When Ted goes South! – Part II

by Aurelie Salvaire

During 4 consecutive days, more than 70 inspiring talks and performances challenged the participants. It is hard to tell you all about it but here are some of the highlights of the week:

• As the curation was more focused on the south, many speakers were also social entrepreneurs as the Senior Ashoka Fellow Rodrigo Baggio, founder of CDI working on Brazil digital inclusion. The good news: we will welcome his new project Apps for good during our next TEDxBarcelonaED event !

• As a strong supporter of women empowerment, I fell in love with Khalida Brohi who is working in Balochistan region with Sughar Empowerment Society to produce amazing embroidered clothes and fights against honour killings. Here is her interview in TED blog.

 

Many speakers came from a grassroots social activist background:

• Pia Mancini whose talk is already available online and who launched Democracy OS, an open source mobile platform to bring citizens inside the legislative process, and run candidates who will listen to what they say.

• Alessandra Orofino from Meu Rio, talked about bottom-up local politics, as a catalyst for youth activism, identifying common issues and pooling for solutions, pressuring decision makers to listen to them.

• Bruno Torturra from Media Ninjas talked about the use of experimental livestreaming networks in covering demonstrations in Brazil.

The use of the media in denouncing human rights abuse was key for many speakers, among them the inspiring Oren Yacobovich, a recent elected Ashoka Fellow from Israeli origin, who uses recording technology and hidden cameras to report and document daily realities of life in the West bank.

Or Jm Sokoloff who convinced some of the FARC members in Colombia to demobilize spreading Christmas trees among the jungle and proving the power of advertising as a tool for change.

Ethan Nadelmann struck me with his very articulate pro-drug legalization discourse and his powerful arguments.

« The reason why a drug is legal or not has less to do with its actual danger for the body than with the type of people who consume it »

We also learnt about:

• food with Brazilian chefs reviving traditional ingredients

• American lawyer Kimberley Motley, the only western litigator in Afghanistan courts

• Michael Green who wrote the book Philantrocapitalism and explores the social progress index of different countries

• Jorge Soto who is developing a simple, non-invasive test for early cancer detection

• Navi Radjou who told us about frugal innovation and how to do more with less, learning from entrepreneurs from India or Africa about jugaad.

The nature was not left out of this edition with:

• Mark Plotkin from Save our Amazon telling us about the great mysteries and knowledge from remote Amazonian tribes

• Andres Ruzo performing before our eyes his quest on the mystery of a boiling river in the Peruvian Forest

• And Robert Swan, whose expeditions to both poles to preserve Antarctica in face of climate change
  

  Taiye Selasi – Source TED Global

  before the end of the moratorium on mining and drilling in 2041 was very inspiring.

It was actually quite thrilling to go among the crowd during the breaks and to cross the famous French Buddhist Monk Mathieu Ricard who talked to us about the power of altruism or the Ghanaian writer Taiye Selasi who challenged our vision of origin and identity with her question: « Rather than where do you come from, where are you a local? »

But the strongest standing ovations were dedicated to unexpected subjects:

On the one hand, the apparently not very sexy topic of remittances:

In 2013, international migrants sent $413 billion home to families and friends — three times more than the total of global foreign aid (about $135 billion). This money, known as remittances, makes a significant difference in the lives of those receiving it and plays a major role in the economies of many countries. Economist Dilip Ratha describes the promise of these “dollars wrapped with love” and analyzes how they are stifled by practical and regulatory obstacles. Check his talk already online !

And on the other hand, the Brazilian entrepreneur, writer and guru Ricardo Semler who told us very simply about his vision of corporate democracy and how he has been allowing employees to design their own job and salaries, setting up new schools and designing his own Tuesdays and Thursdays to live his bucket list for real.

As he says, « if you feel the need to give back, it means you took too much. »

An amazing moment that we will surely share in our next TEDx event!

The curation also included amazing artists and performances, which moved most of us to tears:

• Like the Circle of sound mixing Western and Indian music
  

  Gustavo Ollitta – Source TED Global

• Or Haas & Hahn who splash color onto urban walls in the Favelas of Santa Marta (some TEDx organizers even went there to give a hand on Saturday!)

• The global wanderer Vincent Moon who has been filming traditional music and sacred traditions all around the world

• Or the amazing emotional performance from Aakash Odedra with white leaves falling from the ceiling on his shaking body.

• The young Gustavo Ollitta mastered juggling the buugeng with a magical, surreal, illusion of kaleodispic flow.

• And the funk dance from Batalha do Passinho  straight down from the favelas funk nights.

 And there were very special moments like when Nana Vasconcelos, jazz icon, took his mythical instruments from the jungle and played the Berimbau for us.

 Or when Chilean hip hop feminist singer Ana Tijoux started her song 1977 that has been displayed in Breaking Bad itself.

And for me, the most moving speaker of the whole week, has been Jimmy Nelson, who shared with us his work and hilarious struggles (where the XXX is the goat ???) photographying endangered tribes in Ethiopia or Siberia. His photos left us speechless. And to conclude his talk, he had us all stand up and pose with the same pride and defiance as the members of the Omo Valley. Priceless.

 So if you wish you had come, feel free to check online for more videos and photos of this amazing event! And stay tuned for more update!

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