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What is history?

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It is something written by the winners.

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There is a stereotype that history[br]should be focused on the rulers,

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like Lenin or Trotsky.

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As a result, people[br]in many countries, like mine, Russia,

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look at history as something[br]that was predetermined

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or determined by the leaders,

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and common people could not[br]influence it in any way.

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Many Russians today do not believe[br]that Russia could ever have been

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or ever will be a truly democratic nation,

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and this is due to the way[br]history has been framed

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to the citizens of Russia.

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And this is not true.

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To prove it, I spent two years[br]of my life trying to go 100 years back,

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to the year 1917,

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the year of the Russian Revolution.

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I asked myself, what if the internet[br]and Facebook existed 100 years ago?

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So last year, we built[br]a social network for dead people,

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named Project1917.com.

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My team and I created our software,

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digitized and uploaded[br]all possible real diaries and letters

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written by more than 3,000 people

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100 years ago.

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So any user of our website or application

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can follow a news feed[br]for each day of 1917

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and read what people[br]like Stravinsky or Trotsky,

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Lenin or Pavlova[br]and others thought and felt.

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We watch all those personalities[br]being ordinary people like you and me,

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not demigods,

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and we see that history consists[br]of their mistakes, fears, weaknesses,

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not only their "genius ideas."

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Our project was a shock for many Russians,

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who used to think that our country[br]has always been an autocratic empire

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and the ideas of freedom and democracy[br]could never have prevailed,

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just because democracy[br]was not our destiny.

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But if we take a broader look,

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it's not that black and white.

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Yes, 1917 led to 70 years[br]of communist dictatorship.

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But with this project, we see that Russia[br]could have had a different history

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and a democratic future,[br]as any other country could or still can.

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Reading the posts from 1917,

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you learn that Russia[br]was the first country in the world

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to abolish the death penalty,

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or one of the first ones[br]to grant women voting rights.

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Knowing history and understanding[br]how ordinary people influenced history

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can help us create a better future,

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because history is just a rehearsal[br]of what's happening right now.

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We do need new ways of telling history,

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and this year, for example,

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we started a new online project[br]that is called 1968Digital.com,

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and that is an online documentary series

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that gives you an impression[br]of that year, 1968,

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a year marked by global social change

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that, in many ways,[br]created the world as we know it now.

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But we are making that history alive

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by imagining what if all the main[br]characters could use mobile phones ...

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just like that?

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And we see that a lot of individuals

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were facing the same challenges[br]and were fighting for the same values,

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no matter if they lived[br]in the US or in USSR

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or in France or in China[br]or in Czechoslovakia.

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By exposing history[br]in such a democratic way,

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through social media,

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we show that people in power[br]are not the only ones making choices.

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That gives any user a possibility[br]of reclaiming history.

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Ordinary people matter.

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They have an impact.

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Ideas matter.

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Journalists, scientists,[br]philosophers matter.

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We shape society.

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We all make history.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)