The WEF 2010 Countdown: Q&A with João (1)

What was your first reaction when you found out you’d been chosen to go to Davos?
Didn’t believe in it! But I think I am now getting used to the idea!

 

What are your hopes for Davos?
My hopes are still the same: be able to, together, bring positive change – yet this time in a greater, much greater scale.

 

What are your fears for Davos?
Though I believe in my potential, my greatest fear comes with the responsibility of representing such a remarkable group of changemakers, such admirable and passionate friends.

 

In which area would you want to see more youth engagement?
I would like to see youth from rich countries more engaged in the “real world area” – instead of playing Second Life, to live their first life, instead of playing Warfare, be aware of Fair Trade and instead of playing for hours Pro Evolution Soccer, to make the Pro Evolution of the poorest communities a reality.

 

How can you make this happen?
By being an activist, volunteer and social entrepreneur I hope to, together, be able to built awareness of the need of positive change among society and to give opportunities to young people (but not only) to act in the “real world” towards the development of their communities, countries and cultures.

What will the world look like in 2050?
What we made of it.

 

If you become the new UN General Secretary, what would be the first thing you’d do?
Listen to what people have to say. Join a team and form together a Global Partnership between the private sector (business sector and NGOs) of all the countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, by doing of this a task of all mankind.

 

What quality do you like most about yourself?
My “mental illness”!

 

If you could invite three historical figures for dinner, who would they be, and why?

  • Afrika Bambata – The father of Hip-Hop Culture and its message: “Love, Peace, Unity, and Having Fun”.
  • Gandhi – To tell him he is still alive between us.
  • Leonardo Da Vinci – For having the vision of imagining what was never imagined before.

 

If you bump into Bono or Queen Rania in the elevator, what do you say?
“Peace my brother!

 

I am now organizing with 10 young changemakers from 4 continents and 9 countries a project which aims to promote Peace and Intercultural Dialogue through Art. Bono, did you ever realized how global music language can be? Did you ever wonder how many different cultures listen to your music? I am sure you did and what we want with this project is to built the pretty same love that so many different cultures have to your music, across borders to many different kinds of music and Art.

In this way, if people from all cultures around the world are willing to get together in a U2 music concert, imagine the power that this project could have of breaking our cultural barriers and building Peace if we could create an artistic universal language that would be then shared throughout the world. You are our opportunity to make this possible, and we are your opportunity to scale-up your talent and character through all the fields of art and countries.

 

Are you in?”