Take back your city with paint
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0:01 - 0:04In my previous life, I was an artist.
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0:04 - 0:07I still paint. I love art.
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0:07 - 0:13I love the joy that color can give to our lives
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0:13 - 0:15and to our communities,
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0:15 - 0:20and I try to bring something of the artist in me
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0:20 - 0:23in my politics,
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0:23 - 0:27and I see
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0:27 - 0:32part of my job today, the reason for being here,
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0:32 - 0:37not just to campaign for my party,
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0:37 - 0:41but for politics, and the role it can play
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0:41 - 0:45for the better in our lives.
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0:45 - 0:51For 11 years, I was mayor of Tirana, our capital.
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0:51 - 0:54We faced many challenges.
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0:54 - 0:56Art was part of the answer,
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0:56 - 0:59and my name, in the very beginning,
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0:59 - 1:01was linked with two things:
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1:01 - 1:05demolition of illegal constructions
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1:05 - 1:09in order to get public space back,
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1:09 - 1:13and use of colors in order to revive the hope
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1:13 - 1:16that had been lost in my city.
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1:16 - 1:22But this use of colors was not just an artistic act.
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1:22 - 1:26Rather, it was a form of political action
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1:26 - 1:32in a context when the city budget I had available
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1:32 - 1:38after being elected amounted to zero comma something.
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1:38 - 1:41When we painted the first building,
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1:41 - 1:46by splashing a radiant orange on the somber gray
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1:46 - 1:48of a facade,
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1:48 - 1:52something unimaginable happened.
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1:52 - 1:54There was a traffic jam
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1:54 - 1:57and a crowd of people gathered
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1:57 - 2:02as if it were the location of some spectacular accident,
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2:02 - 2:07or the sudden sighting of a visiting pop star.
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2:07 - 2:12The French E.U. official in charge of the funding
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2:12 - 2:15rushed to block the painting.
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2:15 - 2:20He screeched that he would block the financing.
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2:20 - 2:23"But why?" I asked him.
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2:23 - 2:26"Because the colors you have ordered
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2:26 - 2:31do not meet European standards," he replied.
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2:31 - 2:34"Well," I told him,
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2:34 - 2:37"the surroundings do not meet European standards,
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2:37 - 2:42even though this is not what we want,
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2:42 - 2:45but we will choose the colors ourselves,
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2:45 - 2:49because this is exactly what we want.
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2:49 - 2:53And if you do not let us continue with our work,
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2:53 - 2:56I will hold a press conference here,
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2:56 - 2:59right now, right in this road,
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2:59 - 3:02and we will tell people that you look to me
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3:02 - 3:08just like the censors of the socialist realism era."
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3:08 - 3:11Then he was kind of troubled,
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3:11 - 3:13and asked me for a compromise.
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3:13 - 3:16But I told him no, I'm sorry,
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3:16 - 3:20compromise in colors is gray,
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3:20 - 3:25and we have enough gray to last us a lifetime.
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3:25 - 3:26(Applause)
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3:26 - 3:31So it's time for change.
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3:31 - 3:34The rehabilitation of public spaces
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3:34 - 3:36revived the feeling of belonging
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3:36 - 3:41to a city that people lost.
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3:41 - 3:48The pride of people about their own place of living,
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3:48 - 3:51and there were feelings that had been buried
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3:51 - 3:56deep for years under the fury of the illegal,
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3:56 - 4:01barbaric constructions that sprang up in the public space.
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4:01 - 4:04And when colors came out everywhere,
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4:04 - 4:09a mood of change started transforming the spirit of people.
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4:09 - 4:12Big noise raised up: "What is this? What is happening?
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4:12 - 4:14What are colors doing to us?"
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4:14 - 4:15And we made a poll,
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4:15 - 4:17the most fascinating poll I've seen in my life.
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4:17 - 4:24We asked people, "Do you want this action,
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4:24 - 4:29and to have buildings painted like that?"
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4:29 - 4:31And then the second question was,
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4:31 - 4:34"Do you want it to stop or do you want it to continue?"
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4:34 - 4:36To the first question,
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4:36 - 4:4063 percent of people said yes, we like it.
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4:40 - 4:42Thirty-seven said no, we don't like it.
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4:42 - 4:46But to the second question, half of them that didn't like it,
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4:46 - 4:49they wanted it to continue. (Laughter)
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4:49 - 4:52So we noticed change.
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4:52 - 4:56People started to drop less litter in the streets, for example,
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4:56 - 4:59started to pay taxes,
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4:59 - 5:04started to feel something they had forgotten,
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5:04 - 5:09and beauty was acting as a guardsman
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5:09 - 5:15where municipal police, or the state itself, were missing.
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5:15 - 5:19One day I remember walking along a street
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5:19 - 5:21that had just been colored,
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5:21 - 5:25and where we were in the process of planting trees,
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5:25 - 5:28when I saw a shopkeeper and his wife
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5:28 - 5:32putting a glass facade to their shop.
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5:32 - 5:35They had thrown the old shutter
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5:35 - 5:38in the garbage collection place.
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5:38 - 5:41"Why did you throw away the shutters?" I asked him.
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5:41 - 5:46"Well, because the street is safer now," they answered.
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5:46 - 5:52"Safer? Why? They have posted more policemen here?"
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5:52 - 5:55"Come on, man! What policemen?
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5:55 - 5:58You can see it for yourself. There are colors,
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5:58 - 6:04streetlights, new pavement with no potholes,
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6:04 - 6:09trees. So it's beautiful; it's safe."
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6:09 - 6:13And indeed, it was beauty that was giving people
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6:13 - 6:17this feeling of being protected.
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6:17 - 6:20And this was not a misplaced feeling.
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6:20 - 6:25Crime did fall.
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6:25 - 6:29The freedom that was won in 1990
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6:29 - 6:33brought about a state of anarchy in the city,
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6:33 - 6:36while the barbarism of the '90s
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6:36 - 6:39brought about a loss of hope for the city.
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6:39 - 6:43The paint on the walls did not feed children,
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6:43 - 6:47nor did it tend the sick or educate the ignorant,
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6:47 - 6:51but it gave hope and light,
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6:51 - 6:53and helped to make people see
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6:53 - 6:56there could be a different way of doing things,
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6:56 - 7:00a different spirit, a different feel to our lives,
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7:00 - 7:07and that if we brought the same energy and hope
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7:07 - 7:11to our politics, we could build a better life
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7:11 - 7:16for each other and for our country.
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7:16 - 7:23We removed 123,000 tons of concrete
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7:23 - 7:25only from the riverbanks.
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7:25 - 7:31We demolished more than 5,000 illegal buildings
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7:31 - 7:34all over the city,
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7:34 - 7:38up to eight stories high, the tallest of them.
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7:38 - 7:45We planted 55,000 trees and bushes in the streets.
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7:45 - 7:48We established a green tax,
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7:48 - 7:52and then everybody accepted it
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7:52 - 7:57and all businessmen paid it regularly.
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7:57 - 7:59By means of open competitions,
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7:59 - 8:02we managed to recruit in our administration
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8:02 - 8:04many young people,
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8:04 - 8:06and we thus managed to build
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8:06 - 8:09a de-politicized public institution
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8:09 - 8:14where men and women were equally represented.
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8:14 - 8:16International organizations
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8:16 - 8:20have invested a lot in Albania during these 20 years,
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8:20 - 8:23not all of it well spent.
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8:23 - 8:26When I told the World Bank directors
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8:26 - 8:31that I wanted them to finance a project to build
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8:31 - 8:34a model reception hall for citizens
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8:34 - 8:38precisely in order to fight endemic daily corruption,
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8:38 - 8:40they did not understand me.
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8:40 - 8:44But people were waiting in long queues
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8:44 - 8:46under sun and under rain
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8:46 - 8:51in order to get a certificate or just a simple answer
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8:51 - 8:58from two tiny windows of two metal kiosks.
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8:58 - 9:02They were paying in order to skip the queue,
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9:02 - 9:05the long queue.
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9:05 - 9:09The reply to their requests was met
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9:09 - 9:13by a voice coming from this dark hole,
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9:13 - 9:18and, on the other hand,
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9:18 - 9:23a mysterious hand coming out to take their documents
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9:23 - 9:29while searching through old documents for the bribe.
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9:29 - 9:33We could change the invisible clerks within the kiosks,
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9:33 - 9:39every week, but we could not change this corrupt practice.
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9:39 - 9:43"I'm convinced," I told a German official
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9:43 - 9:45with the World Bank,
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9:45 - 9:49"that it would be impossible for them to be bribed
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9:49 - 9:52if they worked in Germany,
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9:52 - 9:54in a German administration,
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9:54 - 9:58just as I am convinced that if you put German officials
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9:58 - 10:01from the German administration in those holes,
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10:01 - 10:05they would be bribed just the same."
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10:05 - 10:12(Applause)
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10:12 - 10:14It's not about genes.
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10:14 - 10:20It's not about some being with a high conscience
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10:20 - 10:22and some others having not a conscience.
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10:22 - 10:25It's about system, it's about organization.
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10:25 - 10:28It's also about environment and respect.
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10:28 - 10:31We removed the kiosks.
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10:31 - 10:35We built the bright new reception hall
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10:35 - 10:38that made people, Tirana citizens,
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10:38 - 10:42think they had traveled abroad when they entered
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10:42 - 10:44to make their requests.
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10:44 - 10:48We created an online system of control
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10:48 - 10:52and so speeded up all the processes.
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10:52 - 10:56We put the citizen first, and not the clerks.
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10:56 - 11:01The corruption in the state administration
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11:01 - 11:03of countries like Albania --
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11:03 - 11:07it's not up to me to say also like Greece --
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11:07 - 11:13can be fought only by modernization.
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11:13 - 11:18Reinventing the government by reinventing politics itself
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11:18 - 11:21is the answer, and not reinventing people
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11:21 - 11:24based on a ready-made formula
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11:24 - 11:28that the developed world often tries in vain to impose
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11:28 - 11:30to people like us.
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11:30 - 11:33(Applause)
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11:33 - 11:35Things have come to this point
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11:35 - 11:37because politicians in general,
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11:37 - 11:40but especially in our countries, let's face it,
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11:40 - 11:43think people are stupid.
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11:43 - 11:46They take it for granted that, come what may,
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11:46 - 11:48people have to follow them,
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11:48 - 11:52while politics, more and more, fails to offer answers
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11:52 - 11:56for their public concerns
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11:56 - 12:01or the exigencies of the common people.
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12:01 - 12:04Politics has come to resemble
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12:04 - 12:07a cynical team game played by politicians,
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12:07 - 12:11while the public has been pushed aside
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12:11 - 12:15as if sitting on the seats of a stadium
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12:15 - 12:17in which passion for politics
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12:17 - 12:23is gradually making room for blindness and desperation.
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12:23 - 12:28Seen from those stairs, all politicians today
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12:28 - 12:30seem the same,
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12:30 - 12:34and politics has come to resemble
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12:34 - 12:39a sport that inspires more aggressiveness
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12:39 - 12:42and pessimism than social cohesion
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12:42 - 12:46and the desire for civic protaganism.
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12:46 - 12:48Barack Obama won
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12:48 - 12:55— (Applause) —
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12:55 - 12:58because he mobilized people as never before
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12:58 - 13:01through the use of social networks.
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13:01 - 13:04He did not know each and every one of them,
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13:04 - 13:08but with an admirable ingenuity,
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13:08 - 13:11he managed to transform them into activists
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13:11 - 13:15by giving them all the possibility to hold in their hands
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13:15 - 13:19the arguments and the instruments that each would need
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13:19 - 13:24to campaign in his name by making his own campaign.
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13:24 - 13:26I tweet. I love it.
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13:26 - 13:31I love it because it lets me get the message out,
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13:31 - 13:35but it also lets people get their messages to me.
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13:35 - 13:38This is politics, not from top down,
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13:38 - 13:42but from the bottom up, and sideways,
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13:42 - 13:45and allowing everybody's voice to be heard
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13:45 - 13:47is exactly what we need.
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13:47 - 13:49Politics is not just about leaders.
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13:49 - 13:51It's not just about politicians and laws.
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13:51 - 13:53It is about how people think,
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13:53 - 13:56how they view the world around them,
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13:56 - 13:58how they use their time and their energy.
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13:58 - 14:01When people say all politicians are the same,
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14:01 - 14:04ask yourself if Obama was the same as Bush,
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14:04 - 14:08if François Hollande is the same as Sarkozy.
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14:08 - 14:12They are not. They are human beings with different views
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14:12 - 14:15and different visions for the world.
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14:15 - 14:18When people say nothing can change,
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14:18 - 14:22just stop and think what the world was like
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14:22 - 14:2610, 20, 50, 100 years ago.
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14:26 - 14:30Our world is defined by the pace of change.
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14:30 - 14:32We can all change the world.
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14:32 - 14:35I gave you a very small example
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14:35 - 14:39of how one thing, the use of color,
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14:39 - 14:41can make change happen.
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14:41 - 14:43I want to make more change
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14:43 - 14:45as Prime Minister of my country,
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14:45 - 14:50but every single one of you can make change happen
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14:50 - 14:51if you want to.
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14:51 - 14:54President Roosevelt, he said,
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14:54 - 14:58"Believe you can, and you are halfway there."
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14:58 - 15:01Efharisto and kalinihta.
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15:01 - 15:21(Applause)
- Title:
- Take back your city with paint
- Speaker:
- Edi Rama
- Description:
-
Make a city beautiful, curb corruption. Edi Rama took this deceptively simple path as mayor of Tirana, Albania, where he instilled pride in his citizens by transforming public spaces with colorful designs. With projects that put the people first, Rama decreased crime -- and showed his citizens they could have faith in their leaders. (Filmed at TEDxThessaloniki.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:42
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Take back your city with paint | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Take back your city with paint | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Take back your city with paint | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Take back your city with paint | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Take back your city with paint | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Take back your city with paint | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |