ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mikhail Zygar - Journalist, writer, filmmaker
Mikhail Zygar is the founder of Future History, the creative digital studio behind Project1917 and 1968.digital.

Why you should listen

Mikhail Zygar is a Russian journalist, writer, filmmaker and the founding editor-in-chief of the Russian independent news TV-channel, Dozhd (2010 - 2015). Prior to Dozhd, Zygar worked for Newsweek Russia and the business daily Kommersant, where he covered the conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Serbia and Kosovo. His bestseller All the Kremlin's Men is based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, presenting a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. His recent book The Empire Must Die was released in Russian and English in 2017. It portrays the years leading up to the Russian revolution and the vivid drama of Russia's brief and exotic experiment with civil society before it was swept away by the Communist Revolution.

More profile about the speaker
Mikhail Zygar | Speaker | TED.com
TED2018

Mikhail Zygar: What the Russian Revolution would have looked like on social media

Mikhail Zygar: Como sería a Revolución Rusa nas redes sociais

Filmed:
1,432,185 views

A historia escríbena os vencedores, como adoita dicirse, pero como sería se a escribísemos entre todos? Mikhail Zygar, xornalista e membro TED, ten a misión de amosárnolo co seu Project1917, "unha rede social para mortos" que publica os diarios e cartas auténticos de máis de 3.000 persoas que viviron durante a Revolución Rusa. Ao mostrarnos os pensamentos cotiáns de persoas como Lenin, Trotsky e moitas outras figuras menos coñecidas, o proxecto bota luz sobre a historia tal e como foi, e como puido ser. Descubre máis sobre esta nova narración dixital do pasado e sobre o último proxecto de Zygar sobre o transformador ano 1968.
- Journalist, writer, filmmaker
Mikhail Zygar is the founder of Future History, the creative digital studio behind Project1917 and 1968.digital. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
What is history?
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Que é a historia?
00:15
It is something written by the winners.
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É algo que escriben os vencedores.
00:20
There is a stereotype that history
should be focused on the rulers,
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Hai un estereotipo que di que a historia
se debería centrar nos dirixentes,
00:24
like Lenin or Trotsky.
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como Lenin ou Trotsky.
00:27
As a result, people
in many countries, like mine, Russia,
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Como consecuencia, a xente de países
coma o meu, Rusia,
00:31
look at history as something
that was predetermined
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ve a historia como algo predeterminado
00:35
or determined by the leaders,
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ou determinado polos líderes
no que a xente normal
non pode influír de ningún xeito.
00:38
and common people could not
influence it in any way.
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00:41
Many Russians today do not believe
that Russia could ever have been
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Hoxe moitos rusos non cren
que Rusia puidese ser no pasado
00:45
or ever will be a truly democratic nation,
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ou que poida ser no futuro
un país realmente democrático,
00:48
and this is due to the way
history has been framed
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e isto é debido ao modo
en que se lles mostra a historia
00:51
to the citizens of Russia.
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aos cidadáns de Rusia.
00:52
And this is not true.
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E non é certo.
00:55
To prove it, I spent two years
of my life trying to go 100 years back,
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Para demostralo, pasei dous anos
tratando de remontarme 100 anos
01:00
to the year 1917,
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ata 1917,
01:03
the year of the Russian Revolution.
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o ano da Revolución Rusa.
01:05
I asked myself, what if the internet
and Facebook existed 100 years ago?
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Pregunteime: que pasaría se Internet
e Facebook existisen hai 100 anos?
01:12
So last year, we built
a social network for dead people,
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Así que o ano pasado construímos
unha rede social para mortos
01:17
named Project1917.com.
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e chamámoslle Project1917.com.
01:22
My team and I created our software,
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O meu equipo e máis eu
creamos o noso software,
01:24
digitized and uploaded
all possible real diaries and letters
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dixitalizamos e subimos
innumerables cartas e diarios auténticos
01:30
written by more than 3,000 people
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escritos por máis de 3.000 persoas
01:33
100 years ago.
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hai 100 anos.
01:34
So any user of our website or application
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Os usuarios do noso sitio web
ou da nosa aplicación
01:38
can follow a news feed
for each day of 1917
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poden recibir noticias de cada día de 1917
01:42
and read what people
like Stravinsky or Trotsky,
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e ler o que persoas
como Stravinsky ou Trotsky,
01:46
Lenin or Pavlova
and others thought and felt.
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Lenin ou Pavlova, e outros,
pensaban e sentían.
01:50
We watch all those personalities
being ordinary people like you and me,
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Vemos a eses persoeiros actuar
como xente normal coma nós,
01:55
not demigods,
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non como semideuses,
01:57
and we see that history consists
of their mistakes, fears, weaknesses,
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e vemos que a historia está formada
polos seus erros, temores e fraquezas,
02:04
not only their "genius ideas."
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non só polas súas "ideas xeniais".
02:08
Our project was a shock for many Russians,
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O proxecto impactoulles a moitos rusos,
02:10
who used to think that our country
has always been an autocratic empire
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que crían que o noso país
foi sempre un imperio autocrático
02:16
and the ideas of freedom and democracy
could never have prevailed,
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e que as ideas de liberdade e democracia
non poderían prevalecer xamais,
02:19
just because democracy
was not our destiny.
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simplemente porque a democracia
non era o noso destino.
02:23
But if we take a broader look,
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Pero se adoptamos
unha perspectiva máis ampla,
02:26
it's not that black and white.
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isto non é tan branco ou negro.
02:29
Yes, 1917 led to 70 years
of communist dictatorship.
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Si, 1917 deu paso a 70 anos
de ditadura comunista.
02:35
But with this project, we see that Russia
could have had a different history
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Pero con este proxecto vemos que Rusia
puido ter unha historia diferente
02:40
and a democratic future,
as any other country could or still can.
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e podería ter un futuro democrático,
como calquera outro país.
02:45
Reading the posts from 1917,
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Ao ler as mensaxes de 1917,
02:49
you learn that Russia
was the first country in the world
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un descobre de que Rusia foi
o primeiro país do mundo
02:52
to abolish the death penalty,
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en abolir a pena de morte,
02:54
or one of the first ones
to grant women voting rights.
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e un dos primeiros en recoñecer
o dereito das mulleres a votar.
02:59
Knowing history and understanding
how ordinary people influenced history
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Coñecer a historia e entender
como influíu nela a xente corrente
pode axudarnos a crear un futuro mellor,
03:05
can help us create a better future,
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03:07
because history is just a rehearsal
of what's happening right now.
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porque a historia non é máis ca un ensaio
do que está a acontecer agora mesmo.
03:12
We do need new ways of telling history,
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Precisamos modos novos
de contar a historia,
03:15
and this year, for example,
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e este ano, por exemplo,
03:17
we started a new online project
that is called 1968Digital.com,
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comezamos un novo proxecto en liña
chamado 1968Digital.com,
03:23
and that is an online documentary series
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unha serie documental en liña
03:28
that gives you an impression
of that year, 1968,
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que dá unha idea dese ano, 1968,
03:32
a year marked by global social change
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un ano marcado por cambios sociais globais
03:36
that, in many ways,
created the world as we know it now.
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que, en moitos sentidos, crearon
o mundo como o coñecemos hoxe.
03:40
But we are making that history alive
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Pero nós estamos dándolle
vida a esa historia
03:43
by imagining what if all the main
characters could use mobile phones ...
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imaxinando como sería se os protagonistas
puidesen usar teléfonos móbiles...
03:49
just like that?
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coma este.
03:51
And we see that a lot of individuals
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E vemos que moitos individuos
03:57
were facing the same challenges
and were fighting for the same values,
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se enfrontaban aos mesmos desafíos
e loitaban polos mesmos valores,
04:02
no matter if they lived
in the US or in USSR
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vivisen en EEUU ou na Unión Soviética,
04:07
or in France or in China
or in Czechoslovakia.
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en Francia, na China ou en Checoslovaquia.
04:11
By exposing history
in such a democratic way,
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Ao exhibir a historia
deste xeito tan democrático
04:14
through social media,
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a través das redes sociais,
04:16
we show that people in power
are not the only ones making choices.
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mostramos que os que teñen o poder
non son os únicos que toman decisións.
04:22
That gives any user a possibility
of reclaiming history.
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Iso dálle ao usuario a posibilidade
de reivindicar a historia.
04:27
Ordinary people matter.
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A xente corrente importa.
04:29
They have an impact.
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Ten influencia.
04:31
Ideas matter.
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As ideas importan.
04:33
Journalists, scientists,
philosophers matter.
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Os xornalistas, os científicos,
os filósofos importan.
04:38
We shape society.
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Nós dámoslle forma á sociedade.
04:40
We all make history.
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Entre todos facemos a historia.
04:43
Thank you.
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Grazas.
04:44
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Mario Cal
Reviewed by Alicia Ferreiro

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mikhail Zygar - Journalist, writer, filmmaker
Mikhail Zygar is the founder of Future History, the creative digital studio behind Project1917 and 1968.digital.

Why you should listen

Mikhail Zygar is a Russian journalist, writer, filmmaker and the founding editor-in-chief of the Russian independent news TV-channel, Dozhd (2010 - 2015). Prior to Dozhd, Zygar worked for Newsweek Russia and the business daily Kommersant, where he covered the conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Serbia and Kosovo. His bestseller All the Kremlin's Men is based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, presenting a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. His recent book The Empire Must Die was released in Russian and English in 2017. It portrays the years leading up to the Russian revolution and the vivid drama of Russia's brief and exotic experiment with civil society before it was swept away by the Communist Revolution.

More profile about the speaker
Mikhail Zygar | Speaker | TED.com