Learn English via Conversation with Barack Obama Bill Gates and Melinda Gates English Subtitles
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you started with as a community
organizer and so and rose to be
president you understand the power of
moving people along even people who
aren’t necessarily on your bus when you
start talk to us a little bit about how
you think of movements around the world
and the power of those now and what
leaders can learn from them well I’d
make a couple of observations number one
is that most big change most human
progress is driven by young people who
don’t know any better and figure why
can’t we do something different
old people get comfortable or cranky or
protective of their status or set in
their ways there is a reason why if you
look at for example here in the United
States the civil rights movement the
leaders of those movements were in their
20s dr. King was 26 when he started 39
when he was killed and if you if you
canvassed the world oftentimes that is
the the impetus people asking in in ways
that I think are familiar to many not
why not but or not why but why not
why do things have to be the way they
are so so that’s point number one that
that young people I think can make an
enormous difference number two is that
because most of us now either live in
democracies or countries that purport to
be democracies because we we have won
the the battle of ideas that says
governments
are our common efforts have to be rooted
in the legitimacy of people there is
more power than ever in people being
able to band together and collectively
push for initiatives that are going to
make change in their lives that’s
something that for most of human history
was unimaginable
that is one of the amazing transitions
that has taken place and you will notice
that even in autocracies today there is
the at least the pretense of democracy
because people believe that governments
that are rooted in people are more
legitimate and we that’s a battle we won
and now have to make real wherever we
can that’s point number two point number
three is simple math in most places if
you want to get something done whether
it’s a smarter climate change policy or
health care for people or more funding
for girls education you’ve got to have a
majority of people supporting it you got
to have votes you have to have the
allocation of resources and that
requires mobilization and a game of
addition rather than subtraction so and
the fourth point I would make would be
the internet now has turbocharged the
capacity for us to develop movements in
ways that we had not imagined before now
the last thing I’ll say so that I don’t
sound like I’m in the still new US
Senate and filibustering is is I guess a
smaller point but a profound one that I
tried to reinforce with my staff at
every level of my public work and and
continue to do to this day
I actually thinks
organizing mobilizing starting movements
starts with a story and you can’t create
a story that moves large numbers of
people unless you are able to listen and
hear to the story of the person next to
you the story of your neighbors the
stories of your co-workers the stories
of your community the story of people
who are not like you and so one of one
of the things that I think is is
important is for us to learn how to
listen to each other and learn how it is
that we came to be who we are think the
way we do because that understanding of
other people’s stories is how you end up
ultimately forging bonds and creating
the glue that creates movements mandi in
India it started with his understanding
of India’s story and his own story and
seeing Indians in South Africa
discriminated against and recognizing
that there were traditions and myths and
a power in those stories that ended up
driving out the most powerful empire on
earth
it wasn’t guns and increasingly that
will be the case and certainly that will
be the case if we’re able if we want to
move forward the sustainable development
goals that we’re talking about is we’ve
got to be able to tell a story not only
to big donors or politicians but also to
for example people here in the United
States who may feel like look I’ve got
my own problems why should I be worrying
about somebody on the other side of the
world you have to say when we got into
philanthropy and particularly studied
global health we were stunned at the
progress we had we’d had no idea
and it’s it’s kind of amazing if you ask
even very well-educated people you know
what’s happened with vaccinations what’s
happened with HIV they don’t know the
the positive story and a little bit the
news is always gonna focus on the
setbacks because that’s what happened
that day the gradual progress doesn’t
fit that paradigm and even people who
raise money for these causes I have to
say you know sometimes even some of the
material we create is talking about the
piece that remains as though it it it’s
never improved do you have any thoughts
on how we get this more positive sense
of progress going and what how we would
get that word out well look you’re
talking to somebody who for seven years
tried to get the word happen and nobody
at least about 40% of country didn’t
believe me
until I was gone and then suddenly they
believed it so with that caveat I’d make
a couple observations one you’re right
bill there is the the nature of the
media and maybe just the human brain is
to fasten on what’s wrong not on what’s
right and I’m not sure we’re gonna be
able to change that right visual
displays of a fire are much more
interesting than just a building sitting
there and so the fire is gonna make the
news the building sitting there nicely
and people are walking their dogs in
front of it and stuff that will not make
the news so so I don’t think that we can
count on conventional media necessarily
to spread the word this is though where
the power of the Internet has not I
think been harnessed the way it needs to
be particularly when we think about
young people and young audiences Malia
and Sasha consume information
differently than I do and I think that
those of us who’ve been involved with
policy work are still putting out these
reports with pie charts and this and
that and that’s not interesting to them
but stories and visual representations
of progress can go viral there’s a
hunger for it it’s just that we don’t
systematically think about it and and so
I think when the three of us we’re
talking a while back I mentioned that
one of the one of the areas that I’m
deeply interested in is how do we build
serve in a digital platform whereby
people can go to find out what’s
happening that is moving the progress on
issues and
then activates them because I heard
somebody I think maybe Trevor saying an
important point one of I’m very
interested in how online communities can
move offline how this incredible power
to convene through hashtags and tweets
and this and then the other eventually
leads to people meeting each other and
talking to each other and I think that
we have not fully tapped that as a way
of spreading the word about progress
that has been made I also think it is
important for us to put some friendly
pressure on leaders to tell good stories
and to make sure that we don’t that we
aren’t so rigid in our partisanship or
ideologies that we are not willing to
acknowledge and share when somebody who
might be of a different political
persuasion has done something really
good even if it runs contrary to our
short-term political interests I mean I
always used to say as as big as the
differences were between me and my
president predecessor George W Bush that
what his administration initiated with
PEPFAR was a singularly important
achievement that we needed to sustain
and build on and I didn’t think that
somehow had attracted for me to say that
somebody from another political party
did something really smart and really
good and deserve credit for it and and
and I feel as if these days with within
our political circles that’s a hard
thing for people to bring themselves to
do
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one of the things that bill and I had
the great privilege of doing when you
were in the White House late in your
presidency was spending a little bit of
casual time on a Saturday night and your
daughters were in and out of your home
Willie and Sasha and you’ve been to our
house earlier this summer and saw Rory
and Phoebe two of our three in and out
of our house our daughter Jen is here in
the front row
tell me about Jen’s like thanks mom
that’s our job to embarrass you that’s
what we do job done right there but you
know
Jen’s about the age of your girls a
little bit older but how have you and
Michelle thought about talking to your
children about being leaders in the
world and taking up this mantle of what
needs to be done in the world well it
what we’ve tried to communicate their
entire lives is that each of us has
responsibilities when they were small
the responsibilities were small my say
when you want to go potty and then as
you get older your responsibilities grow
and and but but part of what we I think
try to communicate is is that being
responsible is an enormous privilege
that’s what marks you as a fully grown
human is that you that other people rely
on you that you have influence that you
can make your mark that if you do
something well that that will improve
other people’s lives that the kinds of
values that we’ve tried to instill many
of them your basic homespun values like
kindness and consideration and empathy
and hard work that those are our tools
by which you can
shape the world around you in a way that
feels good and so what we’ve what we’ve
tried to encourage is that the sense
that it’s not somebody else’s job it’s
your job and I think that is that that’s
a epic that they’ve embraced now they
will choose to participate in in
different ways because they have
different temperaments and different
strengths I think one of the mistakes
that we sometimes make is to think that
there’s just one way of making a
difference or being involved you know if
you are a brilliant engineer you don’t
have to make a speech you can create an
app that allows an amplification or the
scaling up of some something that is
really powerful if you are somebody who
likes to care for people you you don’t
have to go out and lead the protest
march you can mentor some kids or work
at a at a local health clinic that is
going to make a difference so there are
a lot of different ways in which to make
a contribution and we try to emphasize
that that to them as well and then the
third thing that we try to try to
encourage is what I mentioned in my
earlier remarks which is that you have
to be persistent I I always tell people
that my early work as a community
organizer in Chicago taught me an
incredible amount but I didn’t set the
world on fire you know I got some public
parks for communities that needed them I
started some after-school programs we
we helped set up a job training program
for people who had been laid off of work
but that those communities weren’t
suddenly transformed that they still had
huge problems but I took that experience
and then I was able to build on it and I
think so often we get impatient because
change does not look as if sometimes
it’s not as discernable or mediate or
impactful as we had imagined in our in
our minds and we get disappointed and we
get frustrated and for for me by the way
that’s advice in life and not just in
social change I assume occasionally
there was a bug in the software
Melvyn every now and then every once in
a while you know and how we got a patch
it again this is this is annoying but
but that’s how I was I wasn’t known for
my patience bill did you have one yeah
so this week at part of the reason we’re
all in New York was the United Nations
is meeting and you know some of these
global institutions were created right
after World War two World Bank World
Health Organization UNICEF they’ve been
key partners for many of these causes
and yet there is definitely a cynicism
about their bureaucracy their efficiency
and their ability to change in fact very
few exceptions like Global Fund and
gobby we haven’t had any new one so over
the next 10 or 20 years do you think
these global institutions in terms of
reform or creating new ones it for
pandemics and climate change can they
step up to play the role we need them to
play well let me first of all say that
the biggest problems we confront
no one nation is going to be able to
solve on its own not even a nation as
powerful as the United States of America
there are times during my presidency
where I was attacked for not claiming
that we could go on our own as if that
was an expression of weakness no I I
believe that the United States is in
fact an indispensable nation and that
many of the initiatives and much of the
progress that we’ve made could not have
been done unless we underwrote those
efforts and I’ll use as an example of
our handling of Ebola which in
retrospect I think a lot of historians
would argue was one of the if not the
most effective emergency public health
intervention in history we we had to
create the architecture and the
infrastructure and send our military in
to create runways where the Chinese
could then land planes to deliver goods
and we had to provide guarantees to the
Europeans so that if they sent health
workers they could feel some assurance
that they could be medevacked out if
they got infected so so so I take great
pride in what the United States can do
but if we’re talking about climate
change or global migration spurred on by
drought or famine or you know ethnic
conflicts we’re not gonna be able to
solve those things by ourselves and as
you as you indicated don’t some if we
get an airborne pandemic
unlike a slow-moving slow disease it’s
difficult to transmit like Ebola if we
haven’t built ahead of time some some
structures to deal with this millions of
people could be adversely impacted so so
number one you have to start with the
premise and believe that multilateral
institutions and efforts are important
and you don’t have to cede all your
sovereignty or it doesn’t make you less
patriotic to believe that you just have
to have some sense and read so that’s
point number one point number two is
that in fact there are problems with
existing multilateral institutions not
surprisingly they were designed
post-world War two for the most part and
they couldn’t have anticipated
everything that’s happened there is
bureaucracy and inertia and resistance
to reform so it is important for every
country every leader to be honest about
the need for reform and not simply think
narrowly about well I want to keep
certain numbers of slots or votes or
this or that
at least on many of the issues where
there shouldn’t be a big ideological
controversy look reforming the Security
Council that’s something that goes to
core geopolitical interests and is a
huge difficult and perhaps unachievable
goal any time soon on the other hand
making sure that the WHL works well and
that we have a sufficient security
trigger when a pandemic or something
else happens that is achievable and it
shouldn’t be controversial it’s just a
matter of digging in and getting the
work done
what
comes to girls education there may be
cultural resistance in some places to
actually getting it done but generally
speaking there’s not a there aren’t that
many folks who will explicitly say I’m
sorry we don’t want to educate our girls
and women as a practical matter they may
you may see that in in certain countries
but at the level of our multilateral
institutions there should be a broad
consensus and so what what I would hope
for is that we come up with concrete
plans in those areas oftentimes with
respect to the the sustainable
development goals our areas where there
is a consensus on at least the aims if
not always the means and think about how
can we improve delivery systems how can
we improve their operations on a day to
day basis but ultimately the last point
I would make that requires leaders to
feel as if it matters and is important
that in turn requires the public think
that it matters and is important because
unfortunately what you discover is is
that most politicians and elected
leaders are followers and not leaders
they they’re called leaders but most of
the time they follow they they see what
do their constituencies care about and
they respond and one of the biggest
challenges that we’ve had is that and I
speak most intimately by the United
States the general public responds with
enormous generosity when they see a
specific story of a child who’s hungry
or somebody who’s been stricken by you
know a flood but when it comes to just a
general knowledge or interest in
development funding not only the
not know much but they oftentimes have a
negative reaction because their view is
we’ve got a lot of needs here at home
why are we sending money overseas sadly
it is one of the area’s the only areas
where Democrats and Republicans agree in
this in the United States is on foreign
aid and repeatedly you’ve seen public
opinion surveys where people wildly
overestimate what we spend on foreign
aid they think 25 percent of the federal
budget is going to foreign aid and
helping people other than folks in their
towns and their communities so the need
for public education in the ways we
talked about that promote that that tell
a good story that point out that this is
actually a bargain that connect what we
do with respect to development to
security not in in a perfect correlation
but to say that look if you’ve got
failed States then generally some of
that’s gonna spill over on us if you
have economies that are failing
ironically if you are concerned about
immigration and mass migration it’s
really a good investment to make
countries work so that people can eat
because then it’s not like they’re dying
to get on a dinghy and float across an
ocean if the place the country were they
were born and they loved was functioning
so so thinking about ways in which we
describe this both as an economic
imperative a environmental imperative a
security imperative the more we can
influence public opinion the more you’ll
see politicians respond that doesn’t
mean that there is not an enormous role
to play for NGOs philanthropy and so
forth but and I’ve said this to both
Bill and Melinda
even with the incredible generosity and
enormous skill with which they’ve
deployed their their resources over the
years the u.s. budgets still bigger a
lot and you know you there’s this notion
that you can that I hear sometimes from
young people that you can work around
government and work around politics
because it’s too messy or it’s corrupt
or it’s you know I just don’t like those
folks or what-have-you
I’m sorry guys that’s not gonna work if
you want to get done what you’re talking
about you will have to combine effective
philanthropy and technical know-how and
you know smart policy engineering with
getting your hands dirty trying to
change public opinion and trying to
ensure that the people who are in charge
of the levers of power are responsive
and and that will require work and I
guarantee you you will be disappointed
at points but what a glorious thing it
is to be responsible for saving the
world that’s your responsibility that
arm thanks
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