WEBVTT
1
00:00:01.830 --> 00:00:03.804
Is it 'Roof' or 'Rough'?
2
00:00:03.804 --> 00:00:06.450
(speaking German) Tilman Ruff, it's a German name
3
00:00:06.450 --> 00:00:10.129
but in English yes, Tilman Ruff is fine.
4
00:00:12.610 --> 00:00:16.710
My family had lived in Palestine as German Christians
5
00:00:16.710 --> 00:00:19.690
where my great grandparents had immigrated.
6
00:00:19.690 --> 00:00:22.900
In the First World War displaced, inturned in Egypt
7
00:00:22.900 --> 00:00:25.560
for three years but were able to go back and rebuild
8
00:00:25.560 --> 00:00:27.490
and then essentially within an hour
9
00:00:27.490 --> 00:00:29.040
of the outbreak of the Second World War
10
00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:31.150
were given notice to evacuate
11
00:00:31.150 --> 00:00:33.490
and were detained initially in Palestine
12
00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:37.290
and then in Australia until 1947 behind barbed wire.
13
00:00:37.290 --> 00:00:41.063
So, those stories were very strong for me.
14
00:00:42.239 --> 00:00:43.940
The memory of war and my family
15
00:00:43.940 --> 00:00:46.160
were enormously grateful to be given
16
00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:50.420
the opportunity to rebuild their lives anew in Australia.
17
00:00:50.420 --> 00:00:53.319
And my dad on the basis of having been able to complete
18
00:00:53.319 --> 00:00:55.870
his German matriculation in the prison camp
19
00:00:55.870 --> 00:00:57.320
because they had been organised
20
00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.430
in self-contained communities was able to go to Melbourne
21
00:01:00.430 --> 00:01:01.387
Uni to study engineering.
22
00:01:01.387 --> 00:01:04.660
So, he basically walked out of the barbed wire
23
00:01:04.660 --> 00:01:06.670
and the machine gun posts into Melbourne Uni
24
00:01:06.670 --> 00:01:09.193
to study, which is a lovely story.
25
00:01:12.740 --> 00:01:15.084
My mother had died tragically in Adelaide
26
00:01:15.084 --> 00:01:17.940
seven months after my youngest brother was born
27
00:01:17.940 --> 00:01:20.980
in a car accident in the days before seat belts.
28
00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:23.606
So that was kind of the defining, I guess
29
00:01:23.606 --> 00:01:27.560
that had a major influence on our, on our family.
30
00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:30.060
So, we came to Melbourne as soon as my father
31
00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.160
was able to get a transfer and then he remarried
32
00:01:33.160 --> 00:01:35.650
and we lived next to his parents.
33
00:01:35.650 --> 00:01:37.640
But we were well looked after and given
34
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:39.360
a fair bit of scope.
35
00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:42.280
So, even when my parents didn't agree with me, you know
36
00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:43.910
they kind of let me run, and I think they
37
00:01:43.910 --> 00:01:45.320
probably recognised they'd
38
00:01:45.320 --> 00:01:48.640
have trouble stopping me anyway.
39
00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:50.850
But one thing I'm very grateful for,
40
00:01:50.850 --> 00:01:52.330
one of those things that sticks out,
41
00:01:52.330 --> 00:01:55.480
was when in 1970 I wanted to join
42
00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:57.610
one of the Vietnam Moratorium Marches
43
00:01:57.610 --> 00:02:01.380
to end Australia's involvement in that tragic war.
44
00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:04.560
My father didn't necessarily agree with me.
45
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.130
He didn't go to the march but he wrote
46
00:02:07.130 --> 00:02:09.050
a letter to the principal of the school
47
00:02:09.050 --> 00:02:12.710
saying, "Tilman feels very strongly about this
48
00:02:12.710 --> 00:02:14.440
and I don't necessarily agree with him
49
00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:16.100
but I'd be grateful if you could
50
00:02:16.100 --> 00:02:19.510
give him the day off school so he could join that march."
51
00:02:19.510 --> 00:02:21.940
So, that was one of a couple of experiences
52
00:02:21.940 --> 00:02:23.788
in adolescence that was very empowering.
53
00:02:23.788 --> 00:02:26.210
Being part of a large group of people
54
00:02:26.210 --> 00:02:28.190
who really could change the course of a nation
55
00:02:28.190 --> 00:02:30.785
and influence leadership decisions.
56
00:02:30.785 --> 00:02:33.202
(soft music)
57
00:02:34.320 --> 00:02:36.950
Nuclear weapons are awful to think about.
58
00:02:36.950 --> 00:02:40.300
They're scary, they're hard to grasp.
59
00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:43.290
So, I think humans are very good at denial
60
00:02:43.290 --> 00:02:45.870
and all sorts of psychological protective mechanisms.
61
00:02:45.870 --> 00:02:49.734
And we, kind of many of us, I think just park that threat
62
00:02:49.734 --> 00:02:53.010
that this is basically all done and dusted
63
00:02:53.010 --> 00:02:55.310
but thousands of those weapons still exist.
64
00:02:55.310 --> 00:02:57.720
Numbers have been reduced by over 80%
65
00:02:57.720 --> 00:03:00.470
so it's been a step in the right direction.
66
00:03:00.470 --> 00:03:03.700
But the policies to use them, having thousands
67
00:03:03.700 --> 00:03:07.210
of them on high alert status ready to be launched
68
00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:09.400
within a few minutes of a decision to do so,
69
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.710
their vulnerability to computer glitches,
70
00:03:12.710 --> 00:03:15.400
various combinations of technical and human error
71
00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:19.050
is profound and has persisted and has now really
72
00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:21.820
reemerged with new nuclear powers.
73
00:03:21.820 --> 00:03:25.095
And once that radiation is released
74
00:03:25.095 --> 00:03:27.090
it doesn't respect borders,
75
00:03:27.090 --> 00:03:29.840
it doesn't ask for a passport to go anywhere,
76
00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:33.090
it's out there and it has effects across generations.
77
00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:37.000
This is really the paramount challenge of our age.
78
00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.740
And we're the first human generation to face not one
79
00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:44.570
but two existential threats of our own making.
80
00:03:44.570 --> 00:03:48.800
Climate disruption through unchecked global warming
81
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:51.940
and nuclear winter and nuclear famine
82
00:03:51.940 --> 00:03:53.573
if nuclear war happens.
83
00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:57.172
We don't have the luxury of time on either of those.
84
00:03:57.172 --> 00:04:00.110
And I think it's really important that people
85
00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:02.080
engage with these issues and it doesn't matter
86
00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:04.553
how that awareness is triggered.
87
00:04:04.553 --> 00:04:06.980
It may be a piece of music, it may be a piece of art,
88
00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:09.380
it may be a portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.
89
00:04:09.380 --> 00:04:11.910
It may be a talk from somebody, it may be reading
90
00:04:11.910 --> 00:04:13.490
something, it may be somebody else
91
00:04:13.490 --> 00:04:15.094
initiating a conversation.
92
00:04:15.094 --> 00:04:16.820
All of these things and more need
93
00:04:16.820 --> 00:04:18.810
to happen to raise these issues.
94
00:04:18.810 --> 00:04:21.880
But I think yes, many people are appreciating
95
00:04:21.880 --> 00:04:24.793
the connections much more than they used to.
96
00:04:25.764 --> 00:04:28.970
(slow music)
97
00:04:28.970 --> 00:04:30.960
We have a share in a cooperative farm
98
00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:32.700
in the northeast of Victoria.
99
00:04:32.700 --> 00:04:35.870
Which is very beautiful, it's completely
100
00:04:35.870 --> 00:04:39.890
surrounded by bush and mountains and state forest
101
00:04:39.890 --> 00:04:42.840
and has a couple of creeks flowing through it.
102
00:04:42.840 --> 00:04:47.310
It's off-grid and there are five dwellings on it
103
00:04:48.750 --> 00:04:50.900
and it's a wonderful place.
104
00:04:50.900 --> 00:04:53.350
I've had horses there, I look after fruit trees
105
00:04:53.350 --> 00:04:55.870
it's my sort of solace and retreat.
106
00:04:55.870 --> 00:04:58.580
Charlotte my wife and I, it's the only house
107
00:04:58.580 --> 00:05:00.720
we've had the opportunity to design and build.
108
00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.160
It's a small but very Japanese house
109
00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:04.660
that we love, love dearly.
110
00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:06.700
And lots of friendships came together
111
00:05:06.700 --> 00:05:08.410
in the creation of that house
112
00:05:08.410 --> 00:05:10.280
so that's a pretty special place.
113
00:05:10.280 --> 00:05:14.800
So, yes this red jumper, Nicki said bring
114
00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.440
a couple of shirts and a few jumpers,
115
00:05:18.440 --> 00:05:23.440
I was sort of reasonably you know well-dressed I thought
116
00:05:23.510 --> 00:05:26.733
not formal but you know respectable.
117
00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:33.180
But she clearly was quite a creative and very down to earth
118
00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:37.660
person when we spoke and she wanted
119
00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:39.600
me to bring a variety of things.
120
00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.663
So, essentially when I arrived at her place
121
00:05:43.663 --> 00:05:46.250
and she saw the old farm jumper
122
00:05:46.250 --> 00:05:48.380
which for decades has lived on the farm,
123
00:05:48.380 --> 00:05:50.240
and is now completely comfortable
124
00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.170
and you know, has got holes in the elbows
125
00:05:52.170 --> 00:05:54.280
and holes in lots of other places,
126
00:05:54.280 --> 00:05:57.060
and as soon as she saw it she said, put that on. (laughs)
127
00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:00.750
So, I took my shirt off and put on the farm jumper.
128
00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:03.480
So, I like it for lots of reasons
129
00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:05.700
but it's one of those jumpers that's been worn
130
00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:08.020
for long enough that it's really comfortable.
131
00:06:08.020 --> 00:06:10.260
You feel completely relaxed in it.
132
00:06:10.260 --> 00:06:13.430
And the association with the farm is for me very lovely
133
00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:15.130
and in some ways, you know whoever
134
00:06:16.164 --> 00:06:18.200
needs a big floppy, friendly, cozy jumper
135
00:06:18.200 --> 00:06:19.663
on the farm tends to wear it.
136
00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:22.920
So, that's the jumper
137
00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:27.580
and my arm must be just across the hole in the front of it.
138
00:06:27.580 --> 00:06:29.747
(laughs)
139
00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:32.670
The Nobel Prize is a big deal
140
00:06:32.670 --> 00:06:35.010
and the Nobel Peace Prize is a very big deal.
141
00:06:35.010 --> 00:06:37.730
ICAN's achievement in receiving the 2017
142
00:06:37.730 --> 00:06:40.480
Nobel Peace Prize was of course deeply humbling,
143
00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:42.250
a wonderful, wonderful honor,
144
00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:45.900
really important recognition of the urgency
145
00:06:45.900 --> 00:06:48.290
and importance of the work and of the danger
146
00:06:48.290 --> 00:06:49.540
of nuclear weapons.
147
00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:51.110
And for me the most important thing
148
00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:54.310
was recognition of the historic United Nations treaty
149
00:06:54.310 --> 00:06:57.090
on the prohibition of nuclear weapons that 122
150
00:06:57.090 --> 00:07:00.200
nations had negotiated and voted for the adoption
151
00:07:00.200 --> 00:07:03.170
of in the General Assembly earlier that year.
152
00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:04.520
And of course it gives enormous
153
00:07:04.520 --> 00:07:06.970
encouragement to the people who've worked
154
00:07:06.970 --> 00:07:11.440
on these issues, civil society and governments, alike.
155
00:07:11.440 --> 00:07:13.310
That what they do matters
156
00:07:13.310 --> 00:07:16.010
and we now need to use this treaty
157
00:07:16.010 --> 00:07:18.160
to finish the job and work towards
158
00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:20.060
the elimination of nuclear weapons.
159
00:07:20.060 --> 00:07:23.830
Controlling climate change, having a hospitable
160
00:07:23.830 --> 00:07:26.140
and stable climate both through preventing
161
00:07:26.140 --> 00:07:28.870
runaway global warming and preventing
162
00:07:28.870 --> 00:07:30.670
an abrupt ice age from nuclear weapons
163
00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:33.350
is entirely within our capacity.
164
00:07:33.350 --> 00:07:36.350
We have the tools, we know what to do.
165
00:07:36.350 --> 00:07:38.440
This needs very determined will
166
00:07:38.440 --> 00:07:40.261
and commitment but this is doable.
167
00:07:40.261 --> 00:07:41.960
On the one hand these issues
168
00:07:41.960 --> 00:07:45.332
are difficult, challenging, big.
169
00:07:45.332 --> 00:07:49.860
These are not things that individually people can address.
170
00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:52.620
But working together these are things
171
00:07:52.620 --> 00:07:54.690
that humans created that are within the human
172
00:07:54.690 --> 00:07:57.290
capacity to control.
173
00:07:57.290 --> 00:08:00.470
And I think for me the sort of bright spot
174
00:08:00.470 --> 00:08:03.850
on the side of that awesome responsibility
175
00:08:03.850 --> 00:08:06.813
that no human generation has ever had to confront.
176
00:08:06.813 --> 00:08:10.890
But at the same time that's an enormous opportunity.
177
00:08:10.890 --> 00:08:13.340
No generation has ever had the capacity
178
00:08:13.340 --> 00:08:15.810
to do so much good for themselves,
179
00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:18.160
for all of the things they love and care about,
180
00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:20.540
for the future of the world.
181
00:08:20.540 --> 00:08:22.380
To literally save the world.
182
00:08:22.380 --> 00:08:25.040
That's the opportunity that we have.
183
00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:27.540
(slow music)