ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Peter Gabriel - Musician, activist
Peter Gabriel writes incredible songs but, as the co-founder of WITNESS and TheElders.org, is also a powerful human rights advocate.

Why you should listen

Peter Gabriel was a founding member of the extraordinarily successful progressive rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 to go solo and, in 1980, set up the international arts festival WOMAD (which stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance) and the record label Real World, both to champion music and artistic innovation from all over the world. Gabriel's stop motion video for "Sledgehammer" has been named the most-played music video in the history of MTV.  

Gabriel is also very interested in human rights. In 1992, he co-founded WITNESS.org, an organization that helps human rights activists and citizen witnesses worldwide make change happen through the use of video. The organization not only distributes digital cameras to empower people to document human-rights abuses, but provides a platform for the spread of video that reveals what is really going on in places all over the globe.

In 2007, Gabriel also co-founded theElders.org with Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela, an independent group of global leaders working together for peace and human rights.

More profile about the speaker
Peter Gabriel | Speaker | TED.com
TED2006

Peter Gabriel: Fight injustice with raw video

Peter Gabriel combate injustiça com videos

Filmed:
996,827 views

O músico e ativista Peter Gabriel apresenta sua motivação pessoal em defesa dos direitos humanos com o grupo de vigilância WITNESS -- e conta histórias sobre cidadãos jornalistas em ação.
- Musician, activist
Peter Gabriel writes incredible songs but, as the co-founder of WITNESS and TheElders.org, is also a powerful human rights advocate. Full bio

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

00:25
I love trees, and I'm very lucky,
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Eu adoro árvores, e tive sorte,
00:28
because we live near a wonderful arboretum,
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porque vivemos próximo de um maravilhoso bosque,
00:31
and Sundays, usually, I'd go there with my wife
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e nos domingos, geralmente, eu vou lá com minha esposa
00:34
and now, with my four-year-old,
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e agora, com minha filha de quatro anos,
00:36
and we'd climb in the trees, we'd play hide and seek.
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e nós subimos nas árvores, brincamos de esconder.
00:39
The second school I was at had big trees too,
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A segunda escola que feqüentei tinha grandes árvores também,
00:43
had a fantastic tulip tree, I think it was the biggest in the country,
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Tinha um fantástico Liriodendro, creio que o maior do país,
00:47
and it also had a lot of wonderful bushes and vegetation
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e tinha, também, muitos arbustos maravilhosos e vegetação
00:51
around it, around the playing fields.
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em torno dela, em torno das áreas de recreação.
00:53
One day I was grabbed by some of my classmates,
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E um dia eu fui agarrado por um dos meus colegas,
00:57
and taken in the bushes -- I was stripped; I was attacked;
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levado para os arbustos, despido, fui atacado,
01:01
I was abused; and this came out of the blue.
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fui abusado, e isto aconteceu do nada.
01:06
Now, the reason I say that, because, afterwards, I was thinking --
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Agora, a razão porque eu disse isso, é porque depois eu fiquei pensando --
01:10
well, I went back into the school -- I felt dirty; I felt betrayed;
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bem, eu voltei para a escola, me senti sujo, traído,
01:16
I felt ashamed, but mainly -- mainly, I felt powerless.
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envergonhado, mas principalmente -- principalmente, me senti impotente,
01:23
And 30 years later I was sitting in an airplane,
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e 30 anos depois eu estava na poltrona de um avião,
01:26
next to a lady called Veronica, who came from Chile,
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próximo de uma moça chamada Veronica, que vinha do Chile,
01:29
and we were on a human rights tour,
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e nós estávamos em uma turnê por direitos humanos,
01:32
and she was starting to tell me what it was like to be tortured,
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e ela começou a me contar como era ser torturada,
01:37
and, from my very privileged position,
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e, da minha posição privilegiada,
01:40
this was the only reference point that I had.
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este era o único ponto de referência que eu tinha.
01:44
And it was an amazing learning experience
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E foi uma maravilhosa experiência de aprendizado
01:46
because, for me, human rights have been something in which I had,
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porque, para mim, direitos humanos têm sido algo em que eu tive,
01:49
you know, a part-time interest, but, mainly,
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sabem, um interesse em tempo parcial, mas, principalmente,
01:52
it was something that happened to other people over there.
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era algo que aconteceu a outras pessoas lá.
01:55
But I got a phone call from Bono in 1985 and, as you know,
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Mas eu recebi um telefonema de Bono em 1985 e, como sabem,
02:02
he's a great singer, but he's a magnificent hustler, and --
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ele é um grande cantor, mas também um magnífico sedutor, e --
02:07
(Laughter) --
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(Risos)
02:09
a very hard guy to say no to, and he was saying,
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alguém para quem é difícil dizer não, e ele dizia -
02:12
you know, just after I'd done the Biko song,
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sabem, logo depois que fiz a música Biko -
02:14
we're going to do a tour for Amnesty,
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"vamos fazer uma turnê para a Anistia Internacional,
02:16
you have to be on it, and really that was the first time
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você tem que estar nela", e, realmente, aquela foi a primeira vez
02:19
that I'd been out and started meeting people
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em que eu estive fora e comecei a encontrar pessoas
02:23
who'd watched their family being shot in front of them,
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que viram suas famílias serem baleadas à sua frente,
02:26
who'd had a partner thrown out of an airplane into an ocean,
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e tiveram um companheiro atirado de um avião no oceano,
02:29
and suddenly this world of human rights arrived in my world,
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e, subitamente, este mundo de direitos humanos chegou ao meu mundo,
02:34
and I couldn't really walk away in quite the same way as before.
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e eu não poderia, realmente, ir embora como se nada tivesse acontecido.
02:39
So I got involved with this tour, which was for Amnesty,
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Então eu me envolvi com essa turnê, que era para a Anistia Internacional,
02:43
and then in '88 I took over Bono's job trying to learn how to hustle.
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e, então, em 88, eu assumi o papel de Bono, tentando aprender a lutar.
02:48
I didn't do it as well, but we managed to get Youssou N'Dour, Sting,
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Eu não o fazia tão bem, mas nós conseguimos recrutar Youssou N'Dour, Sting,
02:52
Tracy Chapman, and Bruce Springsteen to go 'round the world for Amnesty,
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Tracy Chapman e Bruce Springsteen para rodar o mundo pela Anistia Internacional,
02:57
and it was an amazing experience.
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e foi uma experiência surpreendente.
03:00
And, once again, I got an extraordinary education,
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E, novamente, eu recebi uma educação extraordinária,
03:04
and it was the first time, really,
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e foi a primeira vez, realmente,
03:06
that I'd met a lot of these people in the different countries,
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que eu me encontrei com muitas dessas pessoas em diferentes países,
03:10
and these human rights stories became very physical,
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e estas histórias de direitos humanos se tornaram muito concretas,
03:15
and, again, I couldn't really walk away quite so comfortably.
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e, novamente, eu não poderiam mesmo ir embora tão tranquilamente.
03:21
But the thing that really amazed me, that I had no idea,
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Mas a coisa que realmente me surpreendeu, da qual eu não tinha idéia,
03:24
was that you could suffer in this way
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é que você pode sofrer dessa forma
03:27
and then have your whole experience, your story, denied,
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e, então, ter toda sua experiência, sua história, negada,
03:33
buried and forgotten.
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enterrada e esquecida.
03:36
And it seemed that whenever there was a camera around,
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E parecia que sempre que havia uma câmera por perto,
03:41
or a video or film camera,
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ou uma filmadora,
03:44
it was a great deal harder to do -- for those in power to bury the story.
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era muito mais difícil, para aqueles que estão no poder, enterrar a história.
03:51
And Reebok set up a foundation after these Human Rights Now tours
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E a Reebok criou uma fundação após estas turnês do Human Rights Now
03:55
and there was a decision then --
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e houve uma decisão então --
03:59
well, we made a proposal, for a couple of years,
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bem, fizemos uma proposta, por alguns anos,
04:02
about trying to set up a division
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sobre tentar criar uma divisão
04:04
that was going to give cameras to human rights activists.
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que iria dar câmeras para ativistas de direitos humanos.
04:09
It didn't really get anywhere,
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Isso realmente não foi adiante,
04:10
and then the Rodney King incident happened, and people thought,
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e, então, o incidente com Rodney King aconteceu, e as pessoas pensaram,
04:13
OK, if you have a camera in the right place at the right time,
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OK, se você tem uma câmera no lugar certo e na hora certa,
04:16
or, perhaps, the wrong time, depending who you are,
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ou, talvez, na hora errada, dependendo de quem você é,
04:20
then you can actually start doing something,
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então você pode, realmente, começar a fazer algo,
04:25
and campaigning, and being heard,
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e fazendo campanhas, e sendo ouvido,
04:29
and telling people about what's going on.
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e contando às pessoas o que está acontecendo.
04:31
So, WITNESS was started in '92
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Então, Witness começou em 92.
04:35
and it's since given cameras out in over 60 countries.
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E desde então doou câmeras em mais de 60 países.
04:41
And we campaign with activist groups
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E nós fazemos campanhas com grupos ativistas,
04:47
and help them tell their story and, in fact,
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e os ajudamos a contar suas histórias, e de fato,
04:51
I will show you in a moment one of the most recent campaigns,
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vou lhes mostrar, daqui a pouco, uma das campanhas mais recentes,
04:55
and I'm afraid it's a story from Uganda,
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e receio que é uma história de Uganda,
04:58
and, although we had a wonderful story from Uganda yesterday,
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e, ainda que tenhamos tido uma maravilhosa história de Uganda ontem,
05:02
this one isn't quite so good.
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esta aqui não é tão boa.
05:04
In the north of Uganda,
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E, no norte de Uganda,
05:06
there are something like 1.5 million internally displaced people,
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há algo em torno de 1,5 milhões de pessoas desalojadas,
05:09
people who are not refugees in another country,
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pessoas que não são refugiadas em outro país,
05:12
but because of the civil war, which has been going on for about 20 years,
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mas por causa da guerra civil, que persiste por 20 anos,
05:16
they have nowhere to live.
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elas não têm onde viver.
05:18
And 20,000 kids have been taken away to become child soldiers,
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E 20.000 crianças foram raptadas para se tornar soldados infantis,
05:24
and the International Criminal Court is going after five of the leaders of the --
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e a Corte Criminal Internacional está à caça de cinco dos líderes da --
05:32
now, what's it called?
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como ela se chama?
05:34
I forget the name of the of the army --
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Eu me esqueci do nome do exército,
05:36
it's Lord's Resistance Army, I believe --
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é o "Exército de Resistência do Senhor", creio,
05:39
but the government, also, doesn't have a clean sheet,
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mas o governo, também, não tem ficha limpa,
05:41
so if we could run the first video.
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então se pudermos ver o primeiro vídeo.
05:43
(Music)
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(Música)
05:46
Woman: Life in the camp is never simple. Even today life is difficult.
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A vida no campo [de refugiados] nunca é fácil. Mesmo hoje a vida é difícil.
05:49
We stay because of the fear that what pushed us into the camp ...
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Nós ficamos por causa do medo de que aquilo que nos impeliu para o campo...
05:53
still exists back home.
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ainda exista nos nossos lares.
05:59
Text: "Between Two Fires: Torture and Displacement in Northern Uganda"
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Quando estávamos em casa, eram os soldados de Kony [rebeldes] nos perturbando.
06:10
Man: When we were at home, it was Kony's [rebel] soldiers disturbing us.
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A princípio, estávamos seguros no campo.
06:17
At first, we were safe in the camp.
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Mas então os soldados do governo começaram a nos tratar muito mal.
06:20
But later the government soldiers began mistreating us a lot.
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(Canto)
06:25
(Chanting)
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Jennifer: Um soldado caminhava na estrada, nos perguntando onde havíamos estado.
06:28
Jennifer: A soldier walked onto the road, asking where we'd been.
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Evelyn e eu nos escondemos atrás da minha mãe.
06:32
Evelyn and I hid behind my mother.
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Evelyn: Ele nos mandou sentar, então sentamos.
06:38
Evelyn: He ordered us to sit down, so we sat down.
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O outro soldado também veio.
06:41
The other soldier also came.
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Jennifer: O homem chegou e começou a me despir.
06:44
Jennifer: The man came and started undressing me.
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O outro levou Evelyn para o canto.
06:48
The other one carried Evelyn aside.
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Aquele que estava me violentando então saiu e violentou Evelyn.
06:51
The one who was defiling me then left me and went to rape Evelyn.
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E aquele que estava violentando Evelyn veio e me violentou também.
06:56
And the one who was raping Evelyn came and defiled me also.
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Homem: Os soldados nos bateram com paus deste tamanho para obter uma confissão.
07:00
Man: The soldiers with clubs this long beat us to get a confession.
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Eles repetiam: "Diga a verdade!" enquanto nos batiam.
07:08
They kept telling us, "Tell the truth!" as they beat us.
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Mulher: Eles insistiam que estávamos mentindo.
07:20
Woman: They insisted that I was lying.
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Naquele momento, eles dispararam tiros que arrancaram meus dedos.
07:25
At that moment, they fired and shot off my fingers.
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Eu caí. Eles correram para encontrar os outros... me deixando para morrer.
07:30
I fell. They ran to join the others ... leaving me for dead.
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(Música)
07:43
(Music)
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Vemos que a tortura não é algo que sempre acontece em outras terras.
07:45
Text: Uganda ratified the Convention Against Torture in 1986.
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Em meu país, era --
07:54
Torture is defined as any act by which severe pain of suffering,
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nós temos visto fotos de soldados britânicos batendo em jovens iraquianos,
07:58
whether physical or mental,
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tivemos Abu Ghraib, tivemos Guantanamo,
08:01
is intentionally inflicted by a person acting in an official capacity
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e eu tive um taxista na minha ida ao aeroporto de Newark.
08:05
to obtain information or a confession, to punish, coerce or intimidate.
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E ele me contou uma história em que, no meio da noite, 4 da madrugada,
08:13
Peter Gabriel: So torture is not something that always happens on other soil.
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ele foi arrancado de sua casa no Queens -- levado a um lugar no meio-oeste,
08:19
In my country, it was --
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foi interrogado e torturado,
08:21
we had been looking at pictures of British soldiers beating up young Iraqis;
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e levado de volta à rua quatro semanas depois,
08:28
we've got Abu Ghraib; we've got Guantanamo Bay.
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porque ele tinha o mesmo -- ele era do Oriente Médio,
08:30
I had a driver on my way to Newark Airport,
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e ele tinha o mesmo nome de um dos pilotos do 11 de setembro,
08:33
and he told me a story that, in the middle of the night, 4 a.m.,
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e aquilo pode ou não ser verdade,
08:39
he'd been taken out of his home in Queens -- taken to a place in the Midwest,
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eu não acho que ele fosse um mentiroso, entretanto.
08:45
that he was interrogated and tortured
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E, acredito, se olharmos o mundo à nossa volta,
08:49
and returned to the street four weeks later,
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tanto quanto as calotas polares derretendo,
08:53
because he had the same -- he was Middle Eastern,
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Direitos Humanos, pelos quais se lutou,
08:56
and he had the same name as one of the 9/11 pilots,
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por muitos séculos em alguns casos,
09:00
and that may or may not be true --
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estão, também, erodindo muito rápido,
09:04
I didn't think he was a liar, though.
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e isto é algo de que nós precisamos muito cuidar
09:07
And, I think, if we look around the world,
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e, talvez, começar uma campanha.
09:11
as well as the polar ice caps melting,
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Aqui, também, um de nossos parceiros teve -- esteve em Van Jones
09:13
human rights, which have been fought for,
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E o projeto Books Not Bars, eles conseguiram,
09:16
for many hundreds of years in some cases,
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com suas filmagens -- na California,
09:19
are, also, eroding very fast,
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mudar o sistema correcional juvenil empregado,
09:22
and that is something that we need to take a look at
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e são métodos muito -- muito -- mais humanos, na minha opinião
09:26
and, maybe, start campaigning for.
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e pensando nisso, como você pode encarcerar jovens meninos,
09:30
I mean, here, too, one of our partners was at Van Jones
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e isto é questionável para começar,
09:35
and the Books Not Bars project -- they have managed,
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e como a história do Sr. Morales, na mesma rua,
09:39
with their footage in California
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com licença, Sr. Gabriel,
09:42
to change the youth correction systems employed,
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se importa se atrasarmos sua execução um pouco?
09:47
and it's much -- much -- I think, more humane methods
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Não, absolutamente, sem problemas.
09:52
are being looked at, how you should lock up young kids,
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Mas isto, certamente, quem quer que seja o homem, o que quer que ele tenha feito,
09:56
and that's questionable to start off.
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isto é punição cruel e incomum.
09:58
And as the story of Mr. Morales, just down the road,
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Não obstante, Witness tem tentado armar as pessoas corajosas
10:04
excuse me, Mr. Gabriel,
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que, por vezes, colocam suas vidas em risco, pelo mundo, com câmeras,
10:06
would you mind if we delayed your execution a little bit?
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e eu gostaria de lhes mostrar um pouco mais disso. Obrigado.
10:10
No, not at all, no problem, take your time.
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(Trovão)
10:13
But this, surely, whoever that man is, whatever he's done,
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(Música)
10:19
this is cruel and unusual punishment.
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(Aplausos)
10:23
Anyway, WITNESS has been trying to arm the brave people
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Witness nasceu da inovação tecnológica,
10:29
who often put their lives at risk around the world, with cameras,
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no sentido de que câmeras de vídeo digitais, portáteis,
10:33
and I'd like to show you just a little more of that. Thank you.
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foram, realmente, o que o permitiram existir.
10:41
(Thunder) Text: You can say a story is fabricated.
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E nós temos, também, tentado levar computadores pelo mundo,
10:44
(Music)
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para que grupos possam se comunicar com mais eficiência,
10:48
Text: You can say a jury is corrupt.
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fazer campanhas com mais eficiência,
10:53
You can say a person is lying.
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mas, agora, temos a possibilidade maravilhosa,
11:00
You can say you don't trust newspapers.
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que nos é dada pelo telefone celular com câmera,
11:06
But you can't say
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porque é barato, onipresente, e está se movendo rápido
11:12
what you just saw
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pelo mundo, e é muito empolgante para nós.
11:15
never happened.
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E portanto, o sonho é que possamos ter um mundo
11:22
Help WITNESS give cameras to the world.
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em que qualquer um a que aconteça algo ruim, deste tipo,
11:27
Shoot a video;
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tenha a chance de ter sua história transmitida,
11:36
expose injustice;
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sendo vista, sendo assistida,
11:42
reveal the truth;
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que eles, realmente, saibam que eles podem ser ouvidos,
11:47
show us what's wrong with the world;
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que haverá um grande website,
11:52
and maybe
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talvez, um pouco como Google Earth,
11:54
we can help
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e você possa voar sobre o mapa e encontrar a realidade do que está acontecendo,
11:56
make it
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para os habitantes do mundo, de um modo --
11:58
right.
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o que esta tecnologia está permitindo é, realmente,
12:06
WITNESS.
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que muitos dos problemas do mundo podem ter uma face humana,
12:12
All the video you have just seen was recorded by
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que possamos, realmente, ver quem está morrendo de AIDS,
12:14
human rights groups working with WITNESS.
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ou quem está sendo espancado, pela primeira vez,
12:17
(Applause)
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e possamos ouvir suas histórias de um modo que a cultura dos blogs --
12:22
PG: WITNESS was born of technological innovation --
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se pudermos mover isso para esse campo,
12:26
in a sense the small, portable, DV cam
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acho que podemos, realmente, transformar o mundo de todos os modos.
12:28
was really what allowed it to come into being.
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Poderia haver um novo movimento crescendo,
12:32
And we've also been trying to get computers out to the world,
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emergindo da terra, buscando a luz,
12:36
so that groups can communicate much more effectively,
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e ficando mais forte, exatamente como uma árvore. Obrigado.
12:38
campaign much more effectively,
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12:40
but now we have the wonderful possibility,
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12:46
which is given to us from the mobile phone with the camera in it,
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because that is cheap; it's ubiquitous; and it's moving fast
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all around the world -- and it's very exciting for us.
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And so, the dream is that we could have a world
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13:02
in which anyone who has anything bad happen to them of this sort
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has a chance of getting their story uploaded,
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13:12
being seen, being watched,
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13:15
that they really know that they can be heard,
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13:18
that there would be a giant website,
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13:22
maybe, a little like Google Earth,
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13:24
and you could fly over and find out the realities of what's going,
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13:28
for the world's inhabitants. In a way
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what this technology is allowing is, really,
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that a lot of the problems of the world can have a human face,
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that we can actually see who's dying of AIDS
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or who's being beaten up, for the first time,
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and we can hear their stories in a way that the blogger culture --
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if we can move that into these sort of fields,
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13:53
I think we can really transform the world in all sorts of ways.
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There could be a new movement growing up,
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rising from the ground, reaching for the light,
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and growing strong, just like a tree. Thank you.
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Translated by Fabio Ceconello
Reviewed by Marcos Beraldo

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Peter Gabriel - Musician, activist
Peter Gabriel writes incredible songs but, as the co-founder of WITNESS and TheElders.org, is also a powerful human rights advocate.

Why you should listen

Peter Gabriel was a founding member of the extraordinarily successful progressive rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 to go solo and, in 1980, set up the international arts festival WOMAD (which stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance) and the record label Real World, both to champion music and artistic innovation from all over the world. Gabriel's stop motion video for "Sledgehammer" has been named the most-played music video in the history of MTV.  

Gabriel is also very interested in human rights. In 1992, he co-founded WITNESS.org, an organization that helps human rights activists and citizen witnesses worldwide make change happen through the use of video. The organization not only distributes digital cameras to empower people to document human-rights abuses, but provides a platform for the spread of video that reveals what is really going on in places all over the globe.

In 2007, Gabriel also co-founded theElders.org with Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela, an independent group of global leaders working together for peace and human rights.

More profile about the speaker
Peter Gabriel | Speaker | TED.com