Lawrence Lessig: The unstoppable walk to political reform

Translator: Eva Hoxha Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

So a chip, a poet and a boy.

Nje mikroçip, nje poet dhe nje djale.

It's just about 20 years ago,

Ishte rreth 20 vjet me pare,

June 1994, when Intel announced

ne Qershor 1994, kur Intel lajmeroi

that there was a flaw

se kishte nje mangesi

at the core of their Pentium chip.

ne qender te mikroçipit Pentium.

Deep in the code of the SRT algorithm

Thelle ne kodin e algoritmit SRT

to calculate intermediate quotients necessary

per llogaritjen e koeficienteve te ndermjetem te nevojshem

for iterative floating points of divisions --

per shperndarjen e pikave te perseritshme te luhatshme --

I don't know what that means, but it's what it says on Wikipedia —

nuk e di se cfare do te thote kjo, por keshtu thote Wikipedia --

there was a flaw and an error

eshte nje gabim dhe nje e mete

that meant that there was a certain probability

qe do te thote se eshte nje mundesi

that the result of the calculation would be an error,

qe rezultati i llogaritjeve mund te dale gabim,

and the probability was one out of every

dhe mundesia eshte nje

360 billion calculations.

ne cdo 360 miliard llogaritje.

So Intel said your average spreadsheet

Keshtu Intel tha qe tabela e llogaritjes tuaj

would be flawed once every 27,000 years.

do te jete me gabime nje here ne 27.000 vjet.

They didn't think it was significant,

Ata nuk menduan se kjo ishte e rendesishme,

but there was an outrage in the community.

por kishte nje pergjigje agresive ne komunitet.

The community, the techies, said, this flaw

Komuniteti, te apasionuarit e teknologjise, thane se kjo mangesi

has to be addressed.

duhet te adresohet.

They were not going to stand by quietly

Ata nuk do te rrinin kembekryq

as Intel gave them these chips.

nderkohe qe Intel i jepte atyre keto mikrocipe.

So there was a revolution across the world.

Keshtu filloi nje revolucion perreth botes.

People marched to demand --

Njerezit marshuan per te kerkuar --

okay, not really exactly like that —

jo ekzaktesisht keshtu --

but they rose up and they demanded

por ata u ngriten dhe kerkuan

that Intel fix the flaw.

qe Intel te rregullonte kete mangesi.

And Intel set aside 475 million dollars

Dhe Intel investoi 475 milion dollare

to fund the replacement of millions of chips

per te financuar zevendesimin e ketij mikrocipi

to fix the flaw.

per te rregulluar kete te mete.

So billions of dollars in our society

Keshtu miliarda dollar ne shoqerine tone

was spent to address a problem

u shpenzuan per te adresuar problemin

which would come once out of every 360 billion

qe do te lindte nje here

calculations.

ne cdo 360 miliard llogaritje.

Number two, a poet.

Numri dy, nje poet.

This is Martin Niemöller.

Ky eshte Martin Niemöller.

You're familiar with his poetry.

Ju e njihni poezine e tij.

Around the height of the Nazi period,

Ne kulmin e periudhes naziste,

he started repeating the verse,

ai filloi te perseriste vargjet,

"First they came for the communists,

"Ne fillim ata erdhen per komunistet,

and I did nothing,

dhe une nuk bera gje,

did not speak out because I was not a communist.

nuk fola sepse une nuk isha komunist.

Then they came for the socialists.

Me pas ata erdhen per socialistet.

Then they came for the trade unions.

Dhe me pas ata erdhen per sindikatat.

Then they came for the Jews.

Dhe me pas erdhen per hebrejte.

And then they came for me.

Dhe me pas erdhen per mua.

But there was no one left to speak for me."

Por nuk kishte mbetuar asnje qe te fliste per mua."

Now, Niemöller is offering a certain kind of insight.

Tani, Niemöller po ofron nje pikeveshtrim ne brendesi.

This is an insight at the core of intelligence.

Ky eshte nje pikeveshtrim ne thelb te inteligjences.

We could call it cluefulness.

Ne mund ta quajme ate kuptueshmeri.

It's a certain kind of test:

Eshte nje lloj sprove:

Can you recognize

A mund te dallosh

an underlying threat and respond?

nje kercenim te fshehur dhe te kunderpergjigjesh?

Can you save yourself or save your kind?

A mundesh te shpetosh veten dhe te shpetosh llojin tend?

Turns out ants are pretty good at this.

Rezulton se milingonat jane shume te afta ne kete.

Cows, not so much.

Lopet, jo aq shume.

So can you see the pattern?

A mund ta shohesh motivin?

Can you see a pattern and then recognize

A mund te shohesh motivin, ta dallosh

and do something about it? Number two.

dhe te besh dicka per kete? Numri dy.

Number three, a boy.

Numri tre, nje djale.

This is my friend Aaron Swartz.

Ky eshte shoku im Aaron Swartz.

He's Tim's friend.

Ai eshte shoku i Timit.

He's friends of many of you in this audience,

Ai ishte shok me shume nga ju ne publik,

and seven years ago,

dhe shtate vjet me pare,

Aaron came to me with a question.

Aaron erdhi tek une me nje pyetje.

It was just before I was going to give my first TED Talk.

Ishte pak me pare se une te mbaja fjalimin tim te pare ne TED.

I was so proud. I was telling him about my talk,

Isha kaq shume krenar. Isha duke i treguar atij per fjalimin tim,

"Laws that choke creativity."

"Ligjet qe mbysin kreativitetin".

And Aaron looked at me

Dhe Aron me pa

and was a little impatient, and he said,

ishte pak i paduruar dhe me tha:

"So how are you ever

"E pra, si do t'i zgjidhesh ndonjehere

going to solve the problems you're talking about?

problemet per te cilat po flet?

Copyright policy, Internet policy,

Politikat e te drejtes se autorit, politikat e Internetit,

how are you ever going to address those problems

si do ti adresosh keto probleme

so long as there's this fundamental corruption

per aq kohe sa eshte nje korrupsion i brendshem

in the way our government works?"

ne menyren qe punon qeveria jone?

So I was a little put off by this.

Keshtu qe isha pak i demoralizuar nga kjo.

He wasn't sharing in my celebration.

Ai nuk po e ndante me mua gezimin tim.

And I said to him, "You know, Aaron,

Dhe une i thashe atij " E di Aron,

it's not my field, not my field."

nuk eshte fusha ime, nuk eshte fusha ime."

He said, "You mean as an academic, it's not your field?"

Ai me tha, "Do te thuash si akademik nuk eshte fusha jote?"

I said, "Yeah, as an academic, it's not my field."

"Po si akademik, nuk eshte fusha ime" i thashe.

He said, "What about as a citizen?

Ai me tha, "Po si qytetar?

As a citizen."

Si nje qytetar."

Now, this is the way Aaron was.

Keshtu ishte Aron.

He didn't tell. He asked questions.

Ai nuk te tregonte. Ai te bente pyetje.

But his questions spoke as clearly

Por pyetjet e tij flisnin aq qarte

as my four-year-old's hug.

sa perqafimet e djalit tim kater vjecar.

He was saying to me,

Ai po me thoshte,

"You've got to get a clue.

"Ti duhet te gjesh nje menyre.

You have got to get a clue, because there is

Ti duhet te gjesh nje ide, sepse atje eshte nje

a flaw at the core of the operating system

e mete ne thelb te sistemit operues

of this democracy,

te kesaj demokracie,

and it's not a flaw every one out of 360 billion times

dhe nuk eshte nje e mete ne 360 miliard here

our democracy tries to make a decision.

qe demokracia jone perpiqet te marre nje vendim.

It is every time,

Eshte cdo here,

every single important issue.

ne cdo ceshtje te rendesishme.

We've got to end the bovinity of this political society.

Ne duhet ti japim fund kesaj mungese sinqeriteti ne shoqerine politike.

We've got to adopt, it turns out,

Ne duhet te adaptojme,

the word is fourmi-formatic attitude --

fjala eshte "sjelljen e milingonave" --

that's what the Internet tells me the word is --

kjo eshte ajo qe interneti me jep per kete fjale --

the ant's appreciative attitude

natyra vleresuese e milingonave

that gets us to recognize this flaw,

qe na con ne te njohim kete te mete,

save our kind and save our demos.

te shpetojme llojin tone dhe te shpetojme popullin tone.

Now if you know Aaron Swartz,

Tani nese e njihni Aaron Swartz,

you know that we lost him

ju e dini qe ai nderroi jete

just over a year ago.

rreth nje vit me pare.

It was about six weeks

Ishte rreth gjashte jave

before I gave my TED Talk,

para se une te jepja fjalimin tim ne TED,

and I was so grateful to Chris

dhe une i isha kaq mirenjohes Chris

that he asked me to give this TED Talk,

qe me kerkoi te jepja kete fjalim,

not because I had the chance to talk to you,

jo vetem se kisha mundesine te bisedoja me ju,

although that was great,

edhe pse kjo eshte e mrekullueshme,

but because it pulled me out of an extraordinary depression.

por sepse me nxori nga nje depresion i jashtezakonshem.

I couldn't begin to describe the sadness.

Nuk mund ta pershkruaj ate trishtim.

Because I had to focus.

Sepse me duhej te fokusohesha.

I had to focus on, what was I going to say to you?

Duhet te fokusohesha se cfare do tju thosha juve?

It saved me.

Me shpetoi mua.

But after the buzz, the excitement,

Por pas zhurmes, emocioneve,

the power that comes from this community,

fuqia qe vjen nga ky komunitet,

I began to yearn for a less sterile,

fillova te kerkoja per nje menyre me pak sterile,

less academic way to address these issues,

me pak akademike per te adresuar keto ceshtje,

the issues that I was talking about.

ceshtjet per te cilat do te flas me ju.

We'd begun to focus on New Hampshire

Ne kemi filluar te shikojme New Hampshire

as a target for this political movement,

si objektiv per kete levizje politike,

because the primary in New Hampshire

sepse faza e pare e zgjedhjeve ne New Hampshire

is so incredibly important.

eshte shume te rendesishme.

It was a group called the New Hampshire Rebellion

Ishte nje grup qe quhej Rebelimi i New Hampshire

that was beginning to talk about, how would we make

qe kishte filluar te fliste sesi mund te bejme

this issue of this corruption central in 2016?

ceshtjet e lidhura me korrupsionin ceshtje qendrore ne 2016?

But it was another soul that caught my imagination,

Por ishte nje njeri tjeter qe kapi imagjinaten time,

a woman named Doris Haddock, aka Granny D.

nje grua qe quhej Doris Haddok, Gjyshja D.

On January 1, 1999, 15 years ago,

Ne 1 janar 1999, 15 vite me pare,

at the age of 88, Granny D started a walk.

ne moshen 88 vjecare, Gjyshja D. filloi nje marshim.

She started in Los Angeles

Ajo e nisi ne Los Angeles

and began to walk to Washington, D.C.

dhe filloi te eci drejt Washington D.C

with a single sign on her chest that said,

me nje tabele te vetme ne trup qe thoshte,

"campaign finance reform."

"reformoni financimin e fushates politike".

Eighteen months later,

18 muaj me vone,

at the age of 90,

ne moshen 90 vjecare,

she arrived in Washington with hundreds following her,

ajo arriti ne Washington e ndjekur nga qindra vete,

including many congressmen who had gotten in a car

duke perfshire shume kongresmen qe erdhen me makine deri aty afer,

and driven out about a mile outside of the city

rreth nje milje jashte qytetit

to walk in with her.

qe te ecnin me te.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Now, I don't have 13 months

Tani, une nuk kam 13 muaj

to walk across the country.

qe te eci permes vendit.

I've got three kids who hate to walk,

Kam tre femije qe urrejne te ecin,

and a wife who, it turns out,

dhe nje grua, qe kam vene re,

still hates when I'm not there

qe cuditerisht akoma e urren faktin

for mysterious reasons,

qe une mungoj aty.

so this was not an option,

Keshtu qe kjo nuk eshte e mundur,

but the question I asked,

por bera pyetjen,

could we remix Granny D a bit?

a mund te frymezohemi pak nga Gjyshja D?

What about a walk not of 3,200 miles

Po sikur ky marshim te jete jo 5000 km

but of 185 miles across New Hampshire

por 300 km permes New Hampshire

in January?

ne Janar?

So on January 11,

Keshtu qe ne 11 Janar,

the anniversary of Aaron's death,

ne pervjetorin e vdekjes se Aaron,

we began a walk that ended on January 24th,

ne filluam nje marshim qe perfundoi ne 24 Janar,

the day that Granny D was born.

ne diten e lindjes se Gjyshes D.

A total of 200 people joined us across this walk,

200 persona na u bashkuan ne kete marshim,

as we went from the very top to the very bottom of New Hampshire

nderkohe qe i rame lart e poshte New Hampshire

talking about this issue.

duke folur per kete ceshtje.

And what was astonishing to me,

Dhe ajo qe eshte befasuese per mua,

something I completely did not expect to find,

dicka qe nuk e prisja ta gjeja,

was the passion and anger

eshte pasioni dhe zemerimi

that there was among everyone that we talked to about this issue.

qe ishte pothuaj tek te gjithe me te cilet folem per kete ceshtje.

We had found in a poll that 96 percent of Americans

Ne kemi gjetur nga nje sondazh se 96% e Amerikaneve

believe it important to reduce the influence

besojne se eshte e rendesishme te reduktojne influencen

of money in politics.

e parave ne politike.

Now politicians and pundits tell you,

Politikanet dhe ekspertet ju thone,

there's nothing we can do about this issue,

se nuk ka asgje qe mund te bejme per kete ceshtje.

Americans don't care about it,

Amerikanet nuk interesohen per kete gje,

but the reason for that is

por asyeja eshte se

that 91 percent of Americans

91% e amerikaneve

think there's nothing that can be done about this issue.

mendojne se nuk ka asgje qe mund te bejne per kete ceshtje.

And it's this gap between 96 and 91

Dhe ky hendek ndermjet 96 dhe 91

that explains our politics of resignation.

shpjegon heqjen dore nga politika.

I mean, after all, at least 96 percent of us

Ajo qe dua te them eshte se pavaresisht, 96% nga ne

wish we could fly like Superman,

deshironte te fluturonte si Superman,

but because at least 91 percent of us believe we can't,

por per faktin se 91% prej nesh beson se nuk mund ta beje,

we don't leap off of tall buildings every time

ne nuk kercejme nga ndertesa te larta sa here

we have that urge.

qe e kemi kete nevoje.

That's because we accept our limits,

Kjo sepse ne i pranojme limitet tona,

and so too with this reform.

dhe eshte e njejta gje ne kete reforme.

But when you give people the sense of hope,

Por kur i jepni njerezve kete ndjenjen e shpreses,

you begin to thaw that absolute sense of impossibility.

ata fillojne te largojne kete perceptimin absolut te pamundesise.

As Harvey Milk said, if you give 'em hope,

Ashtu sic ka thene Harvey Milk, nese i jepni atyre shprese,

you give 'em a chance, a way to think

ju i jepni atyre nje mundesi, nje menyre per te menduar

about how this change is possible.

sesi ky ndryshim mund te jete i mundur.

Hope.

Shprese.

And hope is the one thing that we, Aaron's friends,

Dhe shpresa eshte nje gje qe ne, miqte e Aronit,

failed him with, because we let him

deshtuam me te, sepse e lame ate

lose that sense of hope.

te humbte shpresen e tij.

I loved that boy like I love my son.

Une e doja ate djale ashtu sic dua djalin tim.

But we failed him.

Por ne deshtuam me te.

And I love my country,

Une e dua vendin tim,

and I'm not going to fail that.

dhe nuk kam per te deshtuar ne kete.

I'm not going to fail that.

Nuk kam per te deshtuar ne kete.

That sense of hope, we're going to hold,

Ne do ta mbajm kete ndjenje shprese,

and we're going to fight for,

ne do te luftojme per te,

however impossible this battle looks.

sado e pamundur qe te duket kjo beteje.

What's next?

Cfare ndodhi me pas?

Well, we started with this march with 200 people,

Ne e filluam kete ne mars, me 200 njerez,

and next year, there will be 1,000

dhe vitin tjeter, do te jene 1000

on different routes

ne rruge te ndryshme

that march in the month of January

qe marshojne ne muajin janar

and meet in Concord to celebrate this cause,

dhe takohen ne Concord per te festuar kete ceshtje,

and then in 2016, before the primary,

dhe me pas ne 2016, perpara fazes se pare te zgjedhjeve,

there will be 10,000 who march across that state,

do te jene 10 mije vete qe marshojne permes shtetit,

meeting in Concord to celebrate this cause.

qe takohen ne Concord per te festuar kete ceshtje.

And as we have marched, people around the country

Dhe ndersa kemi marshuar, njerez perreth vendit

have begun to say, "Can we do the same thing

kane filluar te thone, "A mund te bejme te njejten gje

in our state?"

ne shtetin tone?"

So we've started a platform called G.D. Walkers,

Keshtu qe kemi filluar nje platforme e quajtur G.D.Walkers,

that is, Granny D walkers,

qe eshte per Marshuesit e Gjyshe D,

and Granny D walkers across the country

dhe marshuesit e Gjyshes D do te marshojne

will be marching for this reform. Number one.

permes vendit per kete reforme. Numri nje.

Number two, on this march,

Numri dy, ne kete marshim,

one of the founders of Thunderclap, David Cascino,

nje nga themeluesit e Thunderclap, David Cascino,

was with us,

ishte me ne,

and he said, "Well what can we do?"

dhe ai tha "Cfare mund te bejme ne?"

And so they developed a platform,

Dhe ata zhvilluan nje platforme,

which we are announcing today,

te cilen ne po e shpallim sot,

that allows us to pull together voters

qe na lejon ne te bashkojme bashke votues

who are committed to this idea of reform.

te cilet i jane perkushtuar kesaj ideje te reformes.

Regardless of where you are,

Nese jeni edhe ju,

in New Hampshire or outside of New Hampshire,

ne New Hampshire apo jashte tij,

you can sign up and directly be informed

ju mund te firmosni dhe te informoheni menjehere

where the candidates are on this issue

se cilet jane kandidatet te lidhur me keto ceshtje

so you can decide who to vote for

keshtu ju mund te vendosni se per ke te votoni

as a function of which is going

ne funksion te asaj

to make this possibility real.

qe ta bejme kete mundesi reale.

And then finally number three, the hardest.

Dhe me ne fund numer 3, me i veshtiri.

We're in the age of the Super PAC.

Ne jemi ne epoken e Super PAC.

Indeed yesterday, Merriam announced

Ne fakt dje, Merriam shpalli

that Merriam-Webster will have Super PAC as a word.

se Merriam-Webster do ta kete Super PAC si nje fjale.

It is now an official word in the dictionary.

Tani eshte nje fjale zyrtare ne fjalor.

So on May 1, aka May Day,

Keshtu qe me 1 maj, ndryshe May Day,

we're going to try an experiment.

ne do te perpiqemi te bejme nje eksperiment.

We're going to try a launching

Ne do te perpiqemi te fillojme

of what we can think of as a Super PAC

ate qe ne e mendojme si Super PAC

to end all Super PACs.

per te perfunduar te gjithe Super PAC-et.

And the basic way this works is this.

Dhe menyra sesi kjo punon eshte keshtu.

For the last year, we have been working

Gjate vitit te fundit, ne kemi punuar

with analysts and political experts

me analistet dhe ekspertet politik

to calculate, how much would it cost

per te llogaritur, sa shume do te kushtonte

to win enough votes in the United States Congress

te fitojme mjaftueshem vota ne Kongresin e Shteteve te Bashkuara

to make fundamental reform possible?

per te bere reformat themelore te mundshme?

What is that number? Half a billion? A billion?

Cili eshte ai numer? Gjysem miliardi? Nje miliard?

What is that number?

Cili eshte ai numer?

And then whatever that number is,

Dhe cilido qofte ai numer,

we are going to kickstart, sort of,

ne do te fillojme nje financojme me Kickstart, ne njefare menyre,

because you can't use KickStarter for political work,

sepse nuk mund te perdoresh KickStarter per arsye politike,

but anyway, kickstart, sort of,

por sidoqofte, te financojme ne nje fare menyre

first a bottom-up campaign

si fillim fushaten nga poshte lart

where people will make small dollar commitments

ku njerezit do te financojne pak dollare

contingent on reaching very ambitious goals,

nje kontigjent per te arritur qellime shume ambicioze,

and when those goals have been reached,

dhe kur te arrihen keto qellime,

we will turn to the large dollar contributors,

ne do te shkojme tek kontribuesit e shumave te medha,

to get them to contribute to make it possible

ne menyre qe ata qe te kontribuojne per te bere te mundur

for us to run the kind of Super PAC necessary

qe ne te fillojme kete Super PAC te nevojshem

to win this issue,

per te fituar kete ceshtje,

to change the way money influences politics,

per te ndryshuar menyren sesi paraja influencon politiken,

so that on November 8,

keshtu qe me 8 nentor,

which I discovered yesterday is the day

qe e zbulova dje se eshte dita

that Aaron would have been 30 years old,

qe Aron do te ishte 30 vjec,

on November 8,

ne 8 nentor,

we will celebrate 218 representatives

ne do te festojme 218 perfaqesuesit

in the House and 60 Senators

ne Shtepine e Bardhe dhe 60 Senatore

in the United States Senate

ne Senatin e SHBA

who have committed to this idea

te cilet i jane perkushtuar kesaj ideje

of fundamental reform.

te nje reforme themelore.

So last night, we heard about wishes.

Keshtu mbreme, ne degjuam mbi deshirat.

Here's my wish.

Ja cila eshte deshira ime.

May one.

Me nje maj.

May the ideals of one boy

Le te jene idealet e nje djali

unite one nation behind one critical idea

ato qe bashkojne nje vend pas nje ideje kritike

that we are one people,

se ne jemi nje popull,

we are the people who were promised a government,

se ne jemi populli qe i kane premtuar nje qeveri,

a government that was promised to be

nje qeveri qe i eshte premtuar te jete

dependent upon the people alone, the people,

e varur nga populli

who, as Madison told us,

te cilet, ashtu sic na tha Madison,

meant not the rich more than the poor.

do te thote jo te pasurit me shume sesa te varferit.

May one.

Me nje maj.

And then may you, may you join this movement,

Dhe me pas le te jeni ju, qe i bashkoheni kesaj levizje,

not because you're a politician,

jo sepse jeni nje politikan,

not because you're an expert,

jo sepse jeni nje ekspert,

not because this is your field,

jo sepse kjo eshte fusha jote,

but because if you are,

por se nese je,

you are a citizen.

ti je nje qytetar.

Aaron asked me that.

Aaroni ma kerkoi mua kete.

Now I've asked you.

Tani une po jua kerkoj juve.

Thank you very much.

Shume falemnderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)