WEBVTT - Kweku Mandela 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.000 It's not that bad, Like the sharks aren't the problem. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:11.280 It's just how cold it is. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.760 Do you sometimes put your wet suit by your bed 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.040 and the minute you wake up, you put it on 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.959 because someone told me to do that, and then you 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.720 literally have to go ah when you're already in your 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:27.960 wet suit, Like I get up, go to the bathroom 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.000 and put my wet suit on, and then it's like, oh, 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:30.680 no a minute. 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.760 That makes a lot of sense, though, that could because 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.599 you usually go to the beach and then it's like, oh, 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:37.720 let's go look at the what there's that floor? Yeah, 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.440 and a process you go through. He's definitely answer something. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:48.199 Hello, I'm mini driver. I've always loved Proust's questionnaire. It 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:52.480 was originally in nineteenth century parlor game where players would 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.880 ask each other thirty five questions aimed at revealing the 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.720 other player's true nature. In asking different people the same 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.600 set questions, you can make observations about which truths appear 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.280 to be universal. And it made me wonder, what if 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.280 these questions were just the jumping off point, what greater 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.520 depths would be revealed if I asked these questions as 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.560 conversation starters. So I adapted Pru's questionnaire, and I wrote 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.560 my own seven questions that I personally think are pertinent 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.440 to a person's story. They are when and where were 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.920 you happiest? What is the quality you like least about yourself? 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.360 What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you? What 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.039 question would you most like answered, What person, place, or 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.000 experience has shaped you the most? What would be your 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:39.679 last meal? And can you tell me something in your 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:43.120 life that's grown out of a personal disaster? And I've 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.560 gathered a group of really remarkable people, ones that I 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.080 am honored and humbled to have had the chance to 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.960 engage with. You may not hear their answers to all 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.560 seven of these questions. We've whittled it down to which 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:00.560 questions felt closest to their experience, or the most prizing, 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:06.680 or created the most fertile ground to connect. My guest 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:11.000 today is the film producer, social advocate and activist Quaku 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.799 Mandela Amua. Quaku is the kind of social advocate who 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.920 effects change on a global level. He is a founding 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:24.720 member and ambassador of jen Endit, a collective of HIV 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.800 AIDS organizations committed to seeing the end of AIDS in 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.840 our lifetime. He also sits on the board of the 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.799 Amazing Global Citizen By the Way, their extraordinary concert will 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.400 take place in Central Park in New York City this September, 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.040 and Charlie's Sarren's Brilliant Africa Outreach Project. It's hard to 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.720 speak about Quaku without contextualizing the legacy he comes from 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:51.040 as the grandson of Nelson Mandela. Quaku's written about his 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.720 grandfather over the years, and something he wrote has stayed 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.400 and resonated with me deeply, perhaps on account of the 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.720 times we're living in and particularly what has been apparent 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.640 in this first half of twenty twenty five. Quaker wrote, 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.359 my grandfather would always say that if we as humans 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.840 don't transcend this cycle of hatred and violence that we 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.240 find ourselves in so often, we will always be prisoners. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:22.359 Quaku carries with him this torch of peace, justice and reconciliation, 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.520 which to me at the cornerstones of his grandfather's legacy. 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.160 We had such an interesting chat about the sacrifices his 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.200 family made to be in politics, about music as a 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.000 form of activism, and the role of art as a 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.720 way of addressing major issues in society. Time and again 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.560 we both return to the theme of our children and 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.040 the hopes that we can and will make a better, 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:55.040 kinder world for them. In your life, can you tell 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.480 me about something that has grown out of a personal disaster. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.200 Yeah, you know, I always wanted my son to meet 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.400 my aunt because she was such a big factor in 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.120 my life of really pushing me to follow my passions 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.640 from a young age. Like I think she brought me 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.840 my first CD and I listened to that thing for 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:16.839 like forty eight hours straight, just on her feat, and 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:18.400 she came out like four am in the morning. 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.680 She's like, you really love music. You should do something 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:21.159 with music. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.880 I was like, all right, okay, And then I ended 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.479 up starting that festival around HIV and AIDS awareness and 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.480 followed my passion for live music and live events. And 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.800 she was seminole undoubtedly and pushing me that way. So 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.640 I definitely wanted her to meet my son. But COVID 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.320 started and you know, you couldn't travel. I was in 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.599 New York. She had just come back to South Africa 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.760 and she passed away, and I remember just how weird 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:52.000 it was watching her funeral memorial on YouTube. 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:52.760 Oh my gosh. 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.599 I remember saying to myself that every day I was 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:57.320 going to wake up and like tell my son I 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.800 love him and just told him and just carry that 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:00.760 out into the world. 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.080 And yeah, I know. 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.240 It's helped build my relationship with him, and I think 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.240 it's also affected how I treat people in the world. 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.400 There's lots of things I understand now that I probably 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.320 didn't understand when I was younger, about what one can 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.679 represent without even knowing it by coming from the legacy 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.400 which we all have because we all have parents and 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.080 grandparents and great grandparents who did good things and some 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.920 that did that. And so I just hope my son 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.800 feels that as he grows up and he realizes that's 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:33.039 what he eminate's. 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.359 From and that's something that he will learn from you, Like, 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.320 have you in your life felt the weight of that 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.039 legacy or it was just what you knew and so 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:42.600 you incorporate it into your daily life And is that 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.800 the way in which you'll pass it on to your child, 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:45.320 do you think? 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.800 I think for a long time I was told what 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:49.920 that was meant to be, and there was the expectation 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:52.240 of what I was meant to be. But then you 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.240 come into your own where you realize through all the 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.200 things you've learned and the experiences you've had what that 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.880 means to you, and that's the most important thing that 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.159 you carry forward. And it's just the essence that I 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:05.200 think is instilled in you, whether you want to call 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.080 it DNA, whether you want to call it grounding or 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:12.159 beliefs or teachings. And so I hope again, through his experiences, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.000 which will be very different from line, that he'll find 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.279 and figure out how that relates to him. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.640 Is that part of the films that you make and 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.400 the music that you're involved in is storytelling like a 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.920 really important aspect of your life because you come from 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.640 a big story and South Africa has a big story. 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.520 I mean, I know every country does, but like we're 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:33.680 talking about this now, do you think that's part of 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.719 what you choose to do for a living? Like that 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:37.240 is an extension of that? 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:38.359 It could be. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.240 Yeah, I've never thought of it that way, but now 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:41.800 that you've said it, I'm like, oh, that makes a 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.840 lot of sense. So there's been three big things in 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.160 my life. One is the idea of how you can 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.479 bring people together in a music concert. When I was 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.000 four and a half in Boston Park with Harrismith, not 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.159 really knowing anything about that band, but knowing that they'd 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:59.560 brought a bunch of people together really piqued my interest filmmaking. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.279 The ideas that you could tell stories and those could 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.600 move people to think differently or feel something that they 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.960 didn't feel before. That was always something that struck at me. 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.000 And then the idea that you can build community, which 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.520 goes back to something you've talked about on this and 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:16.400 you can do that in many different forms, but the 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.320 easiest is through storytelling and getting people to realize that 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.280 they have more in common than they don't exactly. So 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.320 that's always been something. I guess organizing has always been 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:27.480 something that I've been good at. 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:37.480 What person, place, or experience has most altered your life? 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:42.280 I would say place definitely, again, coming back to Africa 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.760 when I was ten, and then coming back later my life, 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:50.360 returning and there is something unique about the people here, 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.640 the warmth, the resilience that I'd seen in glimpses around 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.360 the world, but just really came home, and I think 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.520 to find my belief in humanity, So my fervent kind 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.080 of desire to want to be able to make sure 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.760 the continent is seen and treated in a respectful way. 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:10.840 And an equitable way. So I would say that's definitely 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.080 been place for me that had an undeniable impact. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.840 Do you have a very clear recollection as a ten 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:22.160 year old boy of arriving back and what did you feel, 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.560 Because you've been in America, right, so do you remember 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.320 do you have like crystal memories of what that was like? 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.960 I remember was one day I went outside my driveway 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.959 and there were these guys there standing in Zulu attire 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.080 and they had spears and. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.440 My mom screamed, she was like sorry, she grabbed. I 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.280 had no concept. I was like, oh, these guys look 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:43.240 so cool. I was like, I've never seen anyone who 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:43.840 just look like this. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.360 But at the time, there was this conflict going on 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.760 between the Zulus and close so it was like very 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:49.800 dangerous and I. 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.400 Just remember that moment very vividly. 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.120 Going to class with a group of kids that were 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.559 very diverse and from all over the world. There were Greek, 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.760 they were or Cheguese there, or British kids in my class, 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.280 and you know, again meeting people that did not have 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:07.800 a lot by any stretch of the means of what 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.760 I'd grown up with before, but that were just so 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.440 positive and content all of those moments really stuck with me. 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.640 Do you think there's, like you said, concentration of kindness 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.719 of coming back to South Africa? What creates that in 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.400 that particular place, Like when you say that people are 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.360 just so lovely and kind? Do you think there is 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:28.440 something that engenders that. 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.480 I think experience, I would imagine plays a role a 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.160 country that had gone through this major shift and was 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.280 trying to figure out what it was the tension of that, 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.840 but also I guess the belief that you have to 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:43.640 have that things can get better. 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.280 And then I think there's also just nature. 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:07.360 What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you? 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.400 I think for most of my life the kind of 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:15.600 anecdotal idea of romance in the movie would have equated 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:19.000 love the ability to show someone you care to be 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.000 affectionate display public affection for someone else. 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:24.520 Those things still inspire me. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.920 I think I'm just more pragmatic having been in relationships 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.280 and come out of them in the concept of sacrifice 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.440 and what that means. And again I always told myself 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.640 I never wanted to do politics, largely because I know 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.360 the human toll right that takes on someone and their 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.200 family and their loved ones. But ultimately, when I think 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.079 back on that in the context of my family, when 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.280 I think about those sacrifices that not just my grandfather made, 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:51.839 my grandmother's. 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:52.960 My uncle, my aunts. 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.280 It was for me in the sense the kind of 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.520 true expression of love, the idea that you were doing 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.400 something that it was bigger than yourself at such a scale, 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.640 and doing it fearlessly even though there was so much 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:07.600 danger and unknown and. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:08.840 Risk attached to that. 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.079 And so I would say, for me, yeah, as I 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.360 get older, that's something I've started to think about a 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.600 lot more as a reflection of true love. 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.280 H It's funny because I think on a small or 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:22.720 a bigger level, sacrifice it is a huge part of love. 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.840 It's not the romantic part that we talk about, but 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.600 it is a huge cornerstone of the things that we 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:34.240 And maybe sacrifice is alongside compromise, the idea of what 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:35.840 we do for those that we love that are not 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.360 necessarily choices we'd make for ourselves. But you know that 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.240 for a kind of greater good, we seem to be 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.280 pretty far away from that. In our world. Everything's become 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.480 so protectionist now it's not about sacrificing for a greater good, 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.280 but rather protecting more for our own gain slash, I 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.080 guess security, But. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.120 I think that's what the image of love has been 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.040 presented to us, as something that we are meant to protect. 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.400 Like you're not meant to go out of your way, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.720 You're not meant to compromise or sacrifice. You're meant to 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.680 feel good, You're meant to feel happy and special, and you're. 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:09.439 Meant to be upbeat. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.640 And I think the real toll of what love is 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.959 is when you're willing to let something go, no matter 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.880 what it is, because you know that something greater can 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.520 come from that and those around you can benefit from it. 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.760 Was that part of Global Citizens That organization for me 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.680 feels like a kind of embodiment of like a love 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:32.040 that is shared and spread around and actually is foundational 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.240 and has the kind of infrastructure. Was that something you 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.600 were really interested in being involved with, because it really 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:39.800 does feel like an expression of love. I mean, that's 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.520 simplifying it, But was that part of that? 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.160 I don't know if it was an expression of love 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.640 for me, and if it is, to be honest with you, 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.959 I think I had been part of starting a concert 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.840 when I was twelve, when I was really young and 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.160 just idealic, and at the time I got out, I 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.200 was going through like my cold Play phase where I 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:58.000 was just listening to. 0:12:58.000 --> 0:12:59.840 Them over and over. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.760 I ended up calling a promoter and got lucky the 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.000 right person spoke to me and four Triple six y four, 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.720 which was an HIV and AIDS awareness concert, was born. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.600 And because I had that experience, and I'd also spent 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.920 time in Australia, I was introduced to some of the 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.000 co founders of Global Citizen and they'd asked if I 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.440 wanted to be a part of it, and I took 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.240 some time. About a month later, I went back to 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.600 them and said, yeah, I'm open to this, but we 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:27.679 actually have to be global. We can't just do a 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.400 concert in New York. And so it was born out 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.640 of that, in this idea that we could end extreme poverty. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.120 And back in twenty twelve and twenty thirteen, we had 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.160 the Millennial Development Goals that Jeffrey Sachs and a bunch 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.600 of really smart people had dreamt up around how the 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.120 world could look to defeat poverty, which was something that 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.280 my grandfather had been really passionate about when he retired. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.440 This idea that poverty was man made and it could 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.120 be ended by us in our actions. And I think 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.559 we were very idyllic. We didn't necessarily have a roadmap, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.360 and we obviously didn't know the things that would come 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.320 in our world, and so. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.120 It was born out of that. 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:11.120 It's definitely more we've obviously had COVID, You've had compounding 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:13.959 conflicts in the world, and as you said, a world 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:15.839 that's become more protectionists and. 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:17.440 More nationalists in a lot of ways. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.400 And so I think the organization is kind of figuring 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.120 out and finding what it represents in a modern era. 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.240 What I'm proud about with Global Citizens the idea that 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.640 people can mobilize behind something. Yeah, they can believe something 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.280 that's bigger than themselves, and the idea, yeah, that their 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.720 impact in actions can equate something really special. But the 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.240 only time will tell if that's real or just smoke 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:39.760 and mirrts. 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.920 I think there's something really beautiful though about the idea 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:47.920 of everybody from whatever socioeconomic background, culturally, the idea that 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:52.680 you can affect change. And there's something about Global Citizens 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.080 that makes the way the information is presented, in the 0:14:55.120 --> 0:15:01.000 way engagement works, that feels like anybody can help. Beginning 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.920 affecting change, like within their local community on a grassroots 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:05.680 level or on a bigger sid like however you want 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.960 to get involved. I remember it's like when I first 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.520 met Chris one hundred years ago, we would both work 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.000 for Oxfam. I opened for him and Ram because Michael 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:16.600 Stipe was also really involved. And I remember sitting in 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.280 the green room with like backstage in London, all these 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.440 unbelievable people and all these beautiful musicians were sitting around 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.720 talking about the amelioration of poverty, like what does that 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.920 look like? How does that look How can you use 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.760 this tangible platform? And remember this was before social media, 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.080 and it's really like, well, here we are using this 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.120 platform here to talk about things. So what we say 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:40.840 in between songs? And I was like, I'm not saying 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.200 anything because you guys are saying all the stuff, but like, 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.400 how you at your own level, how do we talk 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.000 to each other. I've loved I've watched in the sidelines 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.560 of the expansion of Global citizens and I really love it, 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.360 like it inspires loving me and like lots of other 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:57.600 people that I know. So I think it's very cool. 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.640 I hope it will inspire a new generation to figure 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:03.960 out how it is that they move the needle, and 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.240 that it may not necessarily be through music events, it 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.160 may be through a new form of storytelling. And maybe 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.560 do them realizing that they have unique communities that exist 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.280 amongst themselves, and then how do they apply pressure. Because 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.760 when I think about any of the kind of great 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.600 what it's Woodstock, whether it's Freeman Della concert and a 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:26.520 lot of them have existed. Some really did have an impact, 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.360 others were just moments to galvanize people and exist in 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.960 that moment solely right, And I think with all of 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.920 the information we have, it's hard to have a breakthrough 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.400 and so global sys since then a good job of 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.200 finding a model potentially works in certain parts of the world, 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.240 it's not going to work everywhere. And so that's where 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.520 the next generation really has to evolve. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.920 It, I think, and figure it out. So interesting just 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.800 talking about community called Jefferson was on the show the 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.280 other day and he was talking about the loss of 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.160 the third place, which so the first place being home, 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.600 second place being work, and the third place being community 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.400 and whether that was church or the village hall, or 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.480 the sports matches or the places that we used to 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.680 go to find that and when I was a kid. 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.359 That's where any kind of activism came out of those 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.600 places where sort of people would come together in a 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.200 time that wasn't home and wasn't work and would start 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.280 moving things forward. And we live in a community in 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:28.280 California where that's very much in play. It's interesting watching 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.560 my kid, he's sixteen, and how him and his friends 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.560 are doing that, like, yes, in addition to all of 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.240 their gaming, and they're this, and they're that, this idea 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.159 of like minded souls and what can we do and 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.360 how can we do this together as opposed to them 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:43.960 being so isolated. And I don't know if it's a 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.480 function of COVID and needing to be part of something 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.200 and not so isolated, but I think it's really interesting 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.280 and I do think that that's where I think that's 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.000 the key. And I watched these kids sort of starting 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.639 to unlock that idea that it's community that is transnational. 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:02.280 Do you think that bards and still plays a little 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.639 role in helping us, I guess address major social issues 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:06.080 that we have. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.400 Yes, hugely. But I think there is a huge problem 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.240 in the arts being seen as some kind of dessert 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.640 to the meat and potatoes of a far more prosaic academics. 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.240 I don't know. I have advocated and I will never 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.520 stop on the idea that creative thought for me comes 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.000 out of the art. It comes out of music and 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.280 kids finding their voice, no matter whether that's what they 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:32.680 want to do in their life, but learning to speak 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.280 and to articulate how you feel text that you read, 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.280 to stand up, to feel heard and seen, to experiment 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.280 with music and with words, with reading. I think it's 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.920 phenomenally important. I really do. And it's interesting my kid 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:47.680 goes to a school where they don't mind even if 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.800 you are just a full blown academic scholar, you will 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.480 play a musical instrument, or you will be in the choir. 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:57.960 It's fully just this is part of your whole brain development. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.919 This is as vital as double physics. Yeah, I stand 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:03.560 by that. Do you think that? Do you think that 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:04.280 it's possible? 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:04.960 I don't know. 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.800 I think when I look back, and maybe this is 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.639 just the fact that we're looking back right when you 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.480 look back at Woodstock and what that'spawned, or a lot 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.119 of the cultural boycott that existed during a part that 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.560 it felt like it really broke through, and I think 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.000 now I see a lot being done. I just don't 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.159 know if it actually breaks through and it comes to 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.720 the whole idea of who controls what we see, censorship, 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:31.960 all of that that you can have a debate and 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.560 a conversation around. I think I'm still trying to figure 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:35.920 out that's possible. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.199 I think it's changing at such a fast pace, like 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.680 with no regulations, and it's such a crazy free for all. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.800 I agree, but I think if everything is going to 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.199 get thrown into that crucible anyway of the Internet of 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.159 social media of this world, then I'm going to go 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.320 through in as much of the arts and communication as 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.439 I possibly can. Because I agree with you. I think 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.439 it's wayward and it's clearly without a plan, but I 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.760 still think we're better off with it than without it. 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.800 So what quality do you like least about yourself? 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:19.360 I would say I've always felt the need to be accessible, 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:23.879 whether that's in real life or taking time to engage 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.480 and listen to people, friends, colleagues, and that can be 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.600 a lot, And I know there's plenty of moments now 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:32.119 that I look back, I'm like, oh, I wish I 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.720 could have got that time back, because I listen a lot. 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:36.720 I think earlier today I was on a call for 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:40.679