What happens when the whole world votes? | Simon Anholt | TEDxFrankfurt

As many of you know, the results of
the recent election were as follows:

Hillary Clinton, democratic candidate
went allowance ??? victory

with 52% of the overall vote.

Jill Stein, the green candidate,
came a distant second with 19%.

Donald J. Trump, the Republican Candidate
was caught on the hills with 14%.

And their major of votes was shared between abstainers and Gary Jonhson, ???

the libertarian candidate.

(Laughter in the audience)

What parallel Universe do you suppose I'm living ?

Well, I don't live in a parallel Universe, I live in the world.

And that, is outer world verdict.

Let me take you back and explain what I wean with that.

In June this year, I learned something called "The Global Vote".

And the Global Vote, does exactly what he says on the team:

for the first time in hystory, elects anybody, anywhere in the world,

vote in the elections of others people's countries.

Why would you do that?

What's the point?

Let me show you what it looks like.

You go on a website, rather beautiful website, and then you select an election

here's the bunches we've already covered,

we do about it one a month or there about it if you consider the ''' of the United States of America

Secretary General of the United Nations, The Brexit Referendum at the end of ???

You select the election that you're interested in and you pick the candidate

These are the candidates for the recent Presidential elections in the tiny ??? Island Nation in Sautomia in Principe

under 99 of thousand inhabitants, off the coast of West Africa.

And you can look at the brief summary of each of those Candidates which I dearly hope

it's very neutral, very informative and very succinct.

And when you find the one you like, you vote.

These were the candidates in the recent Islandic election. And That's the way it goes.

Why not would you do want to vote in another country's election?

The reason you wouldn't want to do it, let me reassure you is in order to interfere

in the democratic process of another country.

That's not the purpose at all.

Infact, you can't because usually what I do is a release of results after

the election in each individual country has already voted, so there's not way we can interfere in that process.

But more importantly, I'm not particularly interested in the domestic issues of the individual countries,

that's not what we are voting on.

What Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton propose to do for the Americans

it's frankly none of our business.

That's something that only the Americans can vote on.

Now, in the Global Vote you are considering only one aspect of it

which is: what of those leaders are going to do for the rest of us?

And that's so very important, because we live, as lot of ????? people tell you,

in a globalized, hyperconnected, massively interdependent world,

where the political decisions of people of another countries can unwill have an impact on our lives

no matter who we are, no matter where we live.

Like the wings of the butterfly, beating on one side of the Pacific,

that can apparently create an hurricane on the other side. So it is with the world we are living today.

And the world of politics.

There's no longer divided lines between domestic and international effect.

Any country, no matter how small, even if it's Sautoma in Principe,

could produce the next Nelson Mandela, or the next Stalin.

They could pollute the atmosphere in the oceans which belongs to all of us.

Or they could be responsible and they can help all of us.

And yet, the system is so strange because the system hasn't caught ??? up with the globalized reality.

Only a small number of people are allowed to vote for those leaders, even though their impact is gigantic

and almost universal.

What number was it? A hundred and forty million of Americans voted for the next President of The United State

and yet, as all of us know, in a few weeks time, somebody is going handle

over the Nuclear Launch Code to Donald J. Trump.

Now if it isn't having a potential impact on all of us, I don't know what it is.

Similarly, the election for the Referendum - on the Brexit Vote

was a small numbers of millions of British people that voted on that

but the outcome of the vote, which every way I went????? would it have a significant impact

on the lives of tens hundreds of millions people around the world

and the ????? number could vote

What kind of democracy is that?

Huge decisions that affects all of us being decided by relatively very small numbers of people

and I don't know about you, but I don't think that sounds very democratic.

So I'm trying to clear it up.

But as I say, we don't ask about domestic questions. Infact, I only have asked two questions of all of the candidates.

I send the same two questions every single time. I say:

1. If you got elected, what are you going to do for the rest of us?

For the reminder of the 7 billion who live in this planet?

2. What is your vision for your country's future in the world?

What role do you see it will play?

Every candidate, I send the same questions and I ?????

don't get me wrong, I re???? if you're standing to become the next President of the United States

probably pretty tied ??? most of the time,

so I'm not get together surprised that I'm ???? but many do.

More every time. And somebody do much more than answer.

Some of the most, in the most enthusiastic and you could imagine,

I just wanna say what if ????chiChimba, which was one of the candidate in the recent Zambia Presidential elections

His answers to those two questions were basically an 18 pages dissertation

on his view of Zambia potential role in the world, and in the international Community.

I posted on the website so anyone could read it.

Now sa??? onte the global vote, but he didnt't win the Zambia election

So I found myself wondering, what am I going to do if this extraordianry group of people,

I found some wonderful people here who want the global vote

we always ???? are getting wrong, by the way.

The one we elect is never the one that is elected by the domestic electorate.

Maybe Palin because we wento see to go for the vote for women

But I think it may also be a sign that the domestic electors still think very nationally

they're still thinking very inwardly,

they're still asking themselves: what's in it for me? instead what they should be asking today, which is:

What's in it for we?

But then you go , so suggestions please, not right now but send me an e-mail

if you got an idea about we can do with this amazing team of glorious losers.

We've gor save ???? before we should up at ? Tortier who was running

in the Islandic Presidential elections, many of you may have seen her

in an amazing talk at TED women just few weeks ago,

when she spoke for need for women to get into politics.

We have Maria S??? from Sautomia in Principe

we got Hillary Clinton, I don't know that she's available.

We got Jill Stein, and we covered also the elections of the next Secretary of the United Nations

and we called the next Prime Minister of the New Zeeland

a wonderful member of the team

I think maybe those people the ????? traveled around the world whatever there's an election

and remind people of the necessity in our modern age, of thinking a little bit outwards

and thinking of the international consequences.

What comes next to the global vote? Obviously the Donald and Hillary show

is a difficult one to follow but there's anothere ???election coming up

Infact they seemed multuply, there's something going on, I'm sure you've noticed in the world

and the next role of elections were critically important.

And just a few days time we got a ???? the Australian Presidential elections

with the prospect of nobody offer.???

becoming finally described as the fast ???since the Second Worlds War

Next year we got Germany, we got France, we got Presidential election in Iran,

and it doesn't habits ???

It doesn't get less important It gets more and more important.

Clearly, the global vote is not a stand alone project.

It's not just there on its own.

It has some backgrounds. It's part of the project which I've launched back in 2014

which I called "Good Country".

The idea of a good country is basically very simple.

It's my simple diagnosis of what it's wrong with the world, and how we can fix it.

What's wrong with the world I've already went into that.

Basically we face an enourmous growing number of gigantic

existential global challenges - climate change, human rights abuses,

mass migration, terrorism, economic caos, weapons proliferation

who with these problems is ??? to praise out?

About the very nature of globalized problems we know individual countries

as the capability of tackling on its own

And so very obviously, we have to cooperate and we have to collaborate

as nations we're not going to solve these problems.

It's so obvious.

And yet we don't-

We don't do nearly after enough. Most of the time, countries still persists in behaving

as they we're worring selfish tribes.

Battling against each other, much ??? they have that since the nation stayed invented hundred of years ago.

And this is got to change. This is not a change in political system or a change in ideology

this is a change in culture

we, all of us, have to understand, that thinking inwoods is not the solution to the world's problems

we have to learn how to cooperate and how collaborate a great deal know??

and compete just a tiny bit less.

Otherwise things we are carrying are getting bad, and are going to get much worse

much sooner that we anticipate.

This change will only happen if we ordinary people tell our polititians of things to change

we have to tell them that the culture is changed.

We have to tell them we have a new mandate

The old mandate was very simple and very single.

If you're in a posistion of power or authority you're responsible for your own people

and your tiny slice of territory, and that's it.

And in order to do the best thing for your people, you screw over everybody else on the planet

Tha't considered to be a big macho.

Today, I think everybody in a position of power and responsibility is in the position of a dual mandate

which says if youìre in a position of power and responsibility, you're responsible for youir own people

and for every single man, woman, child and animal on the planet.

You're responsible for your own slice of territory and for every single square of ???

and the atmosphjere above it

and if you don't like that responsibility, you should not be in power.

That, for me, is the rule of the modern age

And that's the message that we're going to address to our politicians

and show them that that's the way things are made these days

otherwise, we're all screwed.

I don't have a problem actually with Donald Trump ?????? of America first

It seems to me that this it's a pretty banale statement of what politicians have always done,

and probably should always do.

Of, course, they're elected to represent interests of their own people,

but what I find so boring and so old-fashioned,

and so unimaginative about his take on that,

is that America first means everyone else last.

The making America greater again means making everybody else small again.

And it's just no true.

Imagine all the advisor of the last twenty years or so.

I've seen so many hundreds of examples of policies that harmonize

the international and the domestic needs.

And they make better policy. I'm not asking nations to be altruistic

or self-sacrificed. That would be ridiculous!

No nation would ever do that!

I'm asking to wake up and understand that we need a new form pof Government

which is possible and which harmonize those two needs

and it's good for our own people

and those good for everybody else.

Since the US elections and since Brexit,

it's becoming more obvious to me that these domestic elections

they really don't fit the pattern.