[Music]
just a while back when I was preparing
for this TED talk someone came up to me
and she said Willem why would your
audience spend 15 minutes talking about
something that we all know about namely
globalization now although it sound a
little harsh to me she had a fair point
so firstly I responded I said well my
audience won’t really be able to go
anywhere but secondly and more
importantly I said well my talk isn’t
entirely about glocal or a blog
globalization it’s more about global
citizenship now this is when things
started to get really awkward because
she just looked at me with this confused
look in her eyes but rather curiously
asked me she said oh that’s great so
what is global citizenship then I
responded I said aha
so you do want to listen to my talk now
I have to be honest with you when she
asked me this question she placed her
finger on an important dilemma that I
was facing because I have to be honest
with you today I’m speaking from our
position of privilege at the age of 21
I’ve been able to travel to more than 20
countries and I’ve been able to meet
accomplished individuals from across the
world so I’ve been able to benefit from
a good education a good life a good
family so here I was sitting in my room
scratching my imaginary beard trying to
figure out how how I could experience is
with globalization with everyone it’s
sort of felt like that moment when you
know you’re supposed to be doing
something interesting but you end up
checking the latest post on and why
you’re these confession page instead
[Music]
anyways as I’m sitting in my room and
I’m trying to figure out how to express
this I realized one thing namely the
importance of glocal citizenship so you
may ask by now what is glocal
citizenship right well glocal
citizenship is about individuals that
are acting locally with an emphasis
under global interconnectedness with
this world
it focuses on solving problems locally
also incorporating their importance in
global issues so it involves us all in
our local communities our schools
our the way that we live everywhere
around us and we try and connect it
what’s happening globally like sometimes
these seem in invisible global forces
but yet it tries to connect both so for
me global citizenship has very much been
rooted in my education it always takes
me at least five minutes to explain my
educational trajectory people ask me
they say wait so your dad is from the
United States but you grew up in the
Netherlands but you went to high school
in Swaziland wait how did you end up in
I would do by now it confuses people it
confuses myself even sometimes and I
know it’s not unique a lot of students
probably in this in this in this
audience here today and around the world
are facing similar questions what does
it mean to be global how is this forming
our identities what are the ways in
which we look at this how how is it
forming our our lives and however I must
say global citizenship is not about
traveling the world it’s not about being
able to have a global education because
let’s face it most of us won’t be able
to and a lot of people don’t have the
opportunity to travel so I believe that
you can be a global citizen even without
having a global education because it
work it’s based on three main
characteristics it’s a way of life a
vision for the future and firstly it
requires from an individual an awareness
of your surroundings how local they may
be it’s about you understanding your
position in your community and bring it
back to what’s happening around secondly
it requires an active effort to engage
and learn from the people who are around
you and thirdly it requires an
understanding that you’re a part of
something that is larger than yourself
see each and every one of us here today
and people who are watching a live
streaming from home all of us have our
own individual stories every morning we
wake up we face challenges problems
situations that we have to deal with and
global citizenship tries to use take
these problems and create a narrative
around them and create that and connect
them global and I think what I’m here
today
and what I’m here to do today
is not to talk to you for at you about
globalization I’m here today to share my
story and the way in which globalization
has impacted my own identity and the
ways in which I came up with this idea
of global citizenship through an
encounter I had with someone in 2015 see
my world when I grew up she seemed
interconnected and small I grew up in a
world that could enable me as an
individual to travel across the world in
more than 48 hours I grew up in a world
that seemed beautiful it was a beautiful
place to grow up but yet today we’re
seeing that individuals are also
struggling oh sorry that was a preview
so what’s happening today so as we see
this increased integration of the world
we’re also seeing how this global
interconnectedness is suffering so for
my world
I grew up in a world that was beautiful
a world that was optimistic a world that
enabled me to connect with people around
however I’ve also seen that ink fits
increased integration of the world has
created problems on two levels firstly
there is an issue that we’ve seen on a
disconnect between what’s happening
locally and what’s happening globally
then that and now we can see today how
badly disconnected there globally we can
say well globalization has sort of
worked as a stabilizing force it’s
enabled us politically work more
together we can see economically that
were more integrated now than ever
before it’s created a market economy
free trade less protectionism and
socially we are more connected than ever
before I always like to say we’ve come
to a time and human civilization in
which you can sit at the back seat of
your car manufactured in Germany whilst
a italian-inspired pizza with a little
Belgian waffle on the side or sending a
snapchat through your friends of your
dogs thinking it’s outside of the window
it is truly an amazing time to be alive
and my point is this never in the
history of humanity have we been so
exposed to different ideas cultures
technologies identities it is amazing
the world has opened up to us because of
globalization
however this increased integration has
also created problems and I believe that
glocal citizen ship can be
can be assault can be a solve it can be
a consultant in a way because we’re
seeing here today that people on the
local scale are suffering we’re seeing
issues with autumn ization we’re seeing
Islamophobia on the rise we’re seeing
nationalism people are afraid for asking
myself you know what’s happening jobs
are being outsourced people are losing
our jobs inequality is rising and people
are shouting they’re saying loudly
they’re saying protect me protect me
protect me protect my job protect me
from terrorists protect me from
immigrants protect me from everyone and
everything that’s threatening my way of
life these are valid concerns but the
ways that we’re dealing with them are
troubling and that is the troubles that
were facing today and ultimately we need
to ask ourselves why are we creating
these tensions between different people
in our society and how is this going to
solve our problems if we are to follow
this anti-globalization narrative that
focus on isolationism alienates
individuals and minority groups what
were what were world look like why are
we doing this and I think one of the key
things that we need to take into account
is that globalization how much it’s also
given us negatives is not going to
disappear overnight even if we would
want it our world has become so
interconnected that there is no way to
get rid of globalization and simply I
also believe that we shouldn’t because
the challenges that we are facing today
are challenges that that transcend
national boundaries they need global
cooperation climate change mass
migration because of climate change
autumn ization robot ization how are we
going to solve this problems if we don’t
have global cooperation and I think
global citizenship is something that can
bring both together because it focuses
on our narratives and it focuses on our
individual communities and brings them
part of this global marriage now in 2013
when I was studying in Swaziland I had
the opportunity to see how local
citizenship could bridge the divide
between the local and the globe
and what happened was in 2013 I traveled
to the annual Grahamstown festival in
South Africa and this is where I met
Stuart now Stuart is a bus driver
it’s the uranium town who every single
day you would drive special hopper buses
basically these buses they would take
festival goers were visiting take them
around the city to different venues and
coincidentally every single time how it
meet Stuart as I was taking one of these
buses so here we are was sitting in the
backseat of his car and you’d expect
someone who will be a bus driver and
who’s driving you know the same circles
every single day it would be quite
numbing experience right yet Stuart was
the most cheerful and happy person I
have ever met we were used to sit in the
back of his bus ride you know sing along
to Ric Ashley’s never gonna give you up
and Celine Dion’s my heart will go on I
know he had actually recorded these
songs a little cassette tapes and he was
playing I know it might sound weird to
you but we actually had cassette tape so
at the end of the week before we go home
Stuart he invited me and Moritz as you
can see here on the picture his home and
before we knew it I was sitting in the
backseat of a red Suzuki looking car
stuffed with Stuart’s family off to his
home and as you’re sitting in the back
of his car he’s driving he’s telling him
about his life he’s spending a lot of
community programs local projects of
he’s having in his community to bring
people back to schools helpful and as
we’re driving outside of Graham’s town
you know it’s getting dark Nelson the
houses are getting more densely packed
seeing small fire people are
congregating on the streets and
eventually we arrived at through the
house now Stuart lives in a tiny bedroom
apartment just outside of the luxurious
inner city of Graham’s now
and as we got there Stewart was showing
us around this little house and he was
talking to us about globalization and
climate change and he actually brought
us this little kitchen where he had
these tiny recycling bins now to me it
almost seemed bizarre that we would be
talking about global problems like this
in such a humbling setting right yet at
the end of it stores a little tour he
came up to me and Moritz and he said I
am NOT a great man we don’t have much
but we have our family we have enough to
eat and we are ready for this world
now I had a 17 18 year old kid oh it has
such a paramount importance and effect
on me because here I was standing in
this man’s living room but so much more
from a position of privilege yet he had
so much more in life than I and I felt
so vulnerable and humble in that moment
and I think would have made me realize
is that what made steward a true global
citizen was firstly he was able to have
to be aware of his surroundings he was
able to connect with his local community
was helping projects setting up products
for children he was supporting them and
you’ve realized that he was part of
something secondly he was taking an
active effort to engage with others
there he was inviting to foreigners in
his home who had barely met and thirdly
what made Stuart a global citizen was
that he was capable of connecting his
world to a larger narrative to a larger
global world and I think he really
touched on one of the key problems that
were facing in our world today namely we
are being paralyzed by human incapacity
to see yourselves as part of a larger
world yet we expect all the benefits
that this interconnected and amazing
world has given us to come naturally
without any effort we want the good but
fail to change the back and I believe
that global citizenship consists out of
individuals who are capable of
connecting what’s happening in their
local surroundings and connecting them
to a global world is what we need
need citizens just like to do it thank
[Applause]
just a while back when I was preparing
for this TED talk someone came up to me
and she said Willem why would your
audience spend 15 minutes talking about
something that we all know about namely
globalization now although it sound a
little harsh to me she had a fair point
so firstly I responded I said well my
audience won’t really be able to go
anywhere but secondly and more
importantly I said well my talk isn’t
entirely about glocal or a blog
globalization it’s more about global
citizenship now this is when things
started to get really awkward because
she just looked at me with this confused
look in her eyes but rather curiously
asked me she said oh that’s great so
what is global citizenship then I
responded I said aha
so you do want to listen to my talk now
I have to be honest with you when she
asked me this question she placed her
finger on an important dilemma that I
was facing because I have to be honest
with you today I’m speaking from our
position of privilege at the age of 21
I’ve been able to travel to more than 20
countries and I’ve been able to meet
accomplished individuals from across the
world so I’ve been able to benefit from
a good education a good life a good
family so here I was sitting in my room
scratching my imaginary beard trying to
figure out how how I could experience is
with globalization with everyone it’s
sort of felt like that moment when you
know you’re supposed to be doing
something interesting but you end up
checking the latest post on and why
you’re these confession page instead
[Music]
anyways as I’m sitting in my room and
I’m trying to figure out how to express
this I realized one thing namely the
importance of glocal citizenship so you
may ask by now what is glocal
citizenship right well glocal
citizenship is about individuals that
are acting locally with an emphasis
under global interconnectedness with
this world
it focuses on solving problems locally
also incorporating their importance in
global issues so it involves us all in
our local communities our schools
our the way that we live everywhere
around us and we try and connect it
what’s happening globally like sometimes
these seem in invisible global forces
but yet it tries to connect both so for
me global citizenship has very much been
rooted in my education it always takes
me at least five minutes to explain my
educational trajectory people ask me
they say wait so your dad is from the
United States but you grew up in the
Netherlands but you went to high school
in Swaziland wait how did you end up in
I would do by now it confuses people it
confuses myself even sometimes and I
know it’s not unique a lot of students
probably in this in this in this
audience here today and around the world
are facing similar questions what does
it mean to be global how is this forming
our identities what are the ways in
which we look at this how how is it
forming our our lives and however I must
say global citizenship is not about
traveling the world it’s not about being
able to have a global education because
let’s face it most of us won’t be able
to and a lot of people don’t have the
opportunity to travel so I believe that
you can be a global citizen even without
having a global education because it
work it’s based on three main
characteristics it’s a way of life a
vision for the future and firstly it
requires from an individual an awareness
of your surroundings how local they may
be it’s about you understanding your
position in your community and bring it
back to what’s happening around secondly
it requires an active effort to engage
and learn from the people who are around
you and thirdly it requires an
understanding that you’re a part of
something that is larger than yourself
see each and every one of us here today
and people who are watching a live
streaming from home all of us have our
own individual stories every morning we
wake up we face challenges problems
situations that we have to deal with and
global citizenship tries to use take
these problems and create a narrative
around them and create that and connect
them global and I think what I’m here
today
and what I’m here to do today
is not to talk to you for at you about
globalization I’m here today to share my
story and the way in which globalization
has impacted my own identity and the
ways in which I came up with this idea
of global citizenship through an
encounter I had with someone in 2015 see
my world when I grew up she seemed
interconnected and small I grew up in a
world that could enable me as an
individual to travel across the world in
more than 48 hours I grew up in a world
that seemed beautiful it was a beautiful
place to grow up but yet today we’re
seeing that individuals are also
struggling oh sorry that was a preview
so what’s happening today so as we see
this increased integration of the world
we’re also seeing how this global
interconnectedness is suffering so for
my world
I grew up in a world that was beautiful
a world that was optimistic a world that
enabled me to connect with people around
however I’ve also seen that ink fits
increased integration of the world has
created problems on two levels firstly
there is an issue that we’ve seen on a
disconnect between what’s happening
locally and what’s happening globally
then that and now we can see today how
badly disconnected there globally we can
say well globalization has sort of
worked as a stabilizing force it’s
enabled us politically work more
together we can see economically that
were more integrated now than ever
before it’s created a market economy
free trade less protectionism and
socially we are more connected than ever
before I always like to say we’ve come
to a time and human civilization in
which you can sit at the back seat of
your car manufactured in Germany whilst
a italian-inspired pizza with a little
Belgian waffle on the side or sending a
snapchat through your friends of your
dogs thinking it’s outside of the window
it is truly an amazing time to be alive
and my point is this never in the
history of humanity have we been so
exposed to different ideas cultures
technologies identities it is amazing
the world has opened up to us because of
globalization
however this increased integration has
also created problems and I believe that
glocal citizen ship can be
can be assault can be a solve it can be
a consultant in a way because we’re
seeing here today that people on the
local scale are suffering we’re seeing
issues with autumn ization we’re seeing
Islamophobia on the rise we’re seeing
nationalism people are afraid for asking
myself you know what’s happening jobs
are being outsourced people are losing
our jobs inequality is rising and people
are shouting they’re saying loudly
they’re saying protect me protect me
protect me protect my job protect me
from terrorists protect me from
immigrants protect me from everyone and
everything that’s threatening my way of
life these are valid concerns but the
ways that we’re dealing with them are
troubling and that is the troubles that
were facing today and ultimately we need
to ask ourselves why are we creating
these tensions between different people
in our society and how is this going to
solve our problems if we are to follow
this anti-globalization narrative that
focus on isolationism alienates
individuals and minority groups what
were what were world look like why are
we doing this and I think one of the key
things that we need to take into account
is that globalization how much it’s also
given us negatives is not going to
disappear overnight even if we would
want it our world has become so
interconnected that there is no way to
get rid of globalization and simply I
also believe that we shouldn’t because
the challenges that we are facing today
are challenges that that transcend
national boundaries they need global
cooperation climate change mass
migration because of climate change
autumn ization robot ization how are we
going to solve this problems if we don’t
have global cooperation and I think
global citizenship is something that can
bring both together because it focuses
on our narratives and it focuses on our
individual communities and brings them
part of this global marriage now in 2013
when I was studying in Swaziland I had
the opportunity to see how local
citizenship could bridge the divide
between the local and the globe
and what happened was in 2013 I traveled
to the annual Grahamstown festival in
South Africa and this is where I met
Stuart now Stuart is a bus driver
it’s the uranium town who every single
day you would drive special hopper buses
basically these buses they would take
festival goers were visiting take them
around the city to different venues and
coincidentally every single time how it
meet Stuart as I was taking one of these
buses so here we are was sitting in the
backseat of his car and you’d expect
someone who will be a bus driver and
who’s driving you know the same circles
every single day it would be quite
numbing experience right yet Stuart was
the most cheerful and happy person I
have ever met we were used to sit in the
back of his bus ride you know sing along
to Ric Ashley’s never gonna give you up
and Celine Dion’s my heart will go on I
know he had actually recorded these
songs a little cassette tapes and he was
playing I know it might sound weird to
you but we actually had cassette tape so
at the end of the week before we go home
Stuart he invited me and Moritz as you
can see here on the picture his home and
before we knew it I was sitting in the
backseat of a red Suzuki looking car
stuffed with Stuart’s family off to his
home and as you’re sitting in the back
of his car he’s driving he’s telling him
about his life he’s spending a lot of
community programs local projects of
he’s having in his community to bring
people back to schools helpful and as
we’re driving outside of Graham’s town
you know it’s getting dark Nelson the
houses are getting more densely packed
seeing small fire people are
congregating on the streets and
eventually we arrived at through the
house now Stuart lives in a tiny bedroom
apartment just outside of the luxurious
inner city of Graham’s now
and as we got there Stewart was showing
us around this little house and he was
talking to us about globalization and
climate change and he actually brought
us this little kitchen where he had
these tiny recycling bins now to me it
almost seemed bizarre that we would be
talking about global problems like this
in such a humbling setting right yet at
the end of it stores a little tour he
came up to me and Moritz and he said I
am NOT a great man we don’t have much
but we have our family we have enough to
eat and we are ready for this world
now I had a 17 18 year old kid oh it has
such a paramount importance and effect
on me because here I was standing in
this man’s living room but so much more
from a position of privilege yet he had
so much more in life than I and I felt
so vulnerable and humble in that moment
and I think would have made me realize
is that what made steward a true global
citizen was firstly he was able to have
to be aware of his surroundings he was
able to connect with his local community
was helping projects setting up products
for children he was supporting them and
you’ve realized that he was part of
something secondly he was taking an
active effort to engage with others
there he was inviting to foreigners in
his home who had barely met and thirdly
what made Stuart a global citizen was
that he was capable of connecting his
world to a larger narrative to a larger
global world and I think he really
touched on one of the key problems that
were facing in our world today namely we
are being paralyzed by human incapacity
to see yourselves as part of a larger
world yet we expect all the benefits
that this interconnected and amazing
world has given us to come naturally
without any effort we want the good but
fail to change the back and I believe
that global citizenship consists out of
individuals who are capable of
connecting what’s happening in their
local surroundings and connecting them
to a global world is what we need
need citizens just like to do it thank
[Applause]
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