# Ideas Remaking the World | 2026 Cornerstone Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjurPQKG4Y

[00:00] Good morning.
[00:00] Good morning and welcome to the ideas remaking the world.
[00:08] Do you know this is the 11th year when we have featured some of the best ideas from our IWF members?
[00:13] Ideas that are transformational for individuals, for communities, and for societies.
[00:24] I would like to think they add to that positive note that Margaret was asking for in the previous session.
[00:34] The submissions that we received, they truly reflect the diversity and the passion of our members.
[00:44] The topics range from AI to the arts, from healthcare to education and beyond.
[00:54] The ideas you'll hear about today were selected based upon IWF's timeproven
[01:01] Criteria.
[01:01] They were original, they were measurable, and they are scalable.
[01:08] Ideas that when put into action truly create impact to each of you who made a submission, thank you.
[01:19] Thank you.
[01:19] Thank you.
[01:19] Thank you.
[01:21] Thank you.
[01:21] They were all brilliant and I have to say it was really difficult to to make a decision among such a competitive pool.
[01:30] All your ideas really reflected IWBF members ability to solve problems and passion to change the world.
[01:43] Now I'd also like to thank my fellow committee members um for their hard work in making all of this happen.
[01:51] Claudia Patton from IWF Georgia.
[01:57] Yes.
[01:57] Yes.
[01:57] Yes.
[02:01] We have Vivian Lao of IWF Hong Kong.
[02:08] We have Deborah Trudeau from IWF Canada and Joanne Salasar from Trinidad and Tobago.
[02:21] Are we ready for our first idea?
[02:24] Yay.
[02:24] So, our first presenter is working to tackle one of the fastest growing, most heinous, most pervasive global threats, online exploitation of young people.
[02:37] She's working to make sure that our digital world is as safe as possible and that protection is accessible and affordable.
[02:47] So, please welcome a member of IWF Finland and CEO and founder of Somebody, Suvi Oski.
[02:58] Good morning, ladies.
[02:58] My name is Suvi
[03:01] And I'm the CEO and co-founder of Somebody.
[03:05] I've spent 17 years with social media research.
[03:11] So from the early days when Facebook became popular, but during the past 10 years, I've been tackling the very dark side of social media.
[03:21] Today, I'm going to give you a super duper mini course on what's massively wrong with social media.
[03:29] And then also, I'm going to share how me and my team are trying to solve this.
[03:37] I have a number here, 870.
[03:40] That's the amount of hours that a regular adult uses on average on social media per year on a daily basis.
[03:51] This is 2 hours 23 minutes.
[03:56] That's you guys.
[03:59] Okay.
[03:59] Could be worse, right?
[03:59] Mhm.
[04:05] When we look at the young people, look what happens.
[04:10] We get additional 1,000 hours per year, which makes these two hours plus 5 to seven hours.
[04:22] And what's wrong with here is the fact that the young people are on different social media platforms than the adults on Snapchat, on Tik Tok and other platforms that we don't even haven't heard of, right?
[04:39] Uh in my intellectual work, I do a very binary distinction between the social medias.
[04:46] There is the old social media that is the you know Facebook good old times IWF groups maybe neighborhood groups relatives near and far and then we have the new social media and the new social media is the one that the young people young people
[05:07] Are using
[05:09] And to the question what are the benefits of adding 1,000 more hours per year to your social media usage.
[05:20] I'm a social psychologist and I've reviewed the literature.
[05:25] There is no benefits only downsides.
[05:29] Physical, mental, social downsides.
[05:35] And this means that at this time we're witnessing the expansion of expansion of unethical algorithms that are on those new social media platforms.
[05:51] I can tell you that within the two or three years, these unethical algorithms will find their way to the platforms that we all are using.
[05:59] We're going to be spending a lot more time online and we can't resist it.
[06:08] Last week I was in front of the European Parliament in Brussels to tell about our work at Somebody and to tell about what we've witnessed since the AI revolution.
[06:22] I'm going to share you the bits as well.
[06:26] During the past 10 years, we've seen how the online crime is actually exploding.
[06:31] And when we're looking at the stats locally, globally, wherever, I've been doing that for years, I can tell you if you are a teenager girl, there is a 50% chance that you have been abused or harassed sexually during the past 12 months online.
[06:52] So imagine if the years go by the odds that you will be harassed or abused sexually it's one so 100%.
[07:03] And that means that we are in trouble.
[07:08] And what really makes the social media a very dangerous place right now is that if we're spending time with these unethical algorithms, seven hours per day after our work, studies and hobbies, it actually changes how we think, how we behave and what we value.
[07:30] And this is the big difference happening globally right now.
[07:34] The reality is shifted by social media algorithms, not by us humans.
[07:42] Here is um Ella.
[07:45] She's a fabricated person by the National Broadcasting Media in Finland.
[07:52] Ella was taking uh Tik Tok hours and I was the researcher analyzing this data.
[07:59] So the Tik Tok feed that Ella got for altogether six hours.
[08:06] What Ella was seeing was taking my
[08:09] Breath away.
[08:11] There were suggestions to harm herself to have these medications for serious mental ill illnesses and then also dietary dietary tips that are very unhealthy.
[08:30] How to survive with one grape a day.
[08:33] And this is the imagery that young girls are exposed to on an everyday basis.
[08:43] It's not that the young girls are desperately looking for dietary tips.
[08:45] No, it's the algorithms hunting young people when they get the clue that there might be a young person with DNA hormones.
[08:58] The algorithm knows what to feed and this is the visuals that are representing the women of this century.
[09:08] Okay.
[09:10] How many of you recognizes this fellow?
[09:12] Hands up.
[09:15] Quite a few.
[09:18] This guy is called Andrew Tate.
[09:25] He is the key influencer in social media to young men.
[09:31] There is not many men in this world who haven't heard of him.
[09:37] And what is Andrew Tate doing?
[09:41] He's giving success coaching.
[09:43] How to become a millionaire, how to have a private jet, lots of women, cars, whatever look good.
[09:51] And besides the lines what Andrew Tate is saying that you can't be successful if you don't abuse women and this has been going on for years now.
[10:06] What we witnessed in Scandinavia where I come from, but also here in the UK.
[10:13] We had a national emergency for schools two years ago because what in the schools they witness was how girls and women teachers were treated with violence and inappropriate behavior by young men who had watched this content.
[10:35] Okay.
[10:38] Our societies are reacting to this.
[10:41] We are talking about social media bans, national recommendations on screen time and so forth, but it's very very slow as you know.
[10:51] And what we're doing is we're trying to make the societies understand what's going on.
[10:55] But the problem is that when you report someone's stealing your bike, it's straightforward and easy.
[11:03] You know, our societies understand that.
[11:06] But when you're trying to report something else, a sexual crime towards you when you're 10 years old.
[11:14] Mhm.
[11:14] There's no understanding.
[11:18] I brought you here, Jenna.
[11:21] Jenna is a 15-year-old victim of sextortion.
[11:24] And one might think how sextortion happens.
[11:27] It's very simple.
[11:30] Jenna has Snapchat.
[11:30] She receives a DM, a direct message that says, "If you don't pay, we'll publish an AI porn video made out of you."
[11:42] And that's happening everywhere.
[11:44] UNICEF, Interpol, and Expat just released a study where they estimate that there is already 1.2 million children as victims of AI fakes.
[12:00] And today here on this stage, I'm telling you, we have lots of power in this room.
[12:06] We can do things to stop this.
[12:09] This isn't okay.
[12:09] Not on our watch.
[12:13] What me and my team have been trying to
[12:16] Do to fix this is an online safety hub where anyone can get access.
[12:19] We have lawyers, psychologists, social psychologists and cyber experts who are helping very young people, young people, adults and elderly with problems encountered online.
[12:37] We also have a trust of lacker status by the Digital Services Act within EU which means that we have a fast track to take down content on social media and we've built everything to scale.
[13:01] During the past two years the youngest help seekers have been six year olds.
[13:07] That's why the user interface and everything is designed so that it's easy to ask for help.
[13:14] You can ask for help 247.
[13:14] And what we
[13:16] Also do on our platform, we educate teachers, students, and even parents very efficiently.
[13:26] Our emergency unit learns and then upgrades that into the learning materials.
[13:31] Okay, for Jenna, what did we do?
[13:34] We took down the content.
[13:36] We gave her mental support and gave a very detailed instructions how to file a police report.
[13:45] And that helped for her.
[13:47] What we're willing to do is to have users everywhere on this globe, millions and millions and millions in all age categories.
[13:58] We need to make access to justice, access to help easy.
[14:04] I have an ask for you.
[14:08] You can help me in any way you see best.
[14:10] But I have three points here that are very straightforward.
[14:14] You can bring somebody to your own organization
[14:18] Or you can invest in us to help us expand.
[14:26] Or then third, you can tell me if there's an organization in need and we can approach them by ourselves.
[14:35] I will leave the QR code here so you can access uh the form easily.
[14:39] I hope we can remake the world that really needs our help today.
[14:56] Thank you.
[14:56] Wow, Suie.
[14:59] And thank you for that eyepopping, eyeopening uh session.
[15:03] Your work is really, really critical to keep our most precious and most vulnerable populations safe.
[15:10] Now, we're talking about illegal content, and we were talking about the illegal content yesterday in our AI session where that creepy uh deep fake fooled many of us.
[15:20] Not me.
[15:23] What's the process of taking this illegal content down?
[15:24] What do you do?
[15:27] Uh, we do that a special channel that is designed for trusted within the EU.
[15:33] But then if you compare, if you have ever tried to report something to the admins of the social media platform, you know how difficult it is.
[15:39] And nowadays it's even more difficult.
[15:42] So we are knitted.
[15:43] There you go.
[15:47] It's important to do um you also do online uh courses and and trainings in schools and and on campuses.
[15:56] How does that work?
[15:56] It works with a whole school or whole community approach.
[16:00] So it's it's very like an like how would I say powerful tool to do it.
[16:06] And then just like a side note, I'd like to add that um we usually need to teach the teachers more about the importance of training these content.
[16:15] So the kids usually find it like the content themselves from our platform that that's interesting to them because they know about the dangers.
[16:21] They are very well aware of those.
[16:23] That's excellent work.
[16:25] That's really really important work.
[16:28] So now we know we promote, we invest, we advocate.
[16:31] Thank you so much Sulie.
[16:40] Thank you.
[16:42] Brilliant.
[16:45] We are ready for our second idea.
[16:49] Our next presenter is advancing mental health um through the prenatal critical prenatal role choline can play to advance lifelong mental health.
[16:56] Sorry, I got no mixed up with my notes here.
[16:59] Please welcome the co-chair of IWF World Leadership Conference in November, member of IWF Colorado and vice president of the board for the Institute for Children's Mental Health, Jeannie Saunders.
[17:14] My little rooting section.
[17:16] Good morning everyone.
[17:17] I'm going to preface this by telling you all that I am not a doctor.
[17:19] I am not a
[17:22] Researcher.
[17:22] I am a finance person.
[17:24] So bear that in mind.
[17:27] I'm here to tell you about a rather simple solution to one of the most complicated and heartbreaking medical issues.
[17:32] Autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also referred to as ADHD, are worldwide mental health issues.
[17:44] But I'm not talking about treating or curing.
[17:46] Instead, I'm talking about lowering or preventing these conditions during pregnancy with a common inexpensive supplement called choline.
[17:55] A simple pill that can prevent.
[18:02] Choline is a naturally occurring nutrient we all get from eggs, meat, fish, soy, and beans.
[18:11] But no prospective mother can get enough choline simply through her diet.
[18:16] You'd have to eat eight eggs or two slices of liver a day.
[18:19] Yum.
[18:19] Nobody wants that.
[18:19] So, in addition
[18:22] To her prenatal vitamins, a choline supplement of 900 milligrams a day is needed.
[18:31] Prenatal vitamins are already big enough.
[18:33] So, you have to have these separately.
[18:35] They won't fit.
[18:35] And this is where new medical research led by Dr. Robert Freriedman and his team in Denver, Colorado, found a remarkable solution.
[18:46] I was first introduced to the Institute for Children's Mental Health 20 years ago by my late husband.
[18:51] I attended board meetings and much like most of us in this room, seemed to be the only person asking probing questions.
[19:00] I don't sit in board meetings passively.
[19:03] Now I don't have family members with this particular mental health condition but I certainly know people who do and moreover I know it's a worldwide problem.
[19:14] So I knew the implications of solving the issue and I got very excited.
[19:19] Let's start with the numbers.
[19:21] In the 1970s
[19:23] One in 150 children were identified as having an autism spectrum disorder.
[19:30] In 2025, it's one in 31 children.
[19:34] It's the same story for ADHD.
[19:38] 8% of children diagnosed in 2003 and now it's 11%.
[19:43] Of course, many factors can be attributed to these changes in these statistics.
[19:50] We but we do know that increased awareness and better and earlier diagnosis contribute to the increase in these numbers.
[19:58] Neither ADHD nor autism can be fully cured by medications or counseling and they will often require additional resources.
[20:09] A child with autism I forgot to do that.
[20:13] A child with autism can cost families and government health care systems much much more than a healthy child over their lifetimes.
[20:23] And it's costing many billions of dollars to countries and
[20:25] medical systems worldwide. Now, compare
[20:28] those costs to $150
[20:32] during the nine months of fetal
[20:34] development. That's the cost of giving a
[20:37] mother a daily supplement of choline
[20:40] through her pregnancy.
[20:42] Let me repeat that. being the finance
[20:45] person. $150
[20:48] can prevent a whole lot of mental health
[20:51] problems, helping the people that have
[20:54] them as well as their families and not
[20:56] to mention health care systems. And
[20:58] here's the real tragedy. Once the baby's
[21:01] born, no amount of choline will help.
[21:04] It's too late. It's too late for us,
[21:06] too. You can't take choline now to help
[21:08] your brain. Sorry. To explain that, let
[21:11] me talk about two myths.
[21:14] Myth number one is that all children are
[21:16] born angels with no mental health
[21:18] problems.
[21:22] In fact, one in 10 is already carrying a
[21:25] risk of a mental health disorder, 10%.
[21:28] Myth number two is that the womb is the
[21:30] protected perfect place for a baby to
[21:33] grow, which is kind of true.
[21:37] However, development is hugely impacted
[21:40] by the many challenges to the mother's
[21:43] health and by the genes received by his
[21:46] from his or her parents. If a mom has
[21:49] infections,
[21:50] COVID, the flu, measles during her
[21:54] pregnancy, it doubles her child's
[21:57] chances for having a mental health
[21:59] disorder.
[22:01] Stress, anxiety, and depression also
[22:04] doubles the chances. Marijuana use,
[22:08] nicotine, alcohol use, four times the
[22:12] chances. And genetic risks,
[22:16] uh, risks for mom and dad if either mom
[22:18] or dad have a mental health issue,
[22:21] increases the chances by 10 times.
[22:24] Let me restate that. Even when a mother
[22:27] gets a cold, during pregnancy, brain
[22:31] development can be compromised and the
[22:34] risk for mental health conditions is
[22:37] doubled.
[22:39] Now, I'd like to talk about miracles.
[22:43] Miracle number one.
[22:46] For the past 50 years, folic acid in
[22:49] prenatal vitamins has prevented
[22:54] uh major defects in fetal brain and
[22:56] spinal cord formation, stopping such
[22:58] conditions as spinoipida.
[23:01] Think of 50 years preventing terable
[23:03] deformities with an over-the-counter
[23:07] inexpensive vitamin supplement. If
[23:10] you've had a baby in the last 50 years
[23:12] and took prenatal vitamins, folic acid
[23:15] was in there.
[23:17] Miracle number two
[23:20] is that in 2016, Dr. Freriedman and his
[23:24] team found and reported that prenatal
[23:26] choline enhances fetal brain
[23:29] development. If choline is taken during
[23:32] pregnancy, mental health problems can be
[23:36] prevented and fully developed brains
[23:39] produce full weight fullterm babies.
[23:44] The American Medical Association, the
[23:46] American College of Obstetrics and
[23:48] Gynecologists, and the American Academy
[23:51] of Pediatrics now all recommend prenatal
[23:55] choline for all pregnant women. And here
[23:58] are the dramatic results of choline
[24:00] research that were done by Dr.
[24:02] Freriedman and his team.
[24:05] They did a randomized double blind
[24:07] study. That means half the moms got a
[24:10] placebo and half got the choline.
[24:13] Neither the mothers nor the researchers
[24:15] or the nurses knew who was getting the
[24:18] choline until all these kids reached age
[24:20] four.
[24:22] As an aside, of course, I thought about
[24:25] this. It costs more to produce the
[24:27] placebo pills than it did to buy the
[24:30] choline.
[24:32] Then at four years, we measured the
[24:34] cognitive development of 124 of those
[24:37] children. We began the study with 211. I
[24:40] know it doesn't sound like a lot, but it
[24:41] is. Uh 211, but it's hard to track these
[24:44] children and their families, especially
[24:46] to age four. Remarkably, these doctors
[24:49] can know an awful lot by the time that a
[24:52] kid is four. Who knew? Four other teams
[24:55] around the world, two in the US, one in
[24:58] the Ukraine before the war, and one in
[25:00] South Africa have had very similar
[25:03] results. And teams in Canada, in China,
[25:06] also positive findings. Here is Dr.
[25:09] Freriedman's remarkable report.
[25:13] 10 of the children whose mothers
[25:15] received the placebo were more likely to
[25:18] have autism spectrum disorder symptoms
[25:22] compared to one child whose mother took
[25:25] choline. An additional three boys whose
[25:28] mother got the placebo had symptoms of
[25:31] defi of severe ADHD.
[25:34] But 12 of the children had an IQ of more
[25:37] than 120 at age four. IQ's at this level
[25:41] qualify children for advanced and gifted
[25:44] classes. Of the 12, 10 were from mothers
[25:48] who received choline and two were from
[25:51] mothers who received the placebo.
[25:54] Going on, six children whose mothers
[25:57] took the placebo scored in the lowest
[25:59] 10%. These children are extremely
[26:01] disabled and will require special
[26:03] schooling. Most children of mothers on
[26:06] choline, especially the boys, some
[26:08] reason boys have a little more trouble
[26:10] in this area, uh, show decreased
[26:13] withdrawal and attention problems.
[26:17] My daughter Blair
[26:20] um, recently or she asked me what what
[26:22] did that doctor say about Colleen the
[26:23] first time she got pregnant? And I and I
[26:25] knew she was pregnant before she told me
[26:27] she was pregnant. And then she had Max.
[26:30] He's the one in the middle, my grandson
[26:32] who just turned four. But he could read
[26:36] anything by the time he was two and
[26:38] about four months old. I'm not kidding.
[26:42] Like menus and stuff. Anyway, Dr.
[26:44] Freriedman said the outcome was all our
[26:46] team could have hoped for. So, we had
[26:49] these outstanding results and I'm
[26:51] sitting at board meetings asking how
[26:54] we're going to tell everybody about
[26:55] them. I'm dealing with doctors and
[26:58] researchers, extremely smart people. I'm
[27:00] sure there are some in this audience. no
[27:03] idea how to do marketing. Subsequently,
[27:06] I was talking to a fellow IWF IWF member
[27:11] about the barriers we encountered with
[27:13] Colorado Medicaid people and she said I
[27:16] should speak to our senator. Well, I
[27:18] called him up, invited him to breakfast,
[27:21] and he agreed to meet me. I outlined the
[27:24] financial implications, which is what
[27:26] they have to be worried about, to the
[27:29] state for mothers on Medicaid. Medicaid
[27:31] is the program in the United States that
[27:34] um low-income families use to get their
[27:36] medical services. He immediately got it.
[27:40] It's cheaper to have a full weight
[27:42] fullterm baby for $150
[27:46] a pregnancy than one day in the neon
[27:50] neonatal intensive care unit. I then
[27:53] hired two lobbyists who wrote the leg
[27:56] legislation for choline to be included
[28:00] with prenatal vitamins for all Medicaid
[28:02] moms and attached it to a women's
[28:04] healthc care bill that was about to be
[28:06] passed. Let's just remember, I'm a
[28:09] finance person. This is not what I know
[28:11] how to do. But it worked. Colorado is
[28:15] the first state in the United States to
[28:17] monetarily cover choline in our state's
[28:20] Medicaid program.
[28:23] Yay.
[28:26] And my senator had his friend in
[28:28] Medicaid in Washington DC adjust the
[28:31] protocols nationally for choline. But
[28:34] each state and country needs to pass the
[28:38] legislation individually.
[28:40] This is what determined women like us
[28:42] can do when we are out to save babies.
[28:45] You clearly don't know have to know what
[28:48] you're doing. You just need to
[28:50] persevere.
[28:52] Now, we must all get the word out to the
[28:55] world. As I said, I'm a finance person,
[28:59] but I've got a big mouth, and I'm not
[29:02] afraid to use it because I think this
[29:04] inexpensive supplement is worldchanging.
[29:08] Our nonprofit institute cannot afford
[29:10] expensive television commercials and
[29:12] OBGYNS don't necessarily have the time
[29:15] to read the new research and implement
[29:19] uh choline protocols. So each one of us
[29:21] needs to spread the word. I hope this
[29:24] speech and the results will inspire you
[29:26] to do something.
[29:28] Take this information back to your
[29:30] cities, your states, your state
[29:33] legislatures, to your countries, to your
[29:36] daughters, to your granddaughters, to
[29:39] your OBGYns, and anyone else who will
[29:41] listen. demand that their choline
[29:44] protocol include 900 mgrams of a choline
[29:48] supplement. I've got a copy of the
[29:51] legislation we used and a website for
[29:53] more detailed information about the
[29:56] study. Obviously, there's a lot. The
[29:58] change can start right here, right now
[30:00] in this room. And if you help me, we can
[30:03] change the future for every child and
[30:06] kind of change the world. Thank you.
[30:16] Genie,
[30:18] isn't that amazing? What a powerful
[30:20] message and a powerful word on prenatal
[30:23] care. Thank you so much, Denny. Um, so
[30:26] it's inexpensive. It's very powerful.
[30:29] Where do you find choline?
[30:30] Yeah, you can get it at the grocery
[30:33] store. Um, you can get it uh online on
[30:36] Amazon. That's where I send from my
[30:38] daughters to get their choline.
[30:40] And how do you make sure that you've got
[30:42] the appropriate dosage?
[30:43] It's 900 milligrams. Did I make that
[30:46] clear?
[30:46] We made that. Take it forward.
[30:49] I've also been prompted to ask you about
[30:51] a misconception that can uh that choline
[30:55] can serve as a substitute for vaccines.
[30:57] Does research support such a thing?
[31:00] Absolutely not.
[31:01] There we go. We love vaccines.
[31:03] Yes.
[31:04] Thank you, Judy. Thank you very much for
[31:06] highlighting this important topic. Thank
[31:08] you.
[31:13] Now, our third presenters idea turned a
[31:17] tragedy into a global movement to
[31:20] prevent identity based hate and
[31:23] violence.
[31:25] We will shortly welcome our next speaker
[31:29] who's a member of IWF Pittsburgh
[31:32] uh and co-founder of Eradicate Hate,
[31:35] Laura Ellsworth. But before we do, we
[31:38] will watch a short video.
[31:41] 9:54 a.m. Saturday morning, tragedy
[31:44] strikes as a morning of prayer quickly
[31:46] shifts to a morning of deadly chaos.
[31:50] In under a minute, police rushing to the
[31:52] scene of an active shooter at the Tree
[31:54] of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh early
[31:56] Saturday morning.
[31:59] Contact shot fire.
[32:01] As we approached in front of the
[32:02] synagogue, he began firing at us.
[32:04] According to the FBI, Bowers hurled
[32:07] words of hate against Jews as he
[32:09] murdered them. The gunman then retreated
[32:11] further into the synagogue. A SWAT team
[32:14] enters, discovering a scene of
[32:15] unimaginable horror. 11 people, three
[32:19] women and eight men dead. As medics
[32:22] rushed to evacuate the wounded, officers
[32:24] climbed to the third floor where Bowers
[32:26] had fled. What came next? An allout gun
[32:29] battle. Bowers shot, wounded, and
[32:31] crawling on his knees. He then
[32:33] surrenders.
[32:34] Suspect talking about uh all these Jews
[32:36] need to die. Um we're still
[32:39] communicating with them.
[32:43] This is my hometown
[32:46] of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 1027
[32:50] 2018.
[32:52] It was the largest loss of life in an
[32:55] anti-Semitic crime in US history.
[32:59] And as I watched this on my television,
[33:03] knowing people who were there that day,
[33:06] knowing the two brothers, special needs
[33:08] brothers who were the greeters at the
[33:10] front door of the synagogue,
[33:13] I thought, "This can't be happening in
[33:15] my town."
[33:18] How many of you, let me see a show of
[33:19] hands, come from a country that has
[33:22] experienced an act of mass violence, a
[33:25] school shooting, a synagogue shooting,
[33:27] an attack.
[33:30] And as I stood there, I felt so helpless
[33:34] and hopeless. Did you feel that way when
[33:37] you were watching that? Because we're
[33:39] all type A. We want to do something, but
[33:42] I didn't know what to do.
[33:46] And as I watched my city respond
[33:49] with incredible determination, I don't
[33:52] know how I got to the slide. Um, as I
[33:55] watched my city respond with incredible
[33:58] determination, I resolved two things
[34:01] personally. Number one, my city of
[34:04] Pittsburgh was not going to be
[34:07] remembered for what he did. It was going
[34:10] to be remembered for how we responded.
[34:14] and that if our friends were going to be
[34:16] dead, those lives were going to matter
[34:19] for good of our making and not for the
[34:23] evil of his.
[34:26] And as I watched the world with these
[34:30] new eyes and this new resolve, I saw
[34:34] blacks killed at the top supermarket.
[34:37] Months after Tree of Life, I saw Muslims
[34:39] slaughtered at prayer in Christ Church,
[34:41] New Zealand. Members of the LGBT
[34:44] community targeted in Bratoslava, women
[34:47] in Canada targeted by incelss.
[34:50] On and on and on. Seeks and people
[34:53] targeted for their faith, their
[34:56] immigration status, their gender, their
[34:58] gender expression all around the world.
[35:01] And I understood this. No matter who you
[35:05] love, there is someone in this world who
[35:08] wants to harm them and kill them for who
[35:12] they are.
[35:14] Which means that all of us, all of us
[35:17] have to act.
[35:20] And that conviction resulted in
[35:23] eradicate hate which began as an idea
[35:27] and is now I am pleased to say the
[35:30] largest collection of anti-hate experts
[35:33] in the world spearheading prevention of
[35:36] hate around the world.
[35:44] And who is the first group of people I
[35:47] reached out to when we decided we needed
[35:48] to create eradicate hate? My IWF sisters
[35:51] from Pittsburgh, you're here. Please
[35:53] stand up.
[36:04] So,
[36:06] so remember these folks
[36:08] because I'm going to be asking you for
[36:11] help. They all know this project. They
[36:13] all know what we're doing. Grab them
[36:15] later if you can't find me. Thank you,
[36:17] ladies.
[36:21] We have three fundamental precepts that
[36:23] eradicate hate. Number one, this is an
[36:25] all of community issue. This is not
[36:27] somebody else's problem. It's not
[36:28] government's problem. It's not the tech
[36:30] companies. We all own this problem and
[36:33] we can all be part of the solution.
[36:35] Number two, we address all forms of
[36:38] identity based hate, whether based on
[36:40] race, religion, ethnicity, any
[36:43] background, any identity based issue,
[36:45] including being the CEO of a
[36:47] pharmaceutical company.
[36:50] The reason we do that is because there
[36:52] are commonalities in the research.
[36:53] Everything we do is researchbased. There
[36:56] are commonalities in the research. And
[36:57] increasingly, disturbingly, the most
[37:00] violent perpetrators are sort of
[37:02] agnostic about who they're going to
[37:04] hate. Today,
[37:06] we focus on actions and not words. When
[37:10] we started to look at this problem and
[37:12] figure out what were we going to do to
[37:13] drive solutions, there were a million
[37:16] people who could restate the problem
[37:18] over and over and over again. Right? How
[37:21] many times have we seen this? There were
[37:24] so few people who would have the
[37:26] solution.
[37:28] We focus on solutions. And here's how we
[37:32] do that. We identify the top experts in
[37:35] the world. And I will confess, I am a
[37:37] complete snob. I mean the top experts in
[37:40] the world. And I bet you all mean that
[37:41] when you say it, too. We bring them
[37:44] together in person and in Pittsburgh.
[37:46] Why in person always matters. That's why
[37:48] we're here. in Pittsburgh matters
[37:51] because we are regular everyday people
[37:53] doing this because he killed our friends
[37:56] and we want to do everything in our
[37:58] power to prevent that from happening to
[38:00] other communities. Right?
[38:05] We focus on deliverables. This is how we
[38:09] convert ourselves out of the cyclical
[38:11] identification of the problem. We
[38:13] identify a thing that doesn't exist but
[38:15] should. Then we organize our worldclass
[38:19] experts into working groups to achieve
[38:21] that deliverable. And we give them a
[38:24] one-year deadline of our next annual
[38:26] summit to be on your feet in front of
[38:28] the world 1500 people in the audience to
[38:31] tell us how you're doing
[38:33] and that drives action. When I tell you
[38:37] we are an all sector organization, these
[38:39] are just some of the sectors. If you are
[38:41] in these sectors and you come to
[38:44] eradicate hate or you grab me or one of
[38:46] the other people you saw stand up, I
[38:48] will explain to you how you can become
[38:51] actively involved in preventing identity
[38:53] based hate in your community and around
[38:56] the world. And if you don't see your
[38:57] profession up here, it's because I
[38:58] didn't have room. Come see one of us.
[39:02] Pictures are worth a thousand words.
[39:04] Here um are half of the speakers who
[39:06] spoke in a prior year. Um these are some
[39:09] of the people who spoke for us. You will
[39:11] see um a former US president. You'll see
[39:14] the head of the Shiakwa Institute who
[39:16] jumped on stage when Salman Rush Rashi
[39:19] was uh stabbed. You'll see the Daly
[39:21] Lama's personal physician. See a woman
[39:23] who runs the Google spin-off tech
[39:26] company people, parents who lost their
[39:28] child to a race-based killing. Um you
[39:32] will see an undercover FBI agent who
[39:35] lived in a white supremacist group in
[39:36] the US. one of the most interesting
[39:38] people you will ever talk to. Um, you
[39:41] will see the head of counterterrorism,
[39:43] Natan Sheransky, the great human rights
[39:45] activist. The gentleman in the lower
[39:47] left is the first person to open an
[39:49] anti-semitism exhibit in the Middle
[39:51] East. The woman in the center is the
[39:54] special adviser for the prevention of
[39:56] genocide at the United Nations. Um, and
[39:59] on and on and on. The the secretary of
[40:01] DHS on and on and on.
[40:05] We formed um working groups in many
[40:08] different disciplines. Time does not
[40:10] permit me to explain what all of these
[40:11] are. Uh but one of them was the sports
[40:14] working group which thanks to the
[40:15] special adviser we launched at the
[40:18] United Nations
[40:20] and we took with us as one of the
[40:22] speakers who spoke to the entire United
[40:24] Nations the sister of the woman whose
[40:27] two brothers were killed that day and
[40:29] you could have heard a pin drop.
[40:33] We work on a problem solution model.
[40:36] Example, clinicians didn't know how to
[40:39] treat people who were spiling into
[40:42] extremism, nor did they know how to help
[40:44] people come out of extremism. So, we
[40:46] created the prevention practitioners
[40:48] network, the PPN, 1,200 clinicians
[40:51] throughout the United States. We
[40:53] collaborate with a s a similar network
[40:56] in Canada and we provide year-round
[40:59] training to clinicians in the cutting
[41:01] edge methodologies. We partner with
[41:04] Harvard and Children's Hospital and all
[41:06] sorts of the real experts who are doing
[41:08] this work.
[41:10] Problem was in so many of these cases
[41:13] somebody saw something before the shots
[41:16] were fired but they weren't sure of what
[41:18] they were seeing and they didn't want to
[41:20] get their friends in trouble. So we
[41:22] started the reach out resource hub where
[41:25] people who see something can do
[41:27] something. Parents and caregivers were
[41:30] some of these people. So we started
[41:32] online resources where they could go in
[41:34] privacy to learn more and understand
[41:37] what they were seeing and what they
[41:38] could do including coming to the PPN to
[41:42] get a clinician for your child instead
[41:44] of a law enforcement officer. We started
[41:46] a student toolkit so students when they
[41:49] see things of a concerning nature in
[41:50] their peers can do something. Very young
[41:54] people, high school students are exposed
[41:56] to some very serious behaviors. So we
[41:59] started the student summit. We're now
[42:01] over 500 students. You might recognize
[42:04] Gabby Gfords who came two years ago. Um
[42:07] and she said it was one of the most most
[42:09] moving things she had ever seen because
[42:10] these kids are amazing and they will
[42:14] give you hope.
[42:16] One of the things that you heard Sylvia
[42:18] talk about, nihilistic violence. These
[42:20] are online groups that target vulnerable
[42:22] kids. Sometimes just kids who are lonely
[42:25] and playing video games a lot. Sometimes
[42:27] they're in self-help forums because
[42:29] they've already got an issue. These
[42:31] groups target them and they do a sex
[42:33] extortion and then they um coersse them
[42:37] into profound acts of self harm. Cutting
[42:41] very very serious harm and then moving
[42:44] on to hurting their pets, killing their
[42:46] pets, hurting their siblings, killing
[42:49] their siblings, killing their parents,
[42:52] burning down the house, committing a
[42:55] school shooting. And there are extra
[42:57] points and there are points for killing
[42:59] yourself online for the group.
[43:04] And we have created a nihilistic
[43:07] violence working group and now do
[43:09] training for all of those constituencies
[43:11] who are in a position to see and
[43:15] intervene. Right now we're trying to
[43:16] prosecute our way out of this. We'll
[43:18] never prosecute our way out of this. So,
[43:20] we're talking to parents, teachers,
[43:22] coaches, clinicians, emergency room
[43:25] physicians. I'm going to Koala Lumpur
[43:28] next week to train police officers from
[43:30] Malaysia and the Australian Federal
[43:33] Police. When they see these cases, they
[43:35] have to understand this isn't just some
[43:37] kid in Sweden who's targeting a little
[43:39] girl in Australia and he's never going
[43:41] to come to Australia. He's never going
[43:43] to see her. He can kill her from Sweden.
[43:47] And we are doing a global campaign of
[43:50] training for constituencies to prevent
[43:52] that from happening.
[43:54] Survivor voice. When I talked about the
[43:57] survivor at the United Nation, their
[43:58] voices are so powerful, but it's so
[44:01] important for them to share those voices
[44:03] without reliving the trauma. So, we
[44:06] created reach. This is a speakers bureau
[44:10] for survivors where we train them on how
[44:12] to tell their stories in a way that is
[44:14] safe for them. And we also train the
[44:16] people who are asking them to come and
[44:18] speak so they know how to work with
[44:20] survivors.
[44:22] Australia, we have a submission going in
[44:25] next week um to take eradicate hate to
[44:28] Australia in the wake of Bondi Beach
[44:31] because
[44:35] we know how it has worked for our
[44:37] country and for our community. And
[44:41] further to the political panel, this
[44:43] isn't in my comments. These guys are
[44:44] going, "Where is she?" Um, the political
[44:47] panel that you saw today, the United
[44:49] States government dismantled the entire
[44:51] department that handles these issues for
[44:53] the United States.
[44:55] It's gone. We are the last man standing.
[44:59] And every single person who left the US
[45:02] government now works with us.
[45:11] So, do not wait. One of my favorite
[45:13] quotes from Mother Teresa. She said, "Do
[45:15] not wait for leaders. Be one each to the
[45:18] other every day." That's what we do.
[45:21] Here's where I need your help. About two
[45:24] years ago, I got a call from some
[45:25] researchers who work with us in Poland,
[45:28] and they said, "Hey, we're tracking
[45:29] these Nazis online, and they're going to
[45:31] buy the house of the former common dog
[45:34] of Ashvitz." Do you guys see the zone of
[45:36] interest movie? That's the house. So I'm
[45:39] sitting in Pittsburgh and they say do
[45:41] you have any ideas?
[45:45] But what comes out of my mouth is yes I
[45:48] do.
[45:50] So today one of our sister organizations
[45:52] is the owner of this house. It's called
[45:55] house 88. It is the home of Archer which
[45:59] is the acronym for the Avitz Research
[46:02] Center on Hate Extremism and
[46:04] Radicalization.
[46:09] It's the European arm of eradicate hate.
[46:11] So remember I told you we work with the
[46:13] Canadians already. This is the European
[46:16] arm and we're hoping Australia will be
[46:17] next.
[46:19] This came out of Pittsburgh out of a
[46:21] group of really committed women in 2018.
[46:24] And look where we are. So we opened the
[46:26] house to the public on the 80th
[46:28] anniversary of the liberation of Ashvitz
[46:30] two Januaries ago. Hundreds of people
[46:33] came through. hundreds of diplomats and
[46:36] all sorts of people on the weekend
[46:38] before the ceremony
[46:40] and we share with them what we're going
[46:42] to do with the house. And one of the
[46:44] things that we're going to do the ha
[46:46] with the house is what I need you for
[46:47] and it is this. It's called the
[46:49] directory. So how many of you have been
[46:52] to Avitz?
[46:54] Okay. And you are told when you go
[46:56] through the camp, never forget, always
[46:58] remember. And that's awesome.
[47:01] But remembrance means nothing if you
[47:04] don't know what to do.
[47:07] So the directory will identify you hold
[47:09] up a QR code. The directory will
[47:12] identify the top anti-hate organizations
[47:14] in your country, city, town, as far down
[47:18] as we can go so that when you get home,
[47:20] rather than picking up your old life,
[47:22] you pick up the phone and you get
[47:24] involved in whatever way is right for
[47:26] you.
[47:28] So, I'm at the ceremony on Monday and
[47:32] the heads of state, remember who was
[47:34] there? Like the king of England was from
[47:36] me to you. All of the survivors are over
[47:39] here. And these four women come running
[47:41] up to me and they said, "We are the
[47:44] leaders of the Holocaust organizations
[47:46] of North America and we had to talk to
[47:49] you here today
[47:51] because we've been bringing people to
[47:53] Avitz for 20 years." And inevitably in
[47:56] the bus on the way home, there is dead
[47:59] silence as people are carrying the
[48:02] hopelessness and horror of what they
[48:05] just saw. And yesterday when we left the
[48:08] house and we heard your vision for the
[48:11] directory, the bus was alive with
[48:14] conversation.
[48:16] Everybody wants to come to eradicate
[48:17] hate. We want you to come to keynote for
[48:20] us. And we had to tell you this today
[48:24] here in this moment because this
[48:26] directory and this effort and eradicate
[48:29] hate can change everything. And you
[48:33] needed to hear that.
[48:36] So I take that as we often do as great
[48:39] idea, don't screw it up.
[48:43] And I went back to the house. This is
[48:44] the second floor of the house. These are
[48:46] the barracks at Ashitz. That's how close
[48:49] it was.
[48:51] And I stood there and it was after this
[48:53] long day of ceremonies. This is what I
[48:55] saw.
[48:57] And the tears came.
[49:00] And I stood there in this silent house
[49:03] where you can feel the souls who lived
[49:05] there and you can feel the souls of the
[49:07] people who lived outside that window.
[49:10] And I stood there with tears coming down
[49:12] my face and I just heard myself saying,
[49:15] "I promise you. I promise you."
[49:19] And so it is our intent through this
[49:22] project to have the sun go down on hate
[49:26] and on this place of hate. But I need
[49:30] all of you to help me do it. This is a
[49:32] picture that I took the next day at
[49:35] Burkadau
[49:37] and it's at the memorial. You might
[49:38] recognize the flags and it's beautiful
[49:41] stone memorial.
[49:45] And I remember standing there and
[49:46] looking at it this day and like it is a
[49:48] dead stone memorial. We are the living.
[49:52] We are the people who are going to
[49:55] convert. Never forget and to get into
[49:59] the action.
[50:02] Here are my asks. I would love for you
[50:05] to suggest references for the directory.
[50:07] You know your communities. You know who
[50:09] is doing the best work. I would love
[50:12] your input. I I would love you to attend
[50:16] eradicate hate. The best things as in
[50:18] this conference happen in the hallways.
[50:20] The people who are there are amazing
[50:23] from all over the world. committed,
[50:25] dedicated people, survivors from all
[50:28] over the world who are inspirational.
[50:31] Encourage your community to send a
[50:33] delegation. Many cities and communities
[50:35] send a delegation. Because we are so
[50:37] multiddisciplinary, it's hard to keep up
[50:38] with everything. So they bring one from
[50:40] column A, one from column B, one from
[50:42] column C. They divide forces and then
[50:44] they get back together at night and then
[50:46] they take back to their communities the
[50:48] best cutting edge science that we've
[50:51] presented to them.
[50:53] Get involved in one of our working
[50:54] groups. We have a bazillion of them. If
[50:56] you come see me, I bet I have one that's
[50:57] in your field. Here's a QR code. We've
[51:01] created a special page for IWF members
[51:04] for you to sign up for anything you want
[51:05] to do. Um, and you know, you've often
[51:09] heard the phrase
[51:11] that hate flourishes
[51:14] when good people do nothing.
[51:19] Right now the haters they have the
[51:22] airwaves.
[51:24] We need to regain the field ourselves.
[51:27] And I prefer this quote from Dr. Jonas
[51:29] Sulk who cured polio Pittsburgger
[51:35] and he said hope lies in dreams
[51:39] in imagination
[51:41] and in the courage of those who dare to
[51:44] make dreams a reality. So my ask of all
[51:47] of you is simply this.
[51:49] Come and in whatever way is right for
[51:52] you, join with us as we dare to make our
[51:57] dream of eradicating hate a reality.
[52:01] Thank you.
[52:10] Wow. Yes.
[52:27] Thank you, Laura. Thank you for sharing
[52:29] the power of your work and such
[52:32] important work. It is really leaves you
[52:35] speechless but not hopeless. There are
[52:38] so many ways that we can participate in
[52:41] this. Thank you so so very much, Laura.
[52:44] Now it's time for me to invite all the
[52:47] speakers on stage.
[52:50] And while she does this, don't keep
[52:52] clapping. Thank you for the privilege of
[52:54] sharing this with all of you. Thank you
[52:56] ladies.
[53:06] Yay.
[53:07] Woohoo.
[53:09] There they are.
[53:14] Yeah, exactly.
[53:18] The world is a better place for what
[53:20] these ladies do every single day.
[53:24] Well done and thank you. A huge big
[53:27] thank