The Power of Small Acts of Resistance: Steve Crawshaw at TEDxKrakow

Courage, tenacity, ingenuity -- according to Steve Crawshaw, it is exactly these traits that are needed to change the world. His book, Small Acts of Resistance, features some of the 20th century's lesser-known heroes; individuals who used playful disobedience to overcome even the worst crises. At TEDxKraków, Steve talked about these real life Don Quixotes, who he observed in Poland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Burma and Egypt as a journalist and human rights advocate, and about the difference they can make today. Steve is the Advocacy Director at Amnesty International, but he's no stranger to Poland. In 1978-81 he lived in Kraków, which he says strongly influenced his understanding of the world.

Odwaga, upór, pomysłowość -- według Steve'a Crawshawa to właśnie tych cech trzeba, aby zmienić świat. W książce Small Acts of Resistance opisuje działania bohaterów XX wieku -- jednostek, które dzięki pomysłowym, pozornie niewinnym działaniom potrafiły wyjść z najbardziej beznadziejnych sytuacji. Steve opowiedział nam właśnie o tych Don Kichotach współczesnego świata, których miał szansę obserwować w Polsce, Czechach, Serbii, Birmie, i Egipcie jako dziennikarz i rzecznik praw człowieka. Obecnie jest dyrektorem Biura Sekretarza Generalnego Amnesty International. W Krakowie mieszkał w latach 1978--1981 -- twierdzi, że obserwacja polskiego społeczeństwa w tych trudnych okolicznościach znacznie wpłynęła na jego rozumienie świata.

Steve spoke at TEDxKrakow, which took place on 25 October 2013 at Stara Zajezdnia in Kraków's Jewish district. Our theme this year was Make! and was a celebration of making. We asked our speakers to explore and demonstrate the practice, and to ponder what it takes to make more makers. We featured some of Krakow's makers and created a dedicated maker space to encourage our audience of over 600 people to have a go at making something -- anything!

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)