility to try and progress things and move things forward. And that fascinated me, because I'd been messing around with a camera most of my life. And then I thought, well maybe I could do something. Maybe I could become a filmmaker. Maybe I can use the form of film constructively to in some way make a difference. Maybe there's a little change I can get involved in. So I started thinking about peace, and I was obviously, as I said to you, very much moved by these images, trying to make sense of that. Could I go and speak to older and wiser people who would tell me how they made sense of the things that are going on? Because it's obviously incredibly frightening.
Takrat sem prebral knjigo Franka Barnabyja, odličnega jedrskega fizika, ki je dejal, da imajo mediji odgovornost, da ima vsak družbeni sektor odgovornost, da poskuša izboljšati stvari in napredovati. To me je prevzelo, saj sem se večino svojega življenja igral s kamero. Pomislil sem, da pa bi morda lahko nekaj naredil. Morda bi lahko postal filmar. Morda bi lahko film konstruktivno uporabil in tako nekaj spremenil. Morda bi se lahko zavzel za majhno spremembo. Tako sem začel razmišljati o miru in kot sem rekel, so se me te podobe zelo dotaknile, hotel sem v njih najti smisel. Bi lahko govoril s starejšimi in modrejšimi ljudmi, ki bi mi povedali, kako si sami razlagajo stvari, ki se dogajajo? Ker je vse skupaj seveda neverjetno strašno.
But I realized that, having been messing around with structure as an actor, that a series of sound bites in itself wasn't enough, that there needed to be a mountain to climb, there needed to be a journey that I had to take. And if I took that journey, no matter whether it failed or succeeded, it would be completely irrelevant. The point was that I would have something to hook the questions of -- is humankind fundamentally evil? Is the destruction of the world inevitable? Should I have children? Is that a responsible thing to do? Etc., etc.
Ampak ugotovil sem, ker sem se kot igralec ukvarjal s strukturo, da serija kratkih izsekov sama po sebi ni dovolj, da mora obstajati gora, ki jo moram preplezati in potovanje, ki ga moram opraviti. In če bi odšel na to potovanje, ne bi bilo pomembno, ali uspem ali ne. Bistveno je bilo, da dobim nekaj, na kar bi naslonil vprašanje: je človeštvo v osnovi zlobno? Je uničenje sveta neizogibno? Naj imam otroke? Je to odgovorno? In tako naprej.
So I was thinking about peace, and then I was thinking, well where's the starting point for peace? And that was when I had the idea. There was no starting point for peace. There was no day of global unity. There was no day of intercultural cooperation. There was no day when humanity came together, separate in all of those things and just shared it together -- that we're in this together, and that if we united and we interculturally cooperated, then that might be the key to humanity's survival. That might shift the level of consciousness around the fundamental issues that humanity faces -- if we did it just for a day.
Tako sem razmišljal o miru in se vprašal, kje se začne mir? Takrat sem dobil zamisel. Ni začetne točke miru. Ni dneva globalne enotnosti. Ni dneva medkulturnega sodelovanja. Ni dneva, ko bi se človeštvo združilo, kljub različnosti v mnogih stvareh, in skupaj delilo - da smo v tem vsi skupaj in da če bi se združili in sodelovali med kulturami, potem bi to morda bil ključ za preživetje človeštva. To bi morda spremenilo raven zavesti o temeljnih vprašanjih človeštva, če bi to storili samo za en dan.
So obviously we didn't have any money. I was living at my mom's place. And we started writing letters to everybody. You very quickly work out what is it that you've got to do to fathom that out. How do you create a day voted by every single head of state in the world to create the first ever Ceasefire Nonviolence Day, the 21st of September? And I wanted it to be the 21st of September because it was my granddad's favorite number. He was a prisoner of war. He saw the bomb go off at Nagasaki. It poisoned his blood. He died when I was 11. So he was like my hero. And the reason why 21 was the number is 700 men left, 23 came back, two died on the boat and 21 hit the ground. And that's why we wanted it to be the 21st of September as the date of peace.
Seveda nismo imeli denarja. Živel sem pri mami. Vsem smo začeli pisati pisma. Človek hitro ugotovi, kaj je treba storiti, da bi to dognal. Kako ustvariti dan, ki ga bo vodja vsake države na svetu podprl, da bi ustanovili prvi dan premirja in nenasilja vsakega 21. septembra? Hotel sem, da bi bil 21. september, ker je bila to najljubša številka mojega dedka. Bil je vojni ujetnik. Videl je, kako je bomba zadela Nagasaki. Zastrupila je njegovo kri. Umrl je, ko sem bil star enajst let. Bil je moj junak. In razlog za številko 21: 700 mož je odšlo, 23 se jih je vrnilo, dva sta umrla na ladji in 21 jih je stopilo na kopno. Zato sem kot datum hotel imeti 21. september.
So we began this journey, and we launched it in 1999. And we wrote to heads of state, their ambassadors, Nobel Peace laureates, NGOs, faiths, various organizations -- literally wrote to everybody. And very quickly, some letters started coming back. And we started to build this case. And I remember the first letter. One of the first letters was from the Dalai Lama. And of course we didn't have the money; we were playing guitars and getting the money for the stamps that we were sending out all of [this mail]. A letter came through from the Dalai Lama saying, "This is an amazing thing. Come and see me. I'd love to talk to you about the first ever day of peace." And we didn't have money for the flight. And I rang Sir Bob Ayling, who was CEO of BA at the time, and said, "Mate, we've got this invitation. Could you give me a flight? Because we're going to go see him." And of course, we went and saw him and it was amazing. And then Dr. Oscar Arias came forward.
Tako smo začeli popotovanje in ga sprožili leta 1999. Pisali smo vodjem držav, njihovim veleposlanikom, dobitnikom Nobelove nagrade, nevladnim organizacijam, verstvom, različnim organizacijam - dobesedno vsem smo pisali. In kmalu so začeli prihajati odgovori. Tako smo začeli graditi zgodbo. Spomnim se prvega pisma. Eno prvih pisem je prišlo od dalajlame. Seveda nismo imeli denarja; igrali smo kitare, da smo plačali znamke za pošiljanje vse te pošte. Dalajlama je pisal: "To je čudovita stvar. Pridite me obiskat. Rad bi se z vami pogovoril o prvem dnevu miru." A nismo imeli denarja za let. Poklical sem sira Boba Aylinga, ki je bil tedaj direktor British Airways, in rekel: "Kolega, imamo tole vabilo. Bi mi lahko podaril let? Gremo ga namreč obiskat." In seveda smo šli, se srečali z njim in bilo je neverjetno. Potem se je oglasil dr. Oscar Arias.
And actually, let me go back to that slide, because when we launched it in 1999 -- this idea to create the first ever day of ceasefire and non-violence -- we invited thousands of people. Well not thousands -- hundreds of people, lots of people -- all the press, because we were going to try and create the first ever World Peace Day, a peace day. And we invited everybody, and no press showed up. There were 114 people there -- they were mostly my friends and family. And that was kind of like the launch of this thing. But it didn't matter because we were documenting, and that was the thing. For me, it was really about the process. It wasn't about the end result. And that's the beautiful thing about the camera. They used to say the pen is mightier than the sword. I think the camera is. And just staying in the moment with it was a beautiful thing and really empowering actually.
In pravzaprav, naj se vrnem na tole sliko, kajti ko smo idejo leta 1999 sprožili, idejo o ustanovitvi prvega dne premirja in nenasilja, smo povabili na tisoče ljudi. No, ne na tisoče, na stotine ljudi, ogromno ljudi vse medije, saj smo hoteli poskusiti ustvariti sploh prvi svetovni dan miru, dan miru. Povabili smo vse in od medijev ni prišel nihče. Tam je bilo 114 ljudi - večinoma mojih prijateljev in sorodnikov. In to je bila nekakšna otvoritev. Ampak nič ne de, saj smo vse dokumentirali in to je bilo to. Z mojega vidika je v resnici šlo za proces. Ni šlo za končni rezultat. In to je čudovita stran kamere. Nekoč so rekli, da je pero močnejše od meča. Mislim, da je to kamera. Ostajanje v trenutku, ko je bila to čudovita stvar, je pravzaprav resnično dalo moč.
So anyway, we began the journey. And here you see people like Mary Robinson, I went to see in Geneva. I'm cutting my hair, it's getting short and long, because every time I saw Kofi Annan, I was so worried that he thought I was a hippie that I cut it, and that was kind of what was going on. (Laughter) Yeah, I'm not worried about it now. So Mary Robinson, she said to me, "Listen, this is an idea whose time has come. This must be created." Kofi Annan said, "This will be beneficial to my troops on the ground." The OAU at the time, led by Salim Ahmed Salim, said, "I must get the African countries involved." Dr. Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace laureate, president now of Costa Rica, said, "I'll do everything that I can." So I went and saw Amr Moussa at the League of Arab States. I met Mandela at the Arusha peace talks, and so on and so on and so on -- while I was building the case to prove whether this idea would make sense.
Kakorkoli, začeli smo potovanje. Tukaj vidite ljudi, kot je Mary Robinson, ki sem jo obiskal v Ženevi. Ostrigel sem si lase, pa jih spet pustil zrasti, kajti vsakič, ko sem srečal Kofija Anana, me je skrbelo, da bi mislil, da sem hipi, zato sem jih ostrigel. In to je tisto, kar se je dogajalo. (smeh) Ja, zdaj me to več ne skrbi. Mary Robinson mi je rekla: "Prišel je pravi čas za tole zamisel. To je treba uresničiti." Kofi Anan je rekel: "To bo koristilo mojim četam na položajih." Organizacija afriške enotnosti, ki jo je v tistem času vodil Ahmed Salim, je menila: "Vključiti moramo afriške države." Dr. Oscar Arias, nobelovec, zdaj predsednik Kostarike, je dejal: "Naredil bom vse, kar lahko." Srečal sem tudi Amr Muso iz Lige arabskih držav. Med mirovnimi pogajanji v Arushi sem srečal Mandelo. In tako naprej in tako naprej... ko sem iskal podporo, da bi videl, ali ima zamisel kak smisel.
And then we were listening to the people. We were documenting everywhere. 76 countries in the last 12 years, I've visited. And I've always spoken to women and children wherever I've gone. I've recorded 44,000 young people. I've recorded about 900 hours of their thoughts. I'm really clear about how young people feel when you talk to them about this idea of having a starting point for their actions for a more peaceful world through their poetry, their art, their literature, their music, their sport, whatever it might be. And we were listening to everybody.
In prisluhnili smo ljudem. Povsod smo dokumentirali. 76 držav sem obiskal v zadnjih 12 letih. In vedno sem se pogovarjal z ženskami in otroki. Posnel sem 44.000 mladih. Posnel sem za okoli 900 ur njihovih misli. Res mi je jasno, kako mladi razmišljajo, ko jim govorimo o zamisli, da bi imeli začetno točko za njihova prizadevanja za mirnejši svet, skozi njihovo poezijo, umetnost, literaturo, glasbo, šport, karkoli. Vsem smo prisluhnili.
And it was an incredibly thing, working with the U.N. and working with NGOs and building this case. I felt that I was presenting a case on behalf of the global community to try and create this day. And the stronger the case and the more detailed it was, the better chance we had of creating this day. And it was this stuff, this, where I actually was in the beginning kind of thinking no matter what happened, it didn't actually matter. It didn't matter if it didn't create a day of peace. The fact is that, if I tried and it didn't work, then I could make a statement about how unwilling the global community is to unite -- until, it was in Somalia, picking up that young girl. And this young child who'd taken about an inch and a half out of her leg with no antiseptic, and that young boy who was a child soldier, who told me he'd killed people -- he was about 12 -- these things made me realize that this was not a film that I could just stop. And that actually, at that moment something happened to me, which obviously made me go, "I'm going to document. If this is the only film that I ever make, I'm going to document until this becomes a reality." Because we've got to stop, we've got to do something where we unite -- separate from all the politics and religion that, as a young person, is confusing me. I don't know how to get involved in that process.
Nekaj posebnega je bilo v tej akciji delati z Združenimi narodi in z nevladnimi organizacijami. Čutil sem, da s tem delom govorim v imenu globalne skupnosti, z namenom ustvariti ta dan. In močnejši in bolj podroben ko je postajal predlog, boljše možnosti smo imeli, da nam uspe doseči ta dan. Tisto, o čemer sem na začetku pravzaprav razmišljal, da ni pomembno, kaj se zgodi, to dejansko ni bilo pomembno. Ni bilo pomembno, ali mi uspe ustvariti dan miru ali ne. Dejstvo je, da sem poskusil, in če ne bi delovalo, bi lahko izjavil, da se svetovna skupnost noče poenotiti... dokler nisem - bilo je v Somaliji - v roke vzel te mlade punčke. In ta mladi otrok, kateremu so iz noge brez antiseptika odstranili za palec in pol velik del, in fantek, ki je bil otroški vojak, ki mi je povedal, da je ubijal ... star je bil kakih 12 let... zaradi teh stvari sem spoznal, da ne gre za film, ki ga lahko enostavno ustavim. In da se mi je takrat zgodilo nekaj, kar me je spodbudilo: "Dokumentiral bom. Če je to edini film, ki ga bom kdajkoli naredil, bom to dokumentiral, dokler ne postane resnično." Kajti moramo se ustaviti, narediti moramo nekaj, kar nas bo združilo... brez povezave z vso to politiko in religijo, ki me kot mladega človeka spravljata v zmedo. Nisem vedel, kako naj se vključim v ta proces.
And then on the seventh of September, I was invited to New York. The Costa Rican government and the British government had put forward to the United Nations General Assembly, with 54 co-sponsors, the idea of the first ever Ceasefire Nonviolence Day, the 21st of September, as a fixed calendar date, and it was unanimously adopted by every head of state in the world. (Applause) Yeah, but there were hundreds of individuals, obviously, who made that a reality. And thank you to all of them. That was an incredible moment. I was at the top of the General Assembly just looking down into it and seeing it happen. And as I mentioned, when it started, we were at the Globe, and there was no press. And now I was thinking, "Well, the press it really going to hear this story." And suddenly, we started to institutionalize this day.
Potem sem bil sedmega septembra povabljen v New York. Vladi Kostarike in Velike Britanije sta Generalni skupščini Združenih narodov, skupaj s še 54 podpornicami predložili zamisel za prvi dan premirja in nenasilja, ki bi bil v koledarju vsakega 21. septembra, kar so soglasno sprejeli vsi vodje držav sveta. (aplavz) Ja, ampak za tem je stalo na stotine posameznikov, ki so idejo pomagali uresničiti. Hvala vsem. To je bil neverjeten trenutek. Sedel sem na vrhu Generalne skupščine in gledal, kako se uresničuje. Kot sem omenil, ko se je začelo, smo bili v "Globe" in mediji niso prišli. Zdaj pa sem si mislil: "No, mediji bodo vsekakor slišali to zgodbo." In nenadoma smo začeli ta dan institucionalizirati.
Kofi Annan invited me on the morning of September the 11th to do a press conference. And it was 8:00 AM when I stood there. And I was waiting for him to come down, and I knew that he was on his way. And obviously he never came down. The statement was never made. The world was never told there was a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence. And it was obviously a tragic moment for the thousands of people who lost their lives, there and then subsequently all over the world. It never happened. And I remember thinking, "This is exactly why, actually, we have to work even harder. And we have to make this day work. It's been created; nobody knows. But we have to continue this journey, and we have to tell people, and we have to prove it can work."
Kofi Anan me je zjutraj 11. septembra povabil, naj imam tiskovno konferenco. Ob osmih zjutraj sem bil tam. Čakal sem ga, da pride dol, in vedel sem, da je na poti. Seveda ni nikoli prišel. Do izjave ni prišlo. Svet ni nikoli izvedel, da obstaja dan svetovnega premirja in nenasilja. To je bil seveda tragičen trenutek za tisoče ljudi, ki so izgubili življenje, tam in kasneje po vsem svetu. Nikoli se ni zgodilo. In spomnim se, da sem razmišljal, "Prav zato moramo v resnici delati še bolj trdo. Ta dan mora uspeti. Ustanovljen je, a nihče ne ve zanj. Toda nadaljevati moramo to potovanje in povedati ljudem in dokazati, da lahko deluje."
And I left New York freaked, but actually empowered. And I felt inspired by the possibilities that if it did, then maybe we wouldn't see things like that. I remember putting that film out and going to cynics. I was showing the film, and I remember being in Israel and getting it absolutely slaughtered by some guys having watched the film -- that it's just a day of peace, it doesn't mean anything. It's not going to work; you're not going to stop the fighting in Afghanistan; the Taliban won't listen, etc., etc. It's just symbolism. And that was even worse than actually what had just happened in many ways, because it couldn't not work. I'd spoken in Somalia, Burundi, Gaza, the West Bank, India, Sri Lanka, Congo, wherever it was, and they'd all tell me, "If you can create a window of opportunity, we can move aid, we can vaccinate children. Children can lead their projects. They can unite. They can come together. If people would stop, lives will be saved." That's what I'd heard. And I'd heard that from the people who really understood what conflict was about.
Iz New Yorka sem odšel prestrašen, a hkrati močnejši. Počutil sem se navdihnjenega zaradi vseh možnosti, ker če bi deloval, morda ne bi videvali takšnih stvari. Spomnim se objave filma in soočenja s ciniki. Prikazoval sem film in spomnim se, da so ga v Izraelu nekateri gledalci popolnoma opljuvali... da je to samo en dan miru, to nič ne pomeni. Ne bo delovalo, ne boste prekinili vojskovanja v Afganistanu, talibani ne bodo poslušali, itd., itd. Gre samo za simbolizem. To je bilo na nek način še hujše od tega, kar se je bilo pravkar zgodilo, saj ni bilo mogoče, da stvar ne bi delovala. Govoril sem v Somaliji, Burundiju, Gazi, Zahodnem bregu, Indiji, Šri Lanki, Kongu, kjerkoli sem bil, in vsi so menili: "Če je mogoče odpreti okno priložnosti, lahko dostavimo pomoč, lahko cepimo otroke. Otroci lahko izvajajo svoje projekte. Lahko se združijo, pridejo skupaj. Če bi se ljudje ustavili, bi rešili življenja." To so mi pravili. In to sem slišal od ljudi, ki so res razumeli pomen konflikta.
And so I went back to the United Nations. I decided that I'd continue filming and make another movie. And I went back to the U.N. for another couple of years. We started moving around the corridors of the U.N. system, governments and NGOs, trying desperately to find somebody to come forward and have a go at it, see if we could make it possible. And after lots and lots of meetings obviously, I'm delighted that this man, Ahmad Fawzi, one of my heroes and mentors really, he managed to get UNICEF involved. And UNICEF, God bless them, they said, "Okay, we'll have a go." And then UNAMA became involved in Afghanistan. It was historical. Could it work in Afghanistan with UNAMA and WHO and civil society, etc., etc., etc.? And I was getting it all on film and I was recording it, and I was thinking, "This is it. This is the possibility of it maybe working. But even if it doesn't, at least the door is open and there's a chance."
Tako sem se vrnil v Združene narode. Odločil sem se, da bom nadaljeval in posnel še en film. Še za nekaj let sem se vrnil v OZN. Začeli smo se premikati po kuloarjih OZN, vlad in nevladnih organizacij, in obupano iskali nekoga, ki bi si upal poskusiti, in videti, ali je stvar uresničljiva. Po mnogih opravljenih sestankih sem bil vesel, da je tale, Ahmad Fawzi, eden mojih herojev in mentorjev, uspel pritegniti UNICEF. Pri UNICEF-u, bog jih blagoslovi, so obljubili: "Prav, poskusili bomo." Potem je v Afganistanu začela delovati misija UNAMA. Bilo je zgodovinsko. Bi lahko v Afganistanu stvar delovala s pomočjo misije UNAMA in Svetovne zdravstvene organizacije (WHO) ter civilne družbe, itd., itd.? Vse to sem snemal na filmski trak in dokumentiral in mislil sem si: "To je to. To je možnost, da bo mogoče delovalo. Ampak tudi če ne bi, vsaj vrata so odprta in obstaja možnost."
And so I went back to London, and I went and saw this chap, Jude Law. And I saw him because he was an actor, I was an actor, I had a connection to him, because we needed to get to the press, we needed this attraction, we needed the media to be involved. Because if we start pumping it up a bit maybe more people would listen and there'd be more -- when we got into certain areas, maybe there would be more people interested. And maybe we'd be helped financially a little bit more, which had been desperately difficult. I won't go into that. So Jude said, "Okay, I'll do some statements for you."
Tako sem se vrnil v London in šel obiskat tegale, Juda Lawa. Obiskal sem ga, ker je igralec, kot sem tudi jaz. Imel sem stik z njim in ker smo morali pritegniti medije, smo potrebovali to zvezdo, potrebovali smo vpletenost medijev. Kajti če bi stvar malo napihnili, bi morda več ljudi prisluhnilo in bilo bi več... ko bi prišli na določena območja, bi morda vzbudili zanimanje več ljudi. In morda bi dobili malo več finančne pomoči, kar je bilo izjemno težko, ne bom se spuščal v to. Jude je pristal: "Prav, posnel bom nekaj izjav zate."
While I was filming these statements, he said to me, "Where are you going next?" I said, "I'm going to go to Afghanistan." He said, "Really?" And I could sort of see a little look in his eye of interest. So I said to him, "Do you want to come with me? It'd be really interesting if you came. It would help and bring attention. And that attention would help leverage the situation, as well as all of the other sides of it." I think there's a number of pillars to success. One is you've got to have a great idea. The other is you've got to have a constituency, you've got to have finance, and you've got to be able to raise awareness. And actually I could never raise awareness by myself, no matter what I'd achieved. So these guys were absolutely crucial. So he said yes, and we found ourselves in Afghanistan.
Ko smo jih snemali, me je vprašal: "Kam greš od tu?" Dejal sem: "V Afganistan grem." Rekel je: "Res?" In videl sem trohico zanimanja pri njem. Tako sem ga vprašal: "Bi šel z mano? Bilo bi res zanimivo, če bi šel. Pomagalo bi pritegniti pozornost. In ta pozornost bi pomagala vplivati na situacijo in na vse druge plati." Mislim, da obstajajo številni stebri uspeha. Eden od njih je imeti dobro idejo. Drugi je imeti dobro bazo, imeti morate finančna sredstva in sposobni morate biti ozaveščati. Ljudi nikoli ne bi mogel ozaveščati sam, ne glede na to, kar sem dosegel. Tako da so bili tile fantje odločilni. Pristal je in znašla sva se v Afganistanu.
It was a really incredible thing that when we landed there, I was talking to various people, and they were saying to me, "You've got to get everybody involved here. You can't just expect it to work. You have to get out and work." And we did, and we traveled around, and we spoke to elders, we spoke to doctors, we spoke to nurses, we held press conferences, we went out with soldiers, we sat down with ISAF, we sat down with NATO, we sat down with the U.K. government. I mean, we basically sat down with everybody -- in and out of schools with ministers of education, holding these press conferences, which of course, now were loaded with press, everybody was there. There was an interest in what was going on. This amazing woman, Fatima Gailani, was absolutely instrumental in what went on as she was the spokesperson for the resistance against the Russians. And her Afghan network was just absolutely everywhere. And she was really crucial in getting the message in.
Bilo je res neverjetno, toda ko sva se pojavila tam, sem se pogovarjal z različnimi ljudmi in vsi so mi govorili: "Tukaj moraš vključiti vse. Ne moreš kar računati, da bo delovalo. Ven moraš, na delo." In sva šla, potovala sva naokoli, govorila s starešinami, z zdravniki, z medicinskimi sestrami, imela sva tiskovne konference, šla ven z vojaki, se srečala z ISAF-om, z NATO-m, se srečala z britansko vlado. Mislim, skoraj z vsemi sva se srečala... v šolah in izven njih z ministri za izobraževanje, imela tiskovne konference, ki so bile sedaj seveda polne novinarjev, vsi so bili tam. Ljudi je zanimalo, kaj se dogaja. Ta izjemna ženska, Fatima Magalani, je bila ključna za celotno dogajanje, ker je bila tiskovna predstavnica upornikov proti Rusom. In njena afganistanska mreža je bila čisto povsod. In bila je res ključna za to, da smo predali sporočilo.
And then we went home. We'd sort of done it. We had to wait now and see what happened. And I got home, and I remember one of the team bringing in a letter to me from the Taliban. And that letter basically said, "We'll observe this day. We will observe this day. We see it as a window of opportunity. And we will not engage. We're not going to engage." And that meant that humanitarian workers wouldn't be kidnapped or killed. And then suddenly, I obviously knew at this point, there was a chance. And days later, 1.6 million children were vaccinated against polio as a consequence of everybody stopping. (Applause) And like the General Assembly, obviously the most wonderful, wonderful moment.
In potem sva šla domov. Na nek način sva opravila svoje. Sedaj sva morala počakati in videti, kaj se bo zgodilo. Vrnil sem se domov, in spomnim se, kako mi je sodelavec prinesel pismo, ki so ga poslali talibani. V njem je pisalo: "Obeležili bomo ta dan. Obeležili bomo ta dan. Vidimo ga kot priložnost. In ne bomo se bojevali. Ne bomo se bojevali." In to je pomenilo, da ne bodo ugrabili ali ubili humanitarnih delavcev. In potem sem nenadoma na tej točki seveda vedel, da obstaja možnost. Čez nekaj dni so 1.6 milijona otrok cepili proti otroški paralizi, kot posledico tega, da so se vsi ustavili. (aplavz) In kot na Generalni skupščini, očitno najlepši, najlepši trenutek.
And so then we wrapped the film up and we put it together because we had to go back. We put it into Dari and Pashto. We put it in the local dialects. We went back to Afghanistan, because the next year was coming, and we wanted to support. But more importantly, we wanted to go back, because these people in Afghanistan were the heroes. They were the people who believed in peace and the possibilities of it, etc., etc. -- and they made it real. And we wanted to go back and show them the film and say, "Look, you guys made this possible. And thank you very much." And we gave the film over. Obviously it was shown, and it was amazing.
In tako smo dokončali film in ga sestavili, saj smo morali iti nazaj. Prevedli smo ga v dari in pašto. Prevedli smo ga v lokalna narečja. Vrnili smo se v Afganistan, saj se je bližalo naslednje leto in hoteli smo pomagati. A pomembneje je, da smo se želeli vrniti, ker so afganistanski ljudje heroji. To so ljudje, ki so verjeli v mir in v možnosti zanj, itd., itd. ... in ga uresničili. In vrniti smo se hoteli, da jim pokažemo film in rečemo: "Poglejte, vi ste to omogočili. Najlepša vam hvala." In predali smo jim film. Seveda so ga prikazali in bilo je čudovito.
And then that year, that year, 2008, this ISAF statement from Kabul, Afghanistan, September 17th: "General Stanley McChrystal, commander of international security assistance forces in Afghanistan, announced today ISAF will not conduct offensive military operations on the 21st of September." They were saying they would stop. And then there was this other statement that came out from the U.N. Department of Security and Safety saying that, in Afghanistan, because of this work, the violence was down by 70 percent. 70 percent reduction in violence on this day at least. And that completely blew my mind almost more than anything.
In tistega leta, leta 2008, je prišla izjava ISAF-a iz Kabula v Afganistanu, 17. septembra: "General Stanley McCrystal, poveljnik mednarodnih varnostnih sil v Afganistanu, je danes najavil, da ISAF 21. septembra ne bo opravljal ofenzivnih vojaških operacij." Rekli so, da se bodo ustavili. Potem je prišla še druga izjava, ki je prišla z ministrstva za varnost, rekoč, da je v Afganistanu, zaradi tega dela nasilje upadlo za 70 odstotkov. Sedemdesetodstotno zmanjšanje nasilja vsaj na ta dan. In to me je čisto odneslo, skoraj bolj kot karkoli drugega.
And I remember being stuck in New York, this time because of the volcano, which was obviously much less harmful. And I was there thinking about what was going on. And I kept thinking about this 70 percent. 70 percent reduction in violence -- in what everyone said was completely impossible and you couldn't do. And that made me think that, if we can get 70 percent in Afghanistan, then surely we can get 70 percent reduction everywhere. We have to go for a global truce. We have to utilize this day of ceasefire and nonviolence and go for a global truce, go for the largest recorded cessation of hostilities, both domestically and internationally, ever recorded.
Spomnim se, da sem bil ujet v New Yorku, tokrat zaradi vulkana, kar je imelo seveda veliko manjše posledice. Razmišljal sem o tem, kar se je dogajalo. In nisem mogel pozabiti na tistih 70 odstotkov. 70-odstotno zmanjšanje nasilja... za kar so vsi govorili, da je povsem nemogoče in da se tega ne da narediti. Pomislil sem, da če lahko dosežemo 70 odstotkov v Afganistanu, potem gotovo lahko dosežemo 70-odstotno zmanjšanje tudi drugod. Zavzeti se moramo za globalno premirje. Ta dan premirja in nenasilja moramo uporabiti za globalno premirje, za največjo zabeleženo prekinitev ognja, doma in po svetu,
That's exactly what we must do. And on the 21st of September this year, we're going to launch that campaign at the O2 Arena to go for that process, to try and create the largest recorded cessation of hostilities. And we will utilize all kinds of things -- have a dance and social media and visiting on Facebook and visit the website, sign the petition. And it's in the six official languages of the United Nations. And we'll globally link with government, inter-government, non-government, education, unions, sports. And you can see the education box there. We've got resources at the moment in 174 countries trying to get young people to be the driving force behind the vision of that global truce. And obviously the life-saving is increased, the concepts help.
Prav to moramo storiti. In 21. septembra letos bomo v Areni O2 sprožili kampanjo v smeri tega procesa, da poskusimo ustvariti največjo zabeleženo prekinitev ognja. Uporabili bomo vsakovrstne pristope... ples in socialne medije, obiske na Facebooku in spletni strani, podpise peticije. Vse to v šestih uradnih jezikih Združenih narodov. Globalno se bomo povezali z vladami, medvladniki, nevladniki, šolstvom, sindikati, športom. Tule lahko vidite šolstvo. Trenutno imamo vire v 174 državah, kjer poskušamo mlade spodbuditi, da bi bili gonilo vizije za globalno premirje. In seveda to pomeni več rešenih življenj, koncepti pomagajo.
Linking up with the Olympics -- I went and saw Seb Coe. I said, "London 2012 is about truce. Ultimately, that's what it's about." Why don't we all team up? Why don't we bring truce to life? Why don't you support the process of the largest ever global truce? We'll make a new film about this process. We'll utilize sport and football. On the Day of Peace, there's thousands of football matches all played, from the favelas of Brazil to wherever it might be. So, utilizing all of these ways to inspire individual action. And ultimately, we have to try that. We have to work together.
Povezave z olimpijskimi igrami... Obiskal sem Sebastiana Coe-ja. Rekel sem mu: "London 2012 je povezan s premirjem. To je tisto, za kar v končni fazi gre." Zakaj se vsi ne povežemo? Zakaj ne oživimo premirja? Zakaj ne podprete procesa za največje globalno premirje vseh časov? O tem procesu bomo posneli nov film. Uporabili bomo šport in nogomet. Na dan miru se igra na tisoče nogometnih tekem, v brazilskih favelah in kjerkoli drugje. Na vse te načine bomo navdihnili delovanje posameznikov. In konec koncev, to moramo poskusiti. Delati moramo skupaj.
And when I stand here in front of all of you, and the people who will watch these things, I'm excited, on behalf of everybody I've met, that there is a possibility that our world could unite, that we could come together as one, that we could lift the level of consciousness around the fundamental issues, brought about by individuals. I was with Brahimi, Ambassador Brahimi. I think he's one of the most incredible men in relation to international politics -- in Afghanistan, in Iraq. He's an amazing man. And I sat with him a few weeks ago. And I said to him, "Mr. Brahimi, is this nuts, going for a global truce? Is this possible? Is it really possible that we could do this?" He said, "It's absolutely possible." I said, "What would you do? Would you go to governments and lobby and use the system?" He said, "No, I'd talk to the individuals." It's all about the individuals. It's all about you and me. It's all about partnerships. It's about your constituencies; it's about your businesses. Because together, by working together, I seriously think we can start to change things.
In ko stojim tu pred vami in pred ljudmi, ki bodo to gledali, sem vznemirjen, v imenu vseh, ki sem jih srečal, da obstaja možnost, da bi se naš svet združil, postal eno, dvignil zavest o temeljnih vprašanjih, ki si jih postavljajo posamezniki. Bil sem z ambasadorjem Brahimijem. Mislim, da je eden najbolj neverjetnih ljudi v svetu mednarodne politike - v Afganistanu, v Iraku. Čudovit človek je. Srečala sva se pred nekaj tedni in rekel sem mu:"G. Brahimi, je to nora ideja, da hočemo globalno premirje? Je to mogoče? Je to res mogoče narediti?" Dejal je: "Absolutno je mogoče." Rekel sem: "Kaj bi vi storili? Bi šli k vladam in lobirali in uporabili sistem?" Odgovoril je: "Ne, pogovarjal bi se s posamezniki." Vse je v posameznikih. Gre zame in za vas. Gre za partnerstva. Gre za naše baze, naše posle. Kajti, če delujemo skupaj, res mislim, da lahko začnemo spreminjati stvari.
And there's a wonderful man sitting in this audience, and I don't know where he is, who said to me a few days ago -- because I did a little rehearsal -- and he said, "I've been thinking about this day and imagining it as a square with 365 squares, and one of them is white." And it then made me think about a glass of water, which is clear. If you put one drop, one drop of something, in that water, it'll change it forever.
Tule v občinstvu sedi čudovit človek, ne vem, kje je, ki mi je pred nekaj dnevi dejal... ko sem imel majhno vajo... dejal je: "Razmišljal sem o tem dnevu in si ga predstavljal kot kvadrat s 365 kvadratki, od katerih je eden bel." In to me je navedlo na misel o kozarcu čiste vode. Če vanj spustite kapljico, eno kapljico nečesa, bo to vodo spremenilo za zmeraj.
By working together, we can create peace one day. Thank you TED. Thank you.
Če delamo skupaj, lahko nekega dne ustvarimo mir. Hvala, TED. Hvala.
(Applause)
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Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
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Thanks a lot.
Hvala lepa.
(Applause)
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Thank you very much. Thank you.
Najlepša hvala. Hvala.