The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news)
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0:01 - 0:05Chris Anderson asked me if I could put the last 25 years
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0:05 - 0:09of anti-poverty campaigning into 10 minutes for TED.
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0:09 - 0:13That's an Englishman asking an Irishman to be succinct.
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0:13 - 0:15(Laughter)
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0:15 - 0:20I said, "Chris, that would take a miracle."
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0:20 - 0:25He said, "Bono, wouldn't that be a good use of your messianic complex?"
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0:25 - 0:27So, yeah.
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0:27 - 0:31Then I thought, let's go even further than 25 years.
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0:31 - 0:35Let's go back before Christ, three millennia,
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0:35 - 0:39to a time when, at least in my head, the journey for justice,
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0:39 - 0:43the march against inequality and poverty really began.
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0:43 - 0:45Three thousand years ago,
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0:45 - 0:48civilization just getting started on the banks of the Nile,
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0:48 - 0:52some slaves, Jewish shepherds in this instance,
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0:52 - 0:55smelling of sheep shit, I guess,
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0:55 - 0:59proclaimed to the Pharaoh, sitting high on his throne,
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0:59 - 1:05"We, your majesty-ness, are equal to you."
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1:05 - 1:08And the Pharaoh replies, "Oh, no.
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1:08 - 1:11You, your miserableness, have got to be kidding."
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1:11 - 1:15And they say, "No, no, that's what it says here
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1:15 - 1:17in our holy book."
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1:17 - 1:20Cut to our century, same country, same pyramids,
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1:20 - 1:22another people spreading the same idea
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1:22 - 1:24of equality with a different book.
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1:24 - 1:28This time it's called the Facebook.
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1:28 - 1:30Crowds are gathered in Tahrir Square.
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1:30 - 1:32They turn a social network from virtual to actual,
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1:32 - 1:36and kind of rebooted the 21st century.
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1:36 - 1:38Not to undersell how messy and ugly
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1:38 - 1:41the aftermath of the Arab Spring has been,
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1:41 - 1:44neither to oversell the role of technology,
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1:44 - 1:47but these things have given a sense of what's possible
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1:47 - 1:51when the age-old model of power, the pyramid,
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1:51 - 1:54gets turned upside down, putting the people on top
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1:54 - 1:58and the pharaohs of today on the bottom, as it were.
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1:58 - 2:01It's also shown us that something as powerful
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2:01 - 2:05as information and the sharing of it can challenge inequality,
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2:05 - 2:08because facts, like people,
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2:08 - 2:10want to be free, and when they're free,
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2:10 - 2:12liberty is usually around the corner,
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2:12 - 2:15even for the poorest of the poor --
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2:15 - 2:17facts that can challenge cynicism
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2:17 - 2:20and the apathy that leads to inertia,
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2:20 - 2:22facts that tell us what's working and,
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2:22 - 2:25more importantly, what's not, so we can fix it,
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2:25 - 2:27facts that if we hear them and heed them could help us
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2:27 - 2:31meet the challenge that Nelson Mandela made
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2:31 - 2:33back in 2005,
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2:33 - 2:36when he asked us to be that great generation
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2:36 - 2:39that overcomes that most awful offense to humanity,
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2:39 - 2:41extreme poverty,
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2:41 - 2:45facts that build a powerful momentum.
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2:45 - 2:48So I thought, forget the rock opera,
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2:48 - 2:53forget the bombast, my usual tricks.
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2:53 - 2:57The only thing singing today would be the facts,
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2:57 - 3:02for I have truly embraced by inner nerd.
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3:02 - 3:09So exit the rock star.
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3:09 - 3:18Enter the evidence-based activist, the factivist.
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3:18 - 3:22Because what the facts are telling us
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3:22 - 3:26is that the long, slow journey,
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3:26 - 3:28humanity's long, slow journey of equality,
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3:28 - 3:30is actually speeding up.
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3:30 - 3:32Look at what's been achieved.
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3:32 - 3:35Look at the pictures these data sets print.
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3:35 - 3:38Since the year 2000, since the turn of the millennium,
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3:38 - 3:40there are eight million more AIDS patients
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3:40 - 3:43getting life-saving antiretroviral drugs.
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3:43 - 3:46Malaria: There are eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa
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3:46 - 3:50that have their death rates cut by 75 percent.
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3:50 - 3:53For kids under five, child mortality, kids under five,
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3:53 - 3:57it's down by 2.65 million a year.
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3:57 - 4:03That's a rate of 7,256 children's lives saved each day.
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4:03 - 4:09Wow. Wow. (Applause)
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4:09 - 4:11Let's just stop for a second, actually, and think about that.
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4:11 - 4:15Have you read anything anywhere in the last week
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4:15 - 4:19that is remotely as important as that number? Wow.
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4:19 - 4:23Great news. It drives me nuts
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4:23 - 4:26that most people don't seem to know this news.
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4:26 - 4:29Seven thousand kids a day. Here's two of them.
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4:29 - 4:31This is Michael and Benedicta,
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4:31 - 4:34and they're alive thanks in large part
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4:34 - 4:38to Dr. Patricia Asamoah -- she's amazing --
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4:38 - 4:41and the Global Fund, which all of you financially support,
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4:41 - 4:42whether you know it or not.
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4:42 - 4:45And the Global Fund provides antiretroviral drugs
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4:45 - 4:49that stop mothers from passing HIV to their kids.
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4:49 - 4:52This fantastic news didn't happen by itself.
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4:52 - 4:54It was fought for, it was campaigned for,
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4:54 - 4:56it was innovated for.
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4:56 - 5:01And this great news gives birth to even more great news,
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5:01 - 5:04because the historic trend is this.
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5:04 - 5:06The number of people living in back-breaking,
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5:06 - 5:09soul-crushing extreme poverty has declined
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5:09 - 5:14from 43 percent of the world's population in 1990
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5:14 - 5:17to 33 percent by 2000
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5:17 - 5:22and then to 21 percent by 2010.
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5:22 - 5:26Give it up for that. (Applause)
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5:26 - 5:29Halved. Halved.
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5:29 - 5:33Now, the rate is still too high -- still too many people
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5:33 - 5:35unnecessarily losing their lives.
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5:35 - 5:37There's still work to do.
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5:37 - 5:42But it's heart-stopping. It's mind-blowing stuff.
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5:42 - 5:47And if you live on less than $1.25 a day,
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5:47 - 5:49if you live in that kind of poverty,
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5:49 - 5:51this is not just data.
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5:51 - 5:53This is everything.
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5:53 - 5:58If you're a parent who wants the best for your kids -- and I am --
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5:58 - 6:04this rapid transition is a route out of despair and into hope.
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6:04 - 6:07And guess what? If the trajectory continues,
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6:07 - 6:11look where the amount of people living on $1.25 a day
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6:11 - 6:15gets to by 2030.
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6:15 - 6:18Can't be true, can it?
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6:18 - 6:23That's what the data is telling us. If the trajectory continues,
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6:23 - 6:28we get to, wow, the zero zone.
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6:28 - 6:29For number-crunchers like us,
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6:29 - 6:33that is the erogenous zone,
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6:33 - 6:36and it's fair to say that I am, by now,
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6:36 - 6:41sexually aroused by the collating of data.
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6:41 - 6:46So virtual elimination of extreme poverty,
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6:46 - 6:50as defined by people living on less than $1.25 a day,
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6:50 - 6:54adjusted, of course, for inflation from a 1990 baseline.
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6:54 - 6:57We do love a good baseline.
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6:57 - 6:59That's amazing.
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6:59 - 7:03Now I know that some of you think this progress
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7:03 - 7:05is all in Asia or Latin America or
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7:05 - 7:07model countries like Brazil --
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7:07 - 7:10and who doesn't love a Brazilian model? --
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7:10 - 7:14but look at sub-Saharan Africa.
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7:14 - 7:17There's a collection of 10 countries, some call them the lions,
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7:17 - 7:20who in the last decade have had a combination
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7:20 - 7:22of 100 percent debt cancellation,
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7:22 - 7:24a tripling of aid, a tenfold increase in FDI --
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7:24 - 7:26that's foreign direct investment --
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7:26 - 7:30which has unlocked a quadrupling of domestic resources -- that's local money --
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7:30 - 7:33which, when spent wisely -- that's good governance --
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7:33 - 7:35cut childhood mortality by a third,
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7:35 - 7:36doubled education completion rates,
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7:36 - 7:40and they, too, halved extreme poverty,
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7:40 - 7:44and at this rate, these 10 get to zero too.
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7:44 - 7:46So the pride of lions
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7:46 - 7:49is the proof of concept.
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7:49 - 7:52There are all kinds of benefits to this.
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7:52 - 7:56For a start, you won't have to listen
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7:56 - 8:00to an insufferable little jumped-up Jesus like myself.
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8:00 - 8:05How about that? (Applause)
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8:05 - 8:09And 2028, 2030? It's just around the corner.
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8:09 - 8:13I mean, it's about three Rolling Stones farewell concerts away.
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8:13 - 8:19(Laughter) I hope. I'm hoping.
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8:19 - 8:23Makes us look really young.
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8:23 - 8:26So why aren't we jumping up and down about this?
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8:26 - 8:29Well, the opportunity is real, but so is the jeopardy.
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8:29 - 8:33We can't get this done until we really accept
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8:33 - 8:36that we can get this done.
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8:36 - 8:38Look at this graph.
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8:38 - 8:43It's called inertia. It's how we screw it up.
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8:43 - 8:44And the next one is really beautiful.
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8:44 - 8:48It's called momentum.
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8:48 - 8:53And it's how we can bend the arc of history
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8:53 - 8:54down towards zero,
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8:54 - 8:57just doing the things that we know work.
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8:57 - 8:59So inertia versus momentum.
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8:59 - 9:01There is jeopardy, and of course,
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9:01 - 9:04the closer you get, it gets harder.
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9:04 - 9:05We know the obstacles that are in our way
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9:05 - 9:08right now, in difficult times.
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9:08 - 9:13In fact, today in your capital, in difficult times,
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9:13 - 9:15some who mind the nation's purse want to cut
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9:15 - 9:18life-saving programs like the Global Fund.
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9:18 - 9:19But you can do something about that.
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9:19 - 9:21You can tell politicians
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9:21 - 9:24that these cuts [can cost] lives.
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9:24 - 9:28Right now today, in Oslo as it happens,
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9:28 - 9:30oil companies are fighting to keep secret
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9:30 - 9:32their payments to governments
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9:32 - 9:35for extracting oil in developing countries.
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9:35 - 9:37You can do something about that too.
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9:37 - 9:39You can join the One Campaign,
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9:39 - 9:43and leaders like Mo Ibrahim, the telecom entrepreneur.
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9:43 - 9:47We're pushing for laws that make sure that at least some
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9:47 - 9:50of the wealth under the ground
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9:50 - 9:53ends up in the hands of the people living above it.
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9:53 - 9:57And right now, we know
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9:57 - 10:01that the biggest disease of all
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10:01 - 10:04is not a disease. It's corruption.
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10:04 - 10:06But there's a vaccine for that too.
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10:06 - 10:09It's called transparency, open data sets,
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10:09 - 10:14something the TED community is really on it.
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10:14 - 10:18Daylight, you could call it, transparency.
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10:18 - 10:20And technology is really turbocharging this.
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10:20 - 10:25It's getting harder to hide if you're doing bad stuff.
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10:25 - 10:28So let me tell you about the U-report,
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10:28 - 10:32which I'm really excited about. It's 150,000 millennials
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10:32 - 10:34all across Uganda, young people
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10:34 - 10:38armed with 2G phones, an SMS social network
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10:38 - 10:41exposing government corruption
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10:41 - 10:44and demanding to know what's in the budget
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10:44 - 10:47and how their money is being spent.
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10:47 - 10:49This is exciting stuff.
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10:49 - 10:53Look, once you have these tools,
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10:53 - 10:55you can't not use them.
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10:55 - 10:57Once you have this knowledge, you can't un-know it.
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10:57 - 11:00You can't delete this data from your brain,
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11:00 - 11:03but you can delete the cliched image
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11:03 - 11:05of supplicant, impoverished peoples
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11:05 - 11:07not taking control of their own lives.
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11:07 - 11:10You can erase that, you really can,
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11:10 - 11:15because it's not true anymore. (Applause)
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11:15 - 11:18It's transformational.
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11:18 - 11:222030? By 2030, robots,
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11:22 - 11:25not just serving us Guinness, but drinking it.
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11:25 - 11:27By the time we get there,
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11:27 - 11:30every place with a rough semblance of governance
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11:30 - 11:34might actually be on their way.
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11:34 - 11:38So I'm here to -- I guess we're here
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11:38 - 11:43to try and infect you with this virtuous, data-based virus,
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11:43 - 11:46the one we call factivism.
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11:46 - 11:47It's not going to kill you.
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11:47 - 11:51In fact, it could save countless lives.
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11:51 - 11:54I guess we in the One Campaign would love you
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11:54 - 11:59to be contagious, spread it, share it, pass it on.
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11:59 - 12:04By doing so, you will join us and countless others
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12:04 - 12:09in what I truly believe is the greatest adventure ever taken,
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12:09 - 12:13the ever-demanding journey of equality.
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12:13 - 12:17Could we really be the great generation
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12:17 - 12:19that Mandela asked us to be?
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12:19 - 12:23Might we answer that clarion call with science,
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12:23 - 12:25with reason, with facts,
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12:25 - 12:29and, dare I say it, emotions?
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12:29 - 12:35Because as is obvious, factivists have feelings too.
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12:35 - 12:38I'm thinking of Wael Ghonim, though.
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12:38 - 12:40Some of you know him. He set up one of the Facebook groups
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12:40 - 12:44behind the Tahrir Square in Cairo.
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12:44 - 12:46He got thrown in jail for it,
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12:46 - 12:51but I have his words tattooed on my brain.
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12:51 - 12:55"We are going to win because we don't understand politics.
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12:55 - 12:58We are going to win because we don't play their dirty games.
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12:58 - 13:01We are going to win because we don't have a party political agenda.
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13:01 - 13:03We are going to win because the tears
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13:03 - 13:07that come from our eyes actually come from our hearts.
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13:07 - 13:09We are going to win because we have dreams,
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13:09 - 13:13and we're willing to stand up for those dreams."
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13:13 - 13:15Wael is right.
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13:15 - 13:17We're going to win
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13:17 - 13:19if we work together as one,
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13:19 - 13:22because the power of the people
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13:22 - 13:26is so much stronger than the people in power.
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13:26 - 13:29Thank you.
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13:29 - 13:32(Applause)
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13:32 - 13:36Thank you so much. (Applause)
- Title:
- The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news)
- Speaker:
- Bono
- Description:
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Human beings have been campaigning against inequality and poverty for 3,000 years. But this journey is accelerating. Bono "embraces his inner nerd" and shares inspiring data that shows the end of poverty is in sight … if we can harness the momentum.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:57
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |