WEBVTT

00:00:12.552 --> 00:00:16.384
This story began in 1992,
when I was seven.

00:00:16.577 --> 00:00:18.597
Going out onto the playground,

00:00:18.597 --> 00:00:21.704
I realized that children
with whom I'd played yesterday

00:00:21.704 --> 00:00:23.487
didn't want to talk to me.

00:00:23.487 --> 00:00:27.412
Having run home in tears, I asked my mum,
"Why aren't they playing with me?"

00:00:27.534 --> 00:00:29.974
She just said, "Because you are Russian."

00:00:30.684 --> 00:00:33.423
"But I was also
Russian yesterday", I pleaded.

00:00:33.997 --> 00:00:36.943
A few days later, I came home from school

00:00:36.943 --> 00:00:40.478
and found all our belongings
had been packed,

00:00:40.478 --> 00:00:45.637
and we fled that night from my hometown
of Tyrnyauz in Kabardino-Balkaria.

00:00:45.927 --> 00:00:48.768
I have never gone back to that town,

00:00:48.768 --> 00:00:53.747
but have devoted myself
to making sense of what happened.

00:00:54.579 --> 00:00:58.235
I have lived, worked and studied
in various towns, cities and countries.

00:00:58.781 --> 00:01:02.390
I have completed a master's degree
on the subject of conflict resolution.

00:01:02.691 --> 00:01:06.405
I have worked at an international
human rights organization.

00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:08.679
Five years ago, I came back to Russia.

00:01:09.026 --> 00:01:12.626
I saw that conflict
and general division in our society

00:01:12.626 --> 00:01:14.724
had reached a critical point.d

00:01:14.809 --> 00:01:17.726
It is not just about ethnic groups.

00:01:17.981 --> 00:01:20.613
Disagreement on policy issues,

00:01:20.613 --> 00:01:22.352
differences in people's incomes,

00:01:22.352 --> 00:01:24.689
all of these have created social tensions.

00:01:24.718 --> 00:01:27.222
Big cities in our country are developing,

00:01:27.222 --> 00:01:32.980
while small villages and towns
are to be found in a poor state.

00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:34.247
They are dying out.

00:01:34.299 --> 00:01:37.672
I very often see that
when travelling across Russia.

00:01:37.978 --> 00:01:42.136
Here, for instance, you can see
how much of a difference there is

00:01:42.136 --> 00:01:45.458
in the population densities
of different regions of our country.

00:01:45.779 --> 00:01:49.995
The exodus of people
from small towns and villages

00:01:49.995 --> 00:01:52.936
is creating a very big problem.

00:01:52.992 --> 00:01:55.692
In the big cities,
the population density is growing,

00:01:55.692 --> 00:01:58.007
and that creates
a huge number of problems.

00:01:58.173 --> 00:02:03.143
I've made the decision
that I cannot simply look on at it;

00:02:03.390 --> 00:02:05.310
I either have to do something about it

00:02:05.310 --> 00:02:07.319
or depart.

00:02:07.853 --> 00:02:09.932
I decided on the former.

00:02:09.964 --> 00:02:12.652
At first, I didn't know
what I should do exactly.

00:02:12.712 --> 00:02:14.964
I have participated in election campaigns,

00:02:14.964 --> 00:02:17.328
and more than once been
an election observer.

00:02:17.406 --> 00:02:21.284
However, all that led to nothing,
nothing has changed in our society.

00:02:21.569 --> 00:02:26.585
In terms of my theoretical knowledge
of methods for dealing with conflicts,

00:02:26.595 --> 00:02:31.524
I realized that one of the methods
of connecting people

00:02:31.524 --> 00:02:32.956
is through common cause.

00:02:33.197 --> 00:02:37.452
It's about when different groups of people
are caught up together.

00:02:37.816 --> 00:02:40.887
They may not be particularly friendly
towards each other,

00:02:40.887 --> 00:02:46.338
but they all understand the value
of resolving an important issue,

00:02:46.338 --> 00:02:49.370
that the outcome of the issue
is more important

00:02:49.384 --> 00:02:52.378
than what they feel towards each other.

00:02:54.332 --> 00:02:58.517
Here, it's important
that a platform of common cause

00:02:58.517 --> 00:03:02.494
creates an atmosphere
where people begin to communicate,

00:03:02.494 --> 00:03:07.204
listen to each other,
and understand each other.

00:03:07.399 --> 00:03:10.493
Importantly: to understand
is not to agree.

00:03:10.763 --> 00:03:12.841
However, it is crucial.

00:03:12.912 --> 00:03:16.002
When I realized that common cause

00:03:16.005 --> 00:03:19.823
would help to solve
the problems in our society,

00:03:19.823 --> 00:03:22.950
and looked at the size of our country,

00:03:22.950 --> 00:03:26.805
I realized that my mission
would need to take on a tourist format.

00:03:27.386 --> 00:03:29.189
That's how Altourism came about.

00:03:29.886 --> 00:03:31.886
What do I do with Altourism?

00:03:31.886 --> 00:03:37.685
I locate active local residents
in towns and villages throughout Russia.

00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:40.808
Together with these people,
we identify a common cause,

00:03:40.973 --> 00:03:44.395
a cause that will really make
a positive impact

00:03:44.395 --> 00:03:47.806
on the development
of this little town or village.

00:03:48.774 --> 00:03:51.973
Then, together with the locals,
we organize a trip to that place

00:03:51.973 --> 00:03:55.280
for people who want to take part

00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.413
in improving a small town or a village,

00:03:59.413 --> 00:04:02.660
to make a contribution
to the development of such a place.

00:04:02.846 --> 00:04:06.047
We then take a trip there,
and see what we find.

00:04:06.085 --> 00:04:10.545
We might then sit down with the locals
to identify what might form a common cause

00:04:10.545 --> 00:04:13.037
that would help to make
an even bigger contribution

00:04:13.037 --> 00:04:15.340
to the development of the local community,

00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:18.232
or move on to the next stage
of development,

00:04:18.232 --> 00:04:21.999
supporting the local residents
in setting up a small business.

00:04:22.863 --> 00:04:24.877
Why do they need support?

00:04:24.990 --> 00:04:26.931
As I said, there's an exodus of people,

00:04:26.931 --> 00:04:29.758
and leaving with these people,
especially the younger ones,

00:04:29.758 --> 00:04:31.379
from the small towns and villages,

00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:32.848
are their ideas.

00:04:34.175 --> 00:04:37.741
Tell me, please, who is not
originally from Moscow?

00:04:37.741 --> 00:04:39.080
Raise your hands.

00:04:40.158 --> 00:04:42.838
(Laughter)

00:04:43.071 --> 00:04:46.758
I can't see you very well,
but I think that's about eighty percent.

00:04:47.995 --> 00:04:49.202
But we don't want -

00:04:49.209 --> 00:04:51.939
we are all bright, smart people here,

00:04:51.954 --> 00:04:55.325
striving for constant development,

00:04:55.325 --> 00:04:56.973
we here, in Moscow,

00:04:56.973 --> 00:05:01.904
but that doesn't mean that we want
our hometowns to fall into decay, does it?

00:05:02.679 --> 00:05:05.658
This is what my hometown
looks like these days.

00:05:07.830 --> 00:05:09.369
When I left it,

00:05:09.369 --> 00:05:13.999
it was like a little green paradise
at the foot of Elbrus.

00:05:14.192 --> 00:05:18.509
But this town actually has
the potential of the Swiss Alps.

00:05:18.728 --> 00:05:21.882
I don't understand why such things
are happening in Russia.

00:05:21.882 --> 00:05:25.215
"Common cause" is not my invention;
it is international practice.

00:05:25.965 --> 00:05:28.836
Organizations such as the UN
and other international bodies,

00:05:28.836 --> 00:05:32.570
they very often use
common cause as an instrument

00:05:32.570 --> 00:05:37.371
in the realization of, in the process
of coming to, a post-conflict settlement.

00:05:37.981 --> 00:05:39.878
Let's imagine a situation:

00:05:39.880 --> 00:05:43.887
a village in which residents
have been fighting each other.

00:05:43.977 --> 00:05:45.526
The hostilities are over,

00:05:45.526 --> 00:05:51.574
and an international body is tasked
with maintaining a stable peace.

00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:58.956
They notice that the water supply
in this village has been destroyed.

00:05:59.683 --> 00:06:01.259
They make an offer to the locals:

00:06:01.259 --> 00:06:05.283
"We'll fund the water supply
if you get together on it."

00:06:05.557 --> 00:06:08.890
And this is when the stage is set

00:06:08.890 --> 00:06:12.624
for the locals to start
working together on the water supply,

00:06:12.624 --> 00:06:14.078
to start communicating.

00:06:14.449 --> 00:06:19.000
They begin to listen to each other,
they begin to understand each other.

00:06:19.657 --> 00:06:22.174
To understand -
not to agree; to understand.

00:06:22.751 --> 00:06:24.423
That's the really important thing.

00:06:24.474 --> 00:06:27.331
This is the town of Tutayev
in the Yaroslavl Oblast.

00:06:27.445 --> 00:06:31.959
It was the first town in which
we started working, more than a year ago.

00:06:32.091 --> 00:06:35.203
Tutayev is separated
by the Volga into two parts.

00:06:35.224 --> 00:06:36.712
There's no bridge between them,

00:06:36.712 --> 00:06:39.550
and the two parts don't really
interact with each other.

00:06:39.946 --> 00:06:42.191
The town's administration
is on the right bank,

00:06:42.191 --> 00:06:45.251
and this side is much the bigger,
and is developing much faster.

00:06:45.251 --> 00:06:46.877
The left bank is almost forgotten.

00:06:46.898 --> 00:06:50.452
But its being forgotten
has both its upside and its downside.

00:06:50.452 --> 00:06:53.713
The downside is that
there is no building regeneration,

00:06:53.713 --> 00:06:56.890
and budget allocations have not been made
to develop this area.

00:06:56.970 --> 00:07:01.165
But what this side has is its beauty.

00:07:01.429 --> 00:07:05.831
Although it is crumbling,
it is not being destroyed on purpose.

00:07:05.863 --> 00:07:08.203
There is no new housing development there.

00:07:08.473 --> 00:07:10.473
We are just working with the left bank.

00:07:10.564 --> 00:07:16.576
Lilia and Alexey are the main initiators
of the positive changes on this left bank.

00:07:16.728 --> 00:07:18.919
They are developing
the Art House "Romanovo",

00:07:18.919 --> 00:07:21.117
which is where our altourists stay.

00:07:21.788 --> 00:07:25.521
This is our very first trip,
which took place in April 2015.

00:07:26.233 --> 00:07:29.782
Lilia and Alexei suggested that we,
together with the local people,

00:07:29.782 --> 00:07:33.402
might clear one of the squares of garbage.

00:07:33.712 --> 00:07:36.932
At first, many local residents
came out of curiosity.

00:07:37.815 --> 00:07:39.845
They met us with disbelief,

00:07:39.863 --> 00:07:42.458
but when our altourists withstood

00:07:42.458 --> 00:07:48.656
being covered in snow
four times during the day,

00:07:48.656 --> 00:07:51.648
they realized we were serious.

00:07:51.875 --> 00:07:54.515
And with that they became
very motivated themselves.

00:07:54.555 --> 00:07:57.861
They started talking with the altourists,
and not about the weather.

00:07:58.034 --> 00:08:00.660
For starters, they asked them:

00:08:01.022 --> 00:08:07.059
"Is it true that you paid to come here
to us in your free time

00:08:07.059 --> 00:08:10.151
to help us improve our town?"

00:08:10.317 --> 00:08:14.858
Can you imagine that every altourist
had their own answer to this question,

00:08:14.871 --> 00:08:18.225
if each was an entirely different one.

00:08:22.014 --> 00:08:27.445
And this, our first trip,
had a profound influence on everyone,

00:08:27.445 --> 00:08:29.774
both on the altourists and the locals.

00:08:30.236 --> 00:08:31.641
For the altourists though,

00:08:31.641 --> 00:08:34.651
really, travelling across Russia
was a very sad experience.

00:08:34.810 --> 00:08:36.931
This is the Smolensk Kremlin.

00:08:37.305 --> 00:08:42.271
You all know about it, at least
from our high school history textbooks.

00:08:42.997 --> 00:08:46.341
A huge number of our foes
were defeated there

00:08:47.332 --> 00:08:49.481
in different centuries,
in different battles.

00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:54.939
However, if you plan to go there,
you will realize it's in a very bad state.

00:08:55.689 --> 00:08:58.231
Getting up on the tower walls
is an extreme sport.

00:08:58.833 --> 00:09:01.983
But there is no tourist infrastructure
for visiting this site.

00:09:02.617 --> 00:09:03.826
That is very sad,

00:09:03.826 --> 00:09:06.175
since when you travel,
recharging your batteries,

00:09:06.175 --> 00:09:09.411
you want to be inspired
by positive emotions, not negative ones.

00:09:10.699 --> 00:09:15.024
It is the distinct feature
of Altourism's trips:

00:09:15.024 --> 00:09:18.969
our tourists always come back home
infused with positive emotions.

00:09:19.082 --> 00:09:21.827
It is because they meet
active local residents

00:09:21.827 --> 00:09:26.628
prepared to do great things
for their little towns or villages.

00:09:26.914 --> 00:09:30.926
Something else that distinguishes
our trips from others

00:09:30.926 --> 00:09:35.861
is that we, together with
the local residents, create new history

00:09:35.861 --> 00:09:37.529
as we travel around.

00:09:37.975 --> 00:09:41.073
And with that goes
another very important fact:

00:09:41.073 --> 00:09:45.599
each of our trips is unique,
there will not be another like it.

00:09:45.616 --> 00:09:48.530
And those tourists who go after us,

00:09:48.530 --> 00:09:50.830
they will study the history

00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:54.642
that we created with the altourists
and the local residents.

00:09:55.783 --> 00:10:01.046
After our trips, the local residents
develop completely different ways

00:10:01.046 --> 00:10:02.953
of building dialogue between each other.

00:10:02.953 --> 00:10:06.498
They no longer moan that everything's bad,
that nothing's done for them.

00:10:06.501 --> 00:10:09.141
They start asking themselves and others:

00:10:09.141 --> 00:10:12.635
"What kind of town do we want to live in?"
"How do we make it like it?"

00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:15.091
This is when we see the profound change

00:10:15.091 --> 00:10:17.675
in their way of thinking,
in their conceptions,

00:10:17.675 --> 00:10:20.589
that's exactly what we are trying
to achieve with Altourism.

00:10:21.186 --> 00:10:23.525
People stop thinking
"It should be done for us",

00:10:23.525 --> 00:10:25.460
and start thinking "We can do it".

00:10:25.645 --> 00:10:27.211
This is the important moment.

00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:34.699
(Applause)

00:10:37.756 --> 00:10:40.267
However, everything
is not always as hoped,

00:10:40.267 --> 00:10:43.439
other situations can arise.

00:10:43.533 --> 00:10:45.870
For example, this is Torzhok, Tver Oblast.

00:10:46.264 --> 00:10:48.646
We planned a trip here
for the May Holidays.

00:10:49.900 --> 00:10:52.564
To my surprise, we got
the planning done very quickly.

00:10:52.606 --> 00:10:58.732
There are local activists there
doing a lot for their town.

00:10:59.518 --> 00:11:02.293
Over the past year,
they've really moved mountains,

00:11:02.293 --> 00:11:05.232
but for our trip,
they chose a large-scale project

00:11:05.232 --> 00:11:06.930
that we weren't prepared for.

00:11:06.954 --> 00:11:09.400
When they found out
there was outside help,

00:11:09.400 --> 00:11:10.774
they decided to go all out.

00:11:10.824 --> 00:11:12.890
It was to smarten up this allée here.

00:11:14.057 --> 00:11:16.739
But what happened?

00:11:17.409 --> 00:11:20.973
We didn't get a group together,
so we had to cancel the trip.

00:11:22.014 --> 00:11:26.742
To my great joy,
the locals came out anyway,

00:11:26.742 --> 00:11:29.141
on the appointed day,
at the appointed hour,

00:11:29.141 --> 00:11:31.142
and they cleaned up the allée.

00:11:31.292 --> 00:11:36.524
Despite these positive changes,
the most important thing didn't happen:

00:11:36.806 --> 00:11:40.233
as we weren't there,
there was no change in their mindset.

00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:43.148
Only those people
came to the Saturday cleanup

00:11:43.148 --> 00:11:45.153
who already understood

00:11:45.153 --> 00:11:48.777
how important it is
to do something good around you,

00:11:48.777 --> 00:11:51.614
to change the world
around you for the better.

00:11:51.662 --> 00:11:53.141
But others did not come.

00:11:53.237 --> 00:11:56.718
Our trips bring in those local residents
who are just curious,

00:11:56.718 --> 00:12:00.780
and then they become part of us.

00:12:02.074 --> 00:12:03.999
I'll give you one more example,

00:12:03.999 --> 00:12:05.577
when, looking for a common cause,

00:12:05.577 --> 00:12:09.336
we, in fact, came up with the idea
of setting up a small business.

00:12:09.527 --> 00:12:12.995
It happened in the town
of Kotelnich in the Kirov Oblast.

00:12:13.035 --> 00:12:14.640
I went there six months ago

00:12:14.640 --> 00:12:18.999
when I got to know that it's
the biggest location for Permian reptiles.

00:12:19.641 --> 00:12:21.944
And just recently,
they opened a dinopark there.

00:12:21.944 --> 00:12:23.307
It's very cool.

00:12:23.367 --> 00:12:28.891
But then I realized that there is
something more interesting in this area.

00:12:29.332 --> 00:12:31.377
Locals began to tell me different stories.

00:12:31.387 --> 00:12:32.694
I came to realize

00:12:32.694 --> 00:12:36.255
that many cool photographers
come from this part of the Vyatka Region.

00:12:37.816 --> 00:12:42.173
But I also learned
that in the town of Kotelnich,

00:12:42.173 --> 00:12:45.712
the Museum of the Vyatka School
of Photography was opening.

00:12:46.283 --> 00:12:49.221
I tried Googling
the Vyatka School of Photography

00:12:49.221 --> 00:12:51.472
but didn't find any information.

00:12:51.510 --> 00:12:54.908
However, after talking to people,
I realized that it does really exist.

00:12:54.908 --> 00:12:58.635
We needed to gather information,
analyse it, and put together the details.

00:12:58.877 --> 00:13:02.845
And if we really wanted
people to know about it

00:13:02.845 --> 00:13:06.411
as one of the most important
tourist attractions in our country,

00:13:06.411 --> 00:13:10.912
it somehow had to involve itself
with its own financial history.

00:13:11.044 --> 00:13:12.353
That's when I suggested

00:13:12.353 --> 00:13:15.674
opening a hostel for photographers
in the museum building,

00:13:15.684 --> 00:13:20.582
a place people interested in photography
would come to from all over the world.

00:13:20.845 --> 00:13:23.961
They could have masterclasses
given by Vyatka photographers,

00:13:23.961 --> 00:13:25.264
and go on photo trips.

00:13:27.414 --> 00:13:30.216
These then are three examples
of our activities.

00:13:30.223 --> 00:13:32.802
We are now working
in six regions of Russia.

00:13:33.291 --> 00:13:35.855
For the second year
of our activities, that's great,

00:13:35.855 --> 00:13:39.124
but on the national scale,
it's actually nothing.

00:13:40.332 --> 00:13:45.632
I would like to see the mindset
of the majority of our people change.

00:13:46.489 --> 00:13:51.309
I would like small towns and villages
in our country to be developed.

00:13:52.081 --> 00:13:57.364
I don't want young people
to want to leave their hometowns

00:13:57.364 --> 00:13:58.913
because they need to;

00:13:58.913 --> 00:14:01.115
but that there's a good job
where they are,

00:14:01.115 --> 00:14:04.054
that opportunities exist there
for their self-development,

00:14:04.054 --> 00:14:07.145
and that there are interesting
people there for them to talk to.

00:14:07.841 --> 00:14:12.271
I would like moving
to a small town or village

00:14:12.271 --> 00:14:13.671
to become a modern trend.

00:14:15.046 --> 00:14:17.285
Altourism can achieve that.

00:14:17.873 --> 00:14:21.613
But we need to take action
across the whole country.

00:14:23.403 --> 00:14:27.331
And finally, I'd like to ask those people
who raised their hands

00:14:27.331 --> 00:14:33.228
to think that, in your hometown, village,
you have there active people.

00:14:33.905 --> 00:14:35.608
Introduce me to them.

00:14:35.828 --> 00:14:37.537
And we'll move mountains together.

00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:46.010
(Applause)