Everyone has seen the photo of the little Vietnamese girl running away from the napalm, the man in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square and the death of Neda during the Iranian protests.  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave an inspiring talk at TED and explained why these images came to symbolize and publicize a movement for the rest of the world to see.  These moving photos evoke a strong emotional response and are testaments to the power of the image to inspire action and civic participation.

As I discussed in an earlier post, technology and social media are helping to give a voice to people whose stories might otherwise not be heard.  In his talk, Brown says:

But I think what’s new is that we now have the capacity to communicate instantaneously across frontiers right across the world.  We now have the capacity to find common ground with people we will never meet but who we will meet through the internet and through all the modern means of communication, that we now have the capacity to organize and take collective action together to deal with the problem or an injustice that we want to deal with, and I believe that this makes this a unique age in human history, and it is the start of what I would call the creation of a truly global society.

Brookings Fellow Cynthia Schneider has a great TED talk about how popular television shows like Afghan Idol and Poet of the Millions, which is broadcast throughout the Arab world, are changing tribal societies.  These merit-based competitions, with equal access to everyone and the winner selected via SMS voting, are reaching incredibly deep into society. People of all ages go to great lengths to watch the shows in private and public places, and become so engaged that they campaign for their favorite candidate.

These competitions have also opened up the door for women in their society.  Aydah Al Jahnani faced resistance from her tribe and family who urged her not to compete in Poet of the Millions.  But once she started to win they supported her again because, “It turns out that competition and winning is a universal human value.”  Her poetry is about women, and the fact that she is in competition with men sets an important example for young women.

These shows are also helping to build local indigenous culture and community.

Now you’d think that American Idol would introduce a measure of Americanization. But actually, just the opposite is happening.  By using this engaging popular format for traditional, local culture, it actually, in the Gulf, is precipitating a revival of interest in Nabati poetry, also in traditional dress and dance and music.  And for Afghanistan where the Taliban banned music for many years, it is reintroducing their traditional music.  They don’t sing pop songs, they sing Afghan music.  And they also have learned how to lose gracefully, without avenging the winner.  No small thing.

The premise that people of different religions can share fundamental values such as tolerance and respect is not in itself groundbreaking. But the worldwide, virtually instantaneous affirmation of an explicit statement – a Charter for Compassion, crafted with the help of 150,000 online visitors – is not something that could have happened during our parents’ generation.

The Charter for Compassion, unveiled Nov. 12, 2009, is the brainchild of Karen Armstrong, a former Catholic nun. Armstrong’s charter is based on this wish, which won her the 2008 TED prize:

I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) – a non-profit devoted to “ideas worth spreading” – may be best known for its annual conference that gathers talented and innovative people together to watch engaging, provocative presentations. But it also gives an annual prize of $100,000 to three recipients to help them fulfill their wish. Previous recipients include former President Bill Clinton, whose wish was to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for Rwanda, and architect Cameron Sinclair, whose wish was to “create a community that actively embraces open-source design to generate innovative and sustainable living standards for all” by using design to help solve global and humanitarian crises.

Armstrong’s Charter for Compassion is, as noted on the Web site, “a product of its time, for its time.” During six weeks, thousands of submissions were entered online, and commented on by over 150,000 visitors. The comments can be viewed online and are broken up into Abrahamic faiths, other faiths, and non-religious/secular. An 18-member Council of Conscience, composed of a multi-faith, multi-national group of thinkers and leaders, wrote the final language for the charter, a four paragraph statement that can be viewed in its entirety here.

Its first paragraph is:

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

20,000 people had affirmed the charter as of Nov. 22, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody Williams. You can affirm it below:

Signing the charter is intended as more than just a statement of principle, “it is above all a summons to creative, practical and sustained action to meet the political, moral, religious, social and cultural problems of our time.”

The Charter for Compassion Web site includes a page where you can learn about acts of compassion and share your own as well as learn about events taking place, including a community Thanksgiving dinner where the charter will be read and a music festival raising money for individuals with emergency fuel needs.