TED Talks
Julia Bacha: Pay attention to nonviolence
In 2003, the Palestinian village of Budrus mounted a 10-month-long nonviolent protest to stop a barrier being built across their olive groves. Did you hear about it? Didn't think so. Brazilian filmmaker Julia Bacha asks why we only pay...
TED Talks
Hajer Sharief: How to use family dinner to teach politics
Everyone should participate in decision-making and politics -- and it starts at home, says activist Hajer Sharief. She introduces a simple yet transformative idea: that parents can teach their children about political agency by giving...
TED Talks
TED: The unexpected challenges of a country's first election | Philippa Neave
How do you teach an entire country how to vote when no one has done it before? It's a huge challenge facing fledgling democracies around the world -- and one of the biggest problems turns out to be a lack of shared language. After all,...
TED Talks
TED: How to topple a dictator | Srdja Popovic
People-powered resistance: can it work? Srdja Popovic led the nonviolent movement that took down Milosevic in Serbia in 2000; he lays out the plans, skills and tools that a people-powered movement needs -- from nonviolent tactics to a...
TED Talks
TED: The walk from "no" to "yes" | William Ury
William Ury, author of "Getting to Yes," offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations -- from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East.
TED Talks
TED: How I'm using LEGO to teach Arabic | Ghada Wali
After a visit to a European library in search of Arabic and Middle Eastern texts turned up only titles about fear, terrorism and destruction, Ghada Wali resolved to represent her culture in a fun, accessible way. The result: a colorful,...
TED Talks
Sakena Yacoobi: How I stopped the Taliban from shutting down my school
When the Taliban closed all the girls' schools in Afghanistan, Sakena Yacoobi set up new schools, in secret, educating thousands of women and men. In this fierce, funny talk, she tells the jaw-dropping story of two times when she was...
TED Talks
Ronny Edry: Israel and Iran: A love story?
When war between Israel and Iran seemed imminent, Israeli graphic designer Ronny Edry shared a poster on Facebook of himself and his daughter with a bold message: "Iranians ... we [heart] you." Other Israelis quickly created their own...
TED Talks
TED: Did you hear the one about the Iranian-American? | Maz Jobrani
A founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, standup comic Maz Jobrani riffs on the challenges and conflicts of being Iranian-American -- "like, part of me thinks I should have a nuclear program; the other part thinks I can't be...
TED Talks
TED: Refugees have the right to be protected | António Guterres
António Guterres thinks that we can solve the global refugee crisis -- and he offers compelling, surprising reasons why we must try. In conversation with TED's Bruno Giussani, Guterres discusses the historical causes of the current...
Curated Video
Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course: World History
In which John Green teaches you about the beginning of the so-called Age of Discovery. You've probably heard of Christopher Columbus, who "discovered" America in 1492, but what about Vasco da Gama? How about Zheng He? Columbus gets a bad...
Crash Course
What is a “Developed” Country? Crash Course Geography
Today we’re going to discuss what it means for a place to be “developed”. Development is often associated with economic success — that is countries with higher standards of living and material wealth like those found in Europe and North...
TED Talks
Lesley Hazleton: The doubt essential to faith
When Lesley Hazleton was writing a biography of Muhammad, she was struck by something: The night he received the revelation of the Koran, according to early accounts, his first reaction was doubt, awe, even fear. And yet this experience...
TED Talks
TED: What it's like to be a parent in a war zone | Aala el-Khani
How do parents protect their children and help them feel secure again when their homes are ripped apart by war? In this warm-hearted talk, psychologist Aala el-Khani shares her work supporting -- and learning from -- refugee families...
TED Talks
TED: A photographic journey through the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan | Kiana Hayeri
Exposing what life looks like in Afghanistan after a 20-year US occupation and the Taliban's stunning and rapid takeover, TED Fellow and documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri captures harrowing glimpses and multifaceted realities of a...
TED Talks
TED: Global population growth, box by box | Hans Rosling
The world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years -- and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils at TED@Cannes using...
Crash Course
Migrations and Intensification Crash Course Big History 7
In which Hank and John Green teach you about humanity conquering the Earth. Or at least moving from Africa into the rest of the Earth. As human beings spread out across the world and populations grew, humanity reached a critical mass of...
TED Talks
TED: A new understanding of human history and the roots of inequality | David Wengrow
What if the commonly accepted narratives about the foundation of civilization are all wrong? Drawing on groundbreaking research, archaeologist David Wengrow challenges traditional thinking about the social evolution of humanity -- from...
TED Talks
Fahad Al-Attiya: A country with no water
Imagine a country with abundant power -- oil and gas, sunshine, wind (and money) -- but missing one key essential for life: water. Infrastructure engineer Fahad Al-Attiya talks about the unexpected ways that the small Middle Eastern...
TED Talks
TED: Inside the mind of a former radical jihadist | Manwar Ali
For a long time, I lived for death, says Manwar Ali, a former radical jihadist who participated in violent, armed campaigns in the Middle east and Asia in the 1980s. In this moving talk, he reflects on his experience with radicalization...
Crash Course
Iran's Revolutions: Crash Course World History 226
In which John Green teaches you about Iran's Revolutions. Yes, revolutions plural. What was the1979 Iranian Revolution about? It turns out, Iran has a pretty long history of unrest in order to put power in the hands of the people, and...
Crash Course
World War II: Crash Course European History
Only a couple of decades after the end of the First World War--which was supposed to be the War that Ended All Wars--another, bigger, farther-flung, more destructive, and deadlier war began. Today, you'll learn about how the war in...
TED Talks
TED: The dream of educating Afghan girls lives on | Shabana Basij-Rasikh
In this deeply moving talk, educator Shabana Basij-Rasikh shares the harrowing story of evacuating more than 250 students, staff and family members from the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) -- the country's first and only...
Crash Course
Ford, Carter, and the Economic Malaise Crash Course US History
In which John Green teaches you about the economic malaise that beset the United States in the 1970s. A sort of perfect storm of events, it combined the continuing decline of America's manufacturing base and the oil shocks of 1973 and...