WEBVTT

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So, first I would like to wish
all the ladies a happy Women's Day

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because today
is International Women's Day.

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You know that it was

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Jean-Marc Reiser who said,

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"Women who want to be equal to men

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are seriously lacking in ambition."

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So I have been a lawyer
since the dawn of time,

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a tax lawyer, a business lawyer,

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and eight years ago,
when my clients phoned

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to say, "I've got this or that problem,"

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I wanted to say "I don't care."

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I said to myself, perhaps it was a sign
that I should change something in my life

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because I think
when you are no longer enthusiastic

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it is clearly a sign that you need
to change something in your life.

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Of course, you know
where the word "enthusiasm" comes from.

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It comes from the Greek "enthousiasmos"

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which literally means
"in the breath of the divine".

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Obviously that is not religious,

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you could say that it is
the breath of transcendence.

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It is true that, sometimes,
I practice tax law

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in a way that is a little bit unusual,

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because I remember that 25 years ago,
a lawyer phoned me saying,

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"Luc, I've got a big problem,

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a very rich client is being horribly
blackmailed by his daughter

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who has also stolen
a lot of money from him, etc."

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I said to her, "OK,
bring your client to see me."

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So this very upset 80-year-old man came,

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"Sir, we must arrange
everything in Liechtenstein

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in the Caymans, in Luxembourg,

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my daughter is going to steal it all,
she is blackmailing me," etc.

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I let him go on
like a crazy horse at full gallop,

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and I didn't interrupt
him again for ten minutes.

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After ten minutes,
I calmly interrupted him,

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and in his head,
he had come to see a tax lawyer,

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and I said, "Sir, do you not think

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that all the money
your daughter is stealing from you

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is nothing more
than a symbol of the love

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that you have never given her?"

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His lawyer was shocked,

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the client didn't hear me
and carried straight on,

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"Tally-ho, tally-ho!
Liechtenstein! Cayman!", etc.

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And I let him continue,
and I didn't interrupt him again.

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And after quarter of an hour
he stopped, and he said,

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"All the same, Sir,

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what you said to me
just now strikes a chord.

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I realized that I've never given
my daughter a second glance.

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I was always away on business,
I looked after my business," etc.

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And on leaving my office,
this client had a wonderful impulse:

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he phoned his daughter
and invited her to dinner that evening,

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and he apologized to her
for all the harm he had done her.

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This man never again suffered
from the least bit of blackmail or theft.

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And so, for several years now,
I have given a course in business law

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in a Business School in Brussels.

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And I like to tell
the story of the stonemason,

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which you no doubt know, but just in case
there is someone who doesn't,

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I will tell it all the same.

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It is the story of a man
who passed a Cathedral,

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and he saw three workmen
busy dressing stones.

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He asked the first,
"What are you doing?"

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"Me, Sir, as you can see,
I'm busy dressing a stone.

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It's a terrible job, you don't earn
much money, it's dreadful," etc.

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Then he passed the second man
who was a little less sulky,

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and who said, "I'm dressing a stone.

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I also dress stones,
but actually it's quite good.

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I'm in the fresh air, and I make
a living and can feed my children."

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The third man was doing
the same as the others.

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He asked what he was doing,

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"Sir, you can see
I'm busy building a cathedral!"

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And he was very happy.

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So I explained to my students

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here are three workmen
doing exactly the same thing.

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However, the question
is not what they are doing,

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but in what state of mind
they are doing it.

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I said, "You, for example,

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why do you want to be a sales engineer
or to get a degree in consular studies?"

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They think I'm a bit crazy

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because I'm giving a class
in business law,

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and I hear from the back of the class
"For the dough!"

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I say, "OK, let's talk about that a bit,
what does money mean to you?"

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You know, you might think
that money is an inert substance

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that you will try to get as much
as possible of to soothe your worries.

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What worries?

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Well, firstly the worry about
the finite nature of your life,

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because you know, money is a number
and by definition, numbers are infinite.

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So to ward off your worries about
the finite nature of your life,

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you may be tempted to accumulate
as much money as possible.

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"However," I say,
"Think of money as energy."

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A beautiful energy
if you do beautiful things

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for or with money, a repulsive energy
if you do repulsive things for or with it.

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So now I am on sabbatical,

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and so I have created
this association called

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the League of Optimists
of the Kingdom of Belgium

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- it's a bit surrealist -
it's a bit Belgian.

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But, the idea behind it is to create,

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I would say with a bit
of lightheartedness

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an idea that is
more serious than it seems.

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What is this idea?

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I'll try to... Ah, there...

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The idea is to say, "I am the master
of my thoughts and not the opposite."

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If I am master of my thoughts,

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undoubtedly... - oh never mind

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if I am the master of my thoughts,
I am a responsible person.

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If I have this responsibility,
I am responsible for my life,

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for my environment and for the world.

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So the idea behind it
is to say that optimism

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is not an innate ability to be happy

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which will liberate us
from all painful problems

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and great sorrows of our lives.

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Optimism stems
from a decision and discipline,

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and it also forms the basis
of each person's responsibilities.

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That is to say that if we want
the world to be a better place,

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everyone is going to have to get involved

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and I think that is the fundamental idea.

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So you know, we have, I want to say
we have heard a lot today,

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people talk a lot about the crisis.

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This crisis is of course a difficult
and painful economic crisis,

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but it is probably and may still be
a crisis of meaning.

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This is to say that we have
successfully learnt how to make things.

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The technological advances
of the last few years have been rapid

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in the areas of IT, of technology, etc.

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But the problem is
that we no longer know why.

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And that is the question of meaning.

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So, I have created this association,

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the League of Optimists
of the Kingdom of Belgium,

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which now has 5,000 members in Belgium.

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We have created
large and small sister organizations

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notably in the Netherlands, Germany,
in your country, France,

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but notably with France Roque, Philippe
Gabilliet, Jean d'Ormesson, Erik Orsenna,

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Matthieu Ricard, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt,
and Jean-Michel Guenassia.

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In Switzerland, Monaco, and Benin,

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we are busy at the moment,
and also in Spain,

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we are now busy with Norway, Canada,

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Congo, Congo-Brazzaville,
and a dozen countries in Africa.

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So we have formed
an international organization

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which is called Optimists Without Borders,

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moreover, whose current
president is French.

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The idea is that every two years
the Presidency will change,

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and all that will constitute
the concept of Optimistan.

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So, what is Optimistan?

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Optimistan is
a metaphorical State, a poetic state,

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it is a new state of conscience

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according to this quote
by Teilhard de Chardin,

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"As the world becomes more complex,

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so its level of consciousness
must be raised."

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So the idea that we have come up with

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is to say, "Let us create together
a new state of conscience,"

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and furthermore,
all citizens of Optimistan,

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that is to say all members
of all the Associations of Optimists,

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will soon receive,
a real Optimistan Passport

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will a QR code that will enable us
to contact each of them.

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But for me, optimism is not
just the opposite of pessimism.

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I think that it is even more
the opposite of cynicism.

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Cynicism is an absolute plague,

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and I truly think that today

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the world is developing
in an extremely cynical fashion.

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Financial capitalism
has become absolutely cynical.

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And I think that the world
we have constructed here in the West,

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this world of money, must be destroyed.

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I think, in fact,
that it will die of its cynicism

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in the same way that
communism died of its cynicism,

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if it does not change, and soon,
towards more fraternity.

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So I think that at heart,
optimism is also this realization

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that we are all linked together
and that we are also linked to the planet.

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And so I think that the idea
is still to revitalize life

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to stop us from becoming
like vermin on the planet.

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So, what I want to do myself is,
at least, take part in a small way,

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in the re-enchantment of the world.

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That seems to me to be
an absolutely fundamental task.

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I think that, if you like,
we have today...

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we have well understood how to do things,
but now, we must remind ourselves of it.

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For example, we also have a big project,

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to create a school for shareholders:

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the Optimistan Share Holder School.

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Why an Optimistan Share Holder School?

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Well because, you know,
a long time ago people told me

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that I absolutely should create
an Optimistan Business School.

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I have a problem with Business Schools

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which teach that the goal
of business is to make a profit.

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I think that that is once again
a manifestation of cynicism.

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I think that the goal
of business is not profit.

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The goal of business
is doing the right thing

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for humanity and for the world,

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and that profit must be
the necessary consequence of business.

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Obviously profit is absolutely necessary

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but it is in fact there to ensure
the survival of the business,

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but it cannot be the goal.

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And so, what I would like is
to talk, in a manner of speaking,

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to those people who truly have
the power to take decisions.

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Because unfortunately, I have noticed
that many managers behave

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I would say, like true mercenaries

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and who become more and more greedy.

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And, quite frankly, I can no longer stand
listening to shareholders saying,

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"Yes, but we provide
jobs for the workers."

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I have never heard a worker say,

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"Yes, but I provide a dividend
for my shareholders."

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So, I say no, it is not the shareholders

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who give jobs to the workers or employees.

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It is businesses who give

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the proceeds of work to one group
and the proceeds of shares to the other.

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It is not one group that creates work
and another that creates wealth.

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It is a whole.

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And so I think
that we must reflect, really...

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we must rethink, I would say

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the fundamental question
of business conscience.

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Because there is a lot of talk,
about business culture,

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but not much about business conscience.

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However, I think that it is
absolutely necessary to think about it.

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So, I truly believe
that financial capitalism today

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as it is, as it changes,

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well, it can do nothing more for humankind

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and, in my opinion, we live

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in what is still one of the most
prosperous part of the planet,

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and well, I say that we have invented
this financial capitalism,

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we must think here, we have,

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I would say an urgent responsibility
to invent a new model of society

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which would work
if it were applied to the whole world.

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I really like this quote
from Immanuel Kant, who said,

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"We should act in such a way
the world order would not be disturbed

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if everyone acted as we act."

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However, the situation is such
that if the whole world started to live

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according to the model
of overproduction and over-consumption

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of goods which add little happiness
which we have invented here,

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well, life on Earth would
no longer be possible for our children.

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The question I ask is
is that what we want?

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I don't. And if I don't want that,

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I think that parents in Congo,
New York, Argentina, Japan,

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also have the right to want

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life to still be possible
for their children.

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So, I think that we who have,
who live on this part of the planet

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who have an educated population,
where, I would say,

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poverty is still
under control... perhaps...

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Well, I say that we also have
the responsibility to invent a new model.

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There, that my proposal.

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So, a new state of conscience,
and I think that if we regroup,

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if everyone works together,

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we can really bring forth
a new way of living together

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which, in my opinion,
will be much happier,

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which, inevitably, will be a little bit--

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will free up lots of energy,
and there you have my proposal.

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The League of Optimists in Belgium

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has organized lots of conferences

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and after each conference,
there is always a little reception

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and so I know
I'm about to be interrupted,

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you have been very patient up to now,

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you have been very good,
it is very, very good,

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well, in fact, what I ask every time
is that everyone who attends the reception

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should not leave
until they have spoken to three people

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that they did not know before.

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So thank you.

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(Applause)