The Problem of Politics: Gordon Brown Calls For A New Ethic at TEDGlobal

by Nathaniel Whittemore

categories: history, Inspiration

Published July 26, 2009 @ 10:48AM PT

Perhaps the most talked about talk from the recently concluded TEDGlobal in Oxford, UK is Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech "Wiring a web for global good." In it, Brown calls for a new sentiment that recognizes the connection between people across borders of nationality and class, and suggests that new global institutions are needed to realize that vision.

There is a lot interesting about the speech. The fact that it happened demonstrates that TED is increasingly reaching a tipping point of global recognition. There are not very many conferences that could put together a suprise visit from an active head of state.

Second, it's one of the first talks I've seen where there are many members of the TED online community feel like the speech (or at least the person giving the speech) betrays the spirit of the event, and are arguing vociferously in the comments to have it removed. This as well demonstrates a certain maturation of the community around the event.

Third, from a completely technological perspective, this is the first time that I've used TED's "Interactive Transcript" tool, where you can click on a line of text from the speech and the video automatically forwards to that portion. This is extremely cool and very useful.

Fourth, the speech is definitely that of a politician. As in, it says a lot of things that we can all agree with without a lot of commitment to doing it or a vision for how it gets done. That's not to say that speeches aren't important, but this is not exactly treading new ground.

Fifth, I love the reference points in history, but there are some interesting asymetries in the analysis. The one that stood out to me was Brown's assertion that the first British Abolitionist movement took 24 years to change public sentiment, and his question about how might it have been different had the organizers had the tools of modern engagement - particularly the ability to convey images as testimony.

Historians such as "Bury the Chains" author Adam Hochschild would probably take a different view, suggesting that British sentiment chained dramatically faster than British policy. Indeed, the abolitionist movement was impeded for years not by a lack of public support, but by the tumultuous global political system and the way the French Revolution made the British power elite nervous about responding to the demands of the proletariate and the way the Napoleonic wars sapped resources and attention.

What's more, those same historians would likely recognize the vital importance that demonstration images - even if they were not the dramatic and constant images we have from modern injustices - had on the movement. One of the most effective instruments for changing sentiment were diagrams of the slave ships that showed how slaves were cramped like sardines into spaces not possibly big enough.

So while Brown's not wrong to say that the tools of modern organizing might have shifted how fast sentiment was changed, I think that it might be even more accurate to recognize that modern tools might have provided a better platform for organizing that collective shift in political pressure that could not be denied for two decades by politicians who wished to focus elsewhere.

TED is an incredibly important institution. There are far too few spaces that place intellect, creativity, and smarts of all stripes at the center of the public conversation. Regardless of how one feels about Brown's speech, it's hard not to be excited about how far TED has come and how much potential there is for the hundreds of millions of people who've watched the TEDTalks to take their inspiration to new realms.

Here's the speech: