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For years I have been working
on a simple idea.
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For humanity to take its next leap ahead,
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we need together across borders
to solve global issues.
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In the modern world,
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no wall or border
can protect us from crisis.
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We have no other choice but to unite,
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and we need to do it fast.
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In 2016, I was devasted
by the UK's decision
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to leave the European Union.
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I'm French, and for me the EU is a symbol
of a more open and global society.
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But suddenly by beliefs were shattered,
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and I wasn't alone in feeling this way.
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My partner, Andrea, who's Italian,
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and Damian, a German friend,
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also felt the shock of seeing
the world turning inward.
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We realized that despite being
from three different countries,
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we witnessed the same challenges:
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migration flows being dealt with
in an inhuman manner,
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climate change
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or high youth unemployment.
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And we also had the same hopes
and dreams in our everyday lives.
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We also realized that to solve
European issues,
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the outdated model of always putting
national interests first had to go.
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So we decided to act.
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For a few months,
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we worked on the idea of launching Volt,
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the first pan-European political movement.
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And then, naturally, we told
our Facebook friends,
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and a lot of them responded saying
they were up for the challenge
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and wanted to help.
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People started holding small
community meetings in parks,
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universities and pubs
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to discuss their common future
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and share their solutions
to the continent's biggest problems.
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We mobilized tens of thousands of people
across 28 European countries
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Two years in,
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Damian was elected
to the European parliament
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on the campaign run
by volunteers across borders
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on the idea that we are stronger together.
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We showed that by collaborating
across borders,
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by uniting and acting as one,
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we could start changing how people think.
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We were the first ones to attempt
something of this scale
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and to succeed.
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Despite this,
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after the European elections in May 2019,
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Andrea and I looked into each other's eyes
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and asked that frank question
that you never want to ask
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once you have worked for two years
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towards something
that actually worked out:
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"Is this enough?"
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No, it wasn't.
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We knew that today's urgent
challenges are not just European,
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but global.
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We also knew that we couldn't
even attempt to solve them
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by only focusing on Europe,
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a continent that represents less
than 10 percent of the world population.
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The underlying issue
is that the way we see the world
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and the way the world works
are fundamentally wrong.
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In the span on two generations,
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the world has changed more
than in the previous 20,000 years.
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We can land on the moon,
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we can wake up in Shanghai
and go to bed in New York.
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We have access to a huge amount
of information all the time, everywhere.
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But we still see the world
as our immediate vicinity.
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But issues like COVID-19,
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climate change,
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migration,
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fiscal justice
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or human rights
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mean that we need to think
and unite beyond national borders.
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A global approach is needed to solve them.
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Countries need to collaborate,
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share resources, information
and solutions.
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It's not just the right thing to do
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but it's also the smart one.
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So in the weeks following
Damian's election,
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Andrea and I decided
that we would create a global movement
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to unite people beyond borders
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and solve those issues
that concern us all.
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We called it NOW!
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because we're not very creative,
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and because it needs to happen now.
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So I know that going beyond national
borders is not the easiest thing to do,
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so here's the framework
that has been guiding our work.
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I call it "think, unite and leap forward."
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First we need to change the way
we think about the world.
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Whether we like it or not,
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we already live in a globalized world.
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We need to stop thinking
within national frameworks
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and start thinking globally.
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Take for example
how we think about taxation.
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Multinational companies
like Facebook or Amazon
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already operate across borders,
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but they pay very little taxes
in very few countries
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because we think of them
within national frameworks.
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And as a result,
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we lack a global tax system.
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Due to this,
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countries are deprived of at least
500 billion dollars annually.
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500 billion dollars.
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To put it in perspective,
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with half of that amount of money,
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we could put an end
to global hunger for one year.
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But we don't because of the way
we think about the world.
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At NOW! we want to change this.
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We connect people
from all across the world
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who discuss, work together and understand
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that global is the new normal
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and that they have more in common
than what separates them.
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We host weekly events
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in which we discuss topics
such as LGBT rights,
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pandemics,
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fiscal justice
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or mental health.
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We break down those global challenges
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to see how they impact people
in various parts of the world.
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And our members have
already shown a global thinking,
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actively rallying their governments
to solve those issues,
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like entering a fair distribution
of vaccines across the world.
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Second, after changing the way we think,
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we need to unite beyond borders.
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This way we can make governments
act on global issues.
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Take the example of the erosion
of democracy in Hong Kong.
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China has systematically cracked down
on rights, democracy and freedoms,
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but countries have barely responded
to protect Hong Kongers.
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And I don't mean weak
statements of condemnation
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that won't lead to any actual change,
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but proper responses such as sanctions.
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That's why at NOW!,
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a couple of weeks back,
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we launched a campaign
to demand that democracies rally
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to be able to stand up
meaningfully to China.
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And to get their attention,
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we started hosting weekly protests
in front of Chinese embassies.
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Within a couple of weeks,
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we engaged more than
a million people online.
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Our hope is that by uniting
and mobilizing people across borders,
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we will be able
to successfully lobby nations
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into imposing coordinated
sanctions on China.
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Finally, we must have
the courage to leap forward
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to create the world of tomorrow.
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We need a system of governance
that works for us all across the world.
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And while some supernational institutions
like the United Nations exist,
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their enforcement mechanisms
are extremely limited.
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Citizens cannot participate
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and national interests often prevail.
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And on the national level,
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political parties are bound
by electoral timetables and borders,
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which means that they cannot operate
in a coordinated global manner.
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Policy-making,
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governance and politics
need to stretch further.
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Take the example of the response
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Countries have formed and incredibly
shortsighted approach to the pandemic.
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They haven't collaborated
when it comes to protective equipment,
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vaccines or medicines.
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At NOW! we launched a campaign
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demanding that the World Health
Organization ensures
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that health workers across the world,
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regardless of their nationalities,
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get priority access to future
COVID-19 vaccines.
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We leveraged a network of doctors
on social media to raise awareness
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and started a petition
targeted at the WHO.
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For two weeks,
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our members spread the words
digitally and on the streets,
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and then we got a response
from the Director-General of the WHO
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welcoming our campaign,
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reemphasizing that the power to do so
lies within member states
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but committing to working
with them in that direction.
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And look, this was a very nice letter,
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but it was completely pointless.
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The WHO cannot act
meaningfully on this issue.
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But the point is,
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a United Nations agency should
be able to act meaningfully,
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should be able to create binding policies
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and implement them
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when faced with a global threat.
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Right now,
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the most we can hope for
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is for some world leaders
to hear our scream
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and decide to do the right thing.
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This cannot continue.
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In the globalized world,
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we need a true democratic,
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and accountable global
system of governance.
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And that's also what
we're working towards,
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but I know that global governance
will not happen overnight.
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For this we need people
to push their governments
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to act in a global manner,
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to show that collaboration
leads to better results.
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We need to prove the case
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before we can change
the way the world works.
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So this is my framework:
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think beyond national borders,
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unite across the world
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and leap forward to make sure
that the world actually works as one.
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And I know it is easier said than done,
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but it is doable.
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Take our case as an example.
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NOW! was only launched
on the first of January 2020
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but already counts thousands of members
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in more than 100 countries.
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We are beginning to see
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that it is possible
to unite beyond borders,
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that it is within our reach.
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And we're not special,
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nor am I in any way.
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I don't have any cool skills,
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and the thought of giving
this talk terrified me.
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But I am testing different ways
to effect change on a global scale
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because I know that national mindsets
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and national frameworks have to leave
room for something bigger,
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for something better.
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My hope is that within my lifetime,
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I will see what living
as one world actually means,
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that by uniting,
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we will be able to safeguard democracy,
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to protect the environment,
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to save lives by sharing vaccines,
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to create safer routes for migration,
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among many other achievements.
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I don't know whether
I have the one solution --
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no one does.
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I don't know whether
NOW! will be successful
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in achieving these goals,
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but this is not the point.
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The point is that you should take action
to effect change on the global scale.
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My hope is that many of you will
start to work together across borders,
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that you will create and innovate new ways
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for the world to be truly one.
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Because yes, we are stronger together,
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so what are we waiting for?
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Thank you.