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About 12 years ago,
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I gave up my career in banking
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to try to make the world a safer place.
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This involved a journey
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into national and global advocacy
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and meeting some of the most
extraordinary people in the world.
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In the process, I became
a civil society diplomat.
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Civil society diplomats do three things:
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they voice the concern of the people,
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are not condoned by national interests,
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and influence change
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through citizen networks,
not only state ones.
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And if you want to change the world,
we need more of them.
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But many people still ask,
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can civil society really
make a big difference?
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Can citizens influence and shape
national and global policy?
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I never thought I would ask
myself these questions,
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but here I am to share some lessons
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about the powerful civil society movements
that I've been involved in.
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They are in issues
that I'm passionate about:
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gun control and drug policy.
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And these are issues that matter here.
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Latin America is ground zero
for both of them.
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For example, Brazil:
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this beautiful country hosting TEDGlobal
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has the world's ugliest record.
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We are the number one champion
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in homicidal violence.
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One in every 10 people
killed around the world
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is a Brazilian.
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This translates into over 56,000 people
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dying violently each year.
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Most of them are young, black boys
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dying by guns.
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Brazil is also one of the world's
largest consumers of drugs,
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and the War on Drugs
has been especially painful here.
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Around 50 percent of the homicides
in the streets in Brazil
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are related to the War on Drugs.
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The same is true for about
25 percent of people in jail.
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And it's not just Brazil that is affected
by the twin problems of guns and drugs.
closed TED
