ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Philippa Neave - Electoral consultant
Philippa Neave is senior advisor on the UN's Lexicon of Electoral Terminology.

Why you should listen

Philippa Neave specializes in electoral communications and education, devising information and training campaigns for voters and candidates in emerging democracies. Since 2005 she has worked in electoral assistance as a consultant for the United Nations, developing strategies to inform people on their voting rights, with particular emphasis on reaching women and people with low levels of literacy. She has worked on elections in Afghanistan, Iraq UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Cambodia, Madagascar, Southern Sudan and Tunisia.

An Arabic speaker, Neave initiated and conducted a three-year project to produce the first Arabic lexicon of electoral terminology. With close to 500 entries, the tri-lingual (Arabic, English and French) lexicon provides clear and accurate explanations of key concepts and terms in the field of elections. Neave's approach included a groundbreaking effort to account for Arabic language variations across the region in eight participating countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. 

Neave has always worked with words. For 15 years she was a reporter specialising in the Middle East. After a year and a half in Cairo, she became a foreign correspondent for an international features syndicate in based Rome, Paris and New York. Later, in London, she was chief editor of a magazine on arts and culture and in Paris after that, she was chief editor of European Press Network. She then left the news business and worked as Middle East Director for a British charity, based in Beirut for five years.

Her interest in democracy building goes back to the time when soon after leaving university, she served for several years as deputy Secretary General of the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation, organising and participating in the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Dialogue.

Born in 1960 in France to an English father and a Danish mother, Neave grew up bilingual. She studied Arabic at Durham University in the UK and obtained a BA degree. She speaks seven languages, including Arabic, and is based in Paris.


More profile about the speaker
Philippa Neave | Speaker | TED.com
TEDNYC

Philippa Neave: The unexpected challenges of a country's first election

Philippa Neave: Os desafios inesperados das primeiras eleições de um país

Filmed:
905,550 views

Como ensinar a um país inteiro como votar quando ninguém nunca votou antes? É um desafio enorme que as democracias novatas enfrentam pelo mundo - e um dos maiores problemas vem a ser a falta de um linguajar comum. Afinal, se não conseguimos descrever algo, provavelmente não o compreendemos. Numa palestra surpreendente, a especialista em eleições, Philippa Neave, compartilha suas experiências das linhas de frente da democracia, e sua solução para esta lacuna de linguagem singular.
- Electoral consultant
Philippa Neave is senior advisor on the UN's Lexicon of Electoral Terminology. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
The great philosopher Aristotle said
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O grande filósofo Aristóteles disse:
00:16
if something doesn't exist,
there's no word for it,
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se algo não existe,
não há palavra para nomeá-lo,
00:21
and if there's no word for something,
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e se não há uma palavra para algo,
00:23
that something doesn't exist.
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este algo não existe.
00:26
So when we talk about elections,
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Quando falamos sobre eleições,
00:28
we in established democracies,
we know what we're talking about.
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nós, em democracias estabelecidas,
sabemos do que estamos falando.
00:31
We've got the words.
We have the vocabulary.
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Temos as palavras, o vocabulário.
00:34
We know what a polling station is.
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Sabemos o que é um local de eleição
e o que é uma cédula eleitoral.
00:36
We know what a ballot paper is.
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00:38
But what about countries
where democracy doesn't exist,
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Mas e nos países onde
a democracia não existe,
00:43
countries where there are
no words to describe the concepts
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onde não há palavras
para descrever os conceitos
00:48
that underpin a democratic society?
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que fundamentam uma sociedade democrática?
00:51
I work in the field
of electoral assistance,
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Eu trabalho num campo
de assistência eleitoral,
00:53
so that's to say we assist
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ou seja, auxiliamos
00:56
emerging democracies to organize
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democracias emergentes a organizar
00:58
what is often their first elections.
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o que é geralmente
suas primeiras eleições.
01:01
When people ask me what I do,
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Quando me perguntam o que eu faço,
muitas vezes recebo a seguinte reação:
01:02
quite often I get this answer.
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01:05
"Oh, so you're one of these people
who goes around the world
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"Ah, então você é daquelas pessoas
que vão pelo mundo
01:09
imposing Western democracy
on countries that can't handle it."
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impondo a democracia ocidental aos países
que não conseguem lidar com ela".
01:14
Well, the United Nations
does not impose anything on anybody.
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As Nações Unidas
não impõem nada à ninguém.
01:19
It really doesn't,
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Não mesmo,
01:20
and also, what we do
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e também, o que fazemos
01:23
is firmly anchored in the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
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é ancorado firmemente na Declaração
Universal de Direitos Humanos de 1948,
01:29
Article 21, that says
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Artigo 21,
que diz que todos devem ter o direito
de escolher quem os governa.
01:31
that everybody should have the right
to choose who governs them.
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01:36
So that's the basis of the work.
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Esta é a base do trabalho.
01:37
I specialize in public outreach.
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Eu me especializo
em divulgação para o público.
01:40
What does that mean? Another jargon.
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O que é isso? Outro jargão.
01:42
It actually means
designing information campaigns
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Quer dizer criar campanhas de informação
01:46
so that candidates and voters
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para que candidatos e eleitores,
01:49
who have never had the opportunity
to participate or to vote
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que nunca tiveram a oportunidade
de participar ou votar,
01:53
understand where, when, how to register;
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entendam onde, quando e como se inscrever;
01:57
where, when, how to vote;
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onde, quando e como votar;
01:59
why, why it is important to take part.
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e por que é importante participar.
02:02
So I'll probably devise a specific
campaign to reach out to women
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Eu elaboro campanhas específicas
para alcançar mulheres
para garantir que elas
tomem parte no processo.
02:07
to make sure that they can take part,
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02:09
that they can be part of the process.
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Para jovens também.
02:11
Young people as well.
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02:13
All sorts of people.
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Todas as pessoas.
02:14
Handicapped people.
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Pessoas com necessidades especiais;
tentamos alcançar a todos.
02:15
We try to reach everybody.
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02:18
And it's not always easy,
because very often in this work,
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Não é sempre fácil,
porque muitas vezes neste trabalho,
02:22
I've noticed now over the years
that I've been doing it
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eu percebi agora, depois de anos nele,
nos faltam palavras, então, o que fazer?
02:25
that words are lacking,
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02:27
and so what do you do?
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02:30
Afghanistan.
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Afeganistão.
02:32
It's a country with
high levels of illiteracy,
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Um país com índice de analfabetismo alto,
02:34
and the thing about that was,
it was in 2005,
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e o problema ali é que, em 2005,
02:38
and we organized two elections
on the same day.
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organizamos duas eleições no mesmo dia.
02:42
The reason was because the logistics
are so incredibly difficult,
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A logística era incrivelmente complicada,
02:46
it seemed to be more efficient to do that.
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e parecia que ser
mais eficiente fazer assim.
02:49
It was,
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Foi,
02:50
but on the other hand,
explaining two elections instead of one
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mas por outro lado, explicar
duas eleições em vez de uma
02:54
was even more complicated.
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foi ainda mais complicado.
02:56
So we used a lot of images,
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Usamos muitas imagens,
02:58
and when it came to the actual ballot,
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e quando chegou a eleição em si,
03:02
we had problems, because
so many people wanted to take part,
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tivemos problemas porque
muitos queriam participar,
03:05
we had 300 candidates for 52 seats
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tivemos 300 candidatos para 52 cargos
na Câmara dos Deputados,
que é a eleição parlamentar.
03:10
in the Wolesi Jirga,
which is the parliamentary elections.
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03:14
And for the Provincial Council,
we had even more candidates.
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E para o Conselho Municipal,
tivemos ainda mais candidatos:
03:17
We had 330 for 54 seats.
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330 para 54 vagas.
03:20
So talking about ballot design,
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Começando pela concepção da cédula,
03:23
this is what the ballot looked like.
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assim era a cédula.
03:27
It's the size of a newspaper.
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Do tamanho de um jornal.
03:29
This was the Wolesi Jirga ballot --
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Esta era a cédula da Câmara dos Deputados.
03:31
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:32
Yeah, and --
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Sim,
03:35
this was the Provincial Council ballot.
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e esta era a cédula
do Conselho Municipal.
03:39
Even more.
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Maior ainda.
03:40
So you see, we did use
a lot of symbols and things like that.
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Vejam que usamos muitos símbolos.
03:45
And we had other problems
in Southern Sudan.
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E tivemos outros problemas
no Sul do Sudão.
03:50
Southern Sudan was a very different story.
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O Sul do Sudão tinha uma outra situação.
Havia muitas pessoas que,
claro, nunca tinham votado,
03:53
We had so many people
who had never, of course, voted,
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03:56
but we had extremely, extremely
high levels of illiteracy,
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e tínhamos um índice
extremo de alfabetismo,
04:01
very, very poor infrastructure.
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infraestrutura muito pobre.
04:02
For example -- I mean, it's a country
the size of Texas, more or less.
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Por exemplo: é um país
do tamanho do Texas ou menor.
04:07
We had seven kilometers of paved roads,
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Havia sete quilômetros
de estradas pavimentadas,
04:11
seven kilometers in the whole country,
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sete no país todo,
04:13
and that includes the tarmac
where we landed the planes
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incluindo a pista de asfalto de pouso
dos aviões, no Aeroporto Juba.
04:16
in Juba Airport.
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04:18
So transporting electoral materials, etc.,
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Transportar material eleitoral e etc.
é extremamente difícil.
04:21
is exceedingly difficult.
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As pessoas não faziam ideia
de como era uma urna.
04:23
People had no idea
about what a box looked like.
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04:28
It was very complicated,
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Foi muito complicado,
04:30
so using verbal communication
was obviously the way to go,
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então usar comunicação verbal
era obviamente a melhor maneira,
04:34
but there were 132 languages.
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mas havia 132 línguas.
04:38
So that was extremely challenging.
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Foi extremamente desafiante.
04:42
Then I arrived in Tunisia in 2011.
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Eu cheguei na Tunísia em 2011.
Era a Primavera Árabe.
04:46
It was the Arab Spring.
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04:48
A huge amount of hope was generated
by that enormous movement
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Muita esperança tinha sido criada
pelo enorme movimento
04:52
that was going on in the region.
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que acontecia na região.
04:53
There was Libya,
there was Egypt, there was Yemen.
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Na Líbia, no Egito, no Yêmen.
Era um momento histórico enorme.
04:57
It was an enormous, enormous
historical moment.
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05:00
And I was sitting
with the election commission,
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Eu me reunia com a comissão eleitoral,
05:02
and we were talking
about various aspects of the election,
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e falávamos sobre vários
aspectos da eleição,
05:06
and I was hearing them using words
that I hadn't actually heard before,
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e eu os ouvia usar palavras
que eu nunca tinha escutado,
05:09
and I'd worked with Iraqis,
I'd worked with Jordanians, Egyptians,
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eu tinha trabalhado com iraquianos,
jordanianos, egípcios,
05:14
and suddenly they were using these words,
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mas de repente utilizavam essas palavras.
05:16
and I just thought, "This is strange."
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Eu achei aquilo estranho.
05:18
And what really gave rise to it
was this word "observer."
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O que originou essa discussão
foi a palavra "observador".
Estávamos discutindo
os observadores da eleição,
05:21
We were discussing election observers,
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05:23
and the election commissioner
was talking about "mulahiz" in Arabic.
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e o encarregado da eleição
falava sobre "mulahiz" em árabe.
Significa "notar" de uma forma pacífica,
05:28
This means "to notice"
in a passive sort of sense,
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como em: "Eu notei que ele
vestia uma camisa azul clara".
05:32
as in, "I noticed
he was wearing a light blue shirt."
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Eu verifiquei se a camisa era azul?
05:36
Did I go and check whether
the shirt was light blue or not?
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Este era o papel do observador da eleição.
05:39
That is the role of an election observer.
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05:41
It's very active, it's governed
by all kinds of treaties,
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Muito ativo, chefiado
por um mundo de acordos,
05:46
and it has got
that control function in it.
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e tem uma função de controle.
05:48
And then I got wind
of the fact that in Egypt,
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Então me dei conta do fato que no Egito
05:51
they were using this term "mutabi’,"
which means "to follow."
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estavam usando o termo "mutabi"
que quer dizer "seguir".
05:54
So we were now having
followers of an election.
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Estávamos então tendo
seguidores da eleição.
05:56
So that's not quite right either,
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Isto não está certo, também,
05:59
because there is a term
that's already accepted and in use,
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porque há um termo já aceito e em uso,
06:02
which was the word "muraqib"
which means "a controller."
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a palavra "muraqib",
que quer dizer "um controlador".
06:05
It's got that notion of control.
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Tem a noção de controle.
06:07
So I thought, three words
for one concept. This is not good.
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Pensei que três palavras
para um conceito não era nada bom.
06:11
And with our colleagues,
we thought perhaps it's our role
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Com os nossos colegas,
pensamos que era o nosso papel
06:14
to actually help make sure
that the words are understood
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ajudar a garantir que as palavras
eram compreendidas
06:18
and actually create a work of reference
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e criar um trabalho de referência
06:21
that could be used across the Arab region.
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que poderia ser usado
em toda a região Árabe.
06:24
And that's what we did.
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É foi isso que fizemos.
06:25
So together with these colleagues,
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Juntos com estes colegas,
06:27
we launched the "Arabic Lexicon
of Electoral Terminology,"
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lançamos o "Léxico Árabe
de Terminologias Eleitorais",
06:31
and we worked
in eight different countries.
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e trabalhamos em oito países.
06:34
It meant actually defining 481 terms
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Definimos 481 termos
06:39
which formed the basis
of everything you need to know
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que formaram a base de tudo
que é preciso saber
06:42
if you're going to organize
a democratic election.
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para organizar uma eleição democrática.
06:44
And we defined these terms,
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Definimos estes termos,
trabalhamos com colegas árabes
06:46
and we worked with the Arab colleagues
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e chegamos a um acordo sobre
quais seriam as palavras adequadas
06:48
and came to an agreement
about what would be the appropriate word
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06:52
to use in Arabic.
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para usar em árabe.
A língua árabe é muito rica,
e esta é parte do problema.
06:53
Because the Arabic language is very rich,
and that's part of the problem.
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06:57
But there are 22 countries
that speak Arabic,
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Há 22 países que falam árabe,
07:00
and they use modern standard Arabic,
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e usam o padrão árabe moderno,
07:05
which is the Arabic
that is used across the whole region
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que é o árabe usado em toda a região
07:08
in newspapers and broadcasts,
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pelos jornais e emissoras,
07:11
but of course, then from one country
to the next in day to day language and use
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mas lógico que de um país para outro
a língua e seu uso diário variam:
07:15
it varies -- dialect, colloquialisms, etc.
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dialetos, expressões, etc.
07:19
So that was another
added layer of complication.
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Esta foi outra camada de complicação.
07:21
So in one sense you had the problem
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De um lado tínhamos o problema
07:24
that language wasn't
fully ripe, if you like,
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de que a língua não era totalmente madura.
07:28
neologisms were coming up,
new expressions.
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Neologismos e novas expressões surgiam.
07:31
And so we defined all these terms,
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Definimos todos estes termos,
07:33
and then we had
eight correspondents in the region.
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e tínhamos oito correspondentes na região.
Apresentamos a proposta para eles,
eles nos responderam:
07:36
We submitted the draft to them,
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07:38
they responded back to us.
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"Sim, entendemos a definição.
07:39
"Yes, we understand the definition.
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07:42
We agree with it,
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Concordamos com ela, mas é assim
que dizemos no nosso país".
07:44
but this is what we say in our country."
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Nós não harmonizaríamos
ou forçaríamos a harmonização.
07:47
Because we were not going
to harmonize or force harmonization.
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07:51
We were trying to facilitate
understanding among people.
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Tentávamos simplificar
a compreensão entre as pessoas.
07:54
So in yellow, you see
the different expressions in use
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Em amarelo, vemos várias expressões em uso
07:59
in the various countries.
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em diversos países.
08:02
So this, I'm happy to say,
it took three years to produce this
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Fico feliz em dizer que levou
três anos para produzir este léxico
porque também terminamos a proposta
e o levamos para o campo,
08:05
because we also finalized the draft
and took it actually into the field,
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nos reunimos com as comissões eleições
em todos estes países
08:10
sat with the election commissions
in all these different countries,
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08:13
debated and defined and refined the draft,
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debatemos, definimos
e refinamos a proposta,
e finalmente publicamos
em novembro de 2014 no Cairo.
08:16
and finally published it
in November 2014 in Cairo.
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Já fomos bem longe.
Publicamos 10 mil cópias.
08:21
And it's gone a long way.
We published 10,000 copies.
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Até agora, há cerca de 3 mil downloads
da internet em formato PDF.
08:24
To date, there's about 3,000 downloads
off the internet in PDF form.
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Ouví recentemente de um colega
que o levaram à Somália.
08:29
I heard just recently from a colleague
that they've taken it up in Somalia.
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Vão produzir uma versão dele na Somália,
pois não há nada por lá.
08:33
They're going to produce
a version of this in Somalia,
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08:36
because there's nothing in Somalia at all.
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É muito bom saber.
08:38
So that's very good to know.
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A Organização Árabe para Gerenciamento
de Corpos Eleitorais formada recentemente
08:41
And this newly formed Arab Organization
for Electoral Management Bodies,
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está tentando personalizar
08:46
which is trying to professionalize
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como as eleições
são gerenciadas na região,
08:49
how elections are run in the region,
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08:51
they're using it as well.
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e estão usando o léxico também.
A Liga Árabe agora tem consolidada
uma unidade de observação pan-árabe,
08:53
And the Arab League have now
built up a pan-Arab observation unit,
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e estão usando-o.
08:59
and they're using it.
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09:00
So that's all really good.
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Isto é muito bom.
09:03
However, this work of reference
is quite high-pitched.
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3816
Porém, este trabalho de referência
é bastante denso,
09:07
It's complex, and a lot of the terms
are quite technical,
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é complexo e muitos termos
são bastante técnicos,
09:10
so the average person probably doesn't
need to know at least a third of it.
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e o público provavelmente
não precisa saber nem um terço dele.
09:14
But the people of the Middle East
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Mas o povo do Oriente Médio
09:17
have been deprived of any form
of what we know as civic education.
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tem sido privado de todas formas
do que chamamos educação cívica.
09:21
It's part of our curriculum at school.
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É parte do currículo das nossas escolas.
09:24
It doesn't really exist
in that part of the world,
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Não existe naquela parte do mundo,
09:27
and I feel it's really
the right of everybody
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e eu acho que é direito de todos
saber como essas coisas funcionam.
09:29
to know how these things work.
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Seria bom pensar em criar
um trabalho de referência
09:32
And it's a good thing to think about
producing a work of reference
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para as pessoas comuns,
09:36
for the average person,
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09:38
and bearing in mind that now
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2136
levando em conta que agora
09:40
we have a basis to work with,
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temos uma base com a qual trabalhar,
mas também temos tecnologia,
09:42
but also we have technology,
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e podemos nos alcançar as pessoas
usando aplicativos de celular,
09:44
so we can reach out using telephone apps,
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vídeo e animação.
09:49
video, animation.
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Há tantos tipos de ferramentas
para serem usadas hoje
09:51
There's all sorts of tools
that can be used now
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2296
09:53
to communicate these ideas to people
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para comunicar essas ideias às pessoas
pela primeira vez em suas línguas.
09:56
for the first time in their own language.
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2720
10:00
We hear a lot of misery
about the Middle East.
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Escutamos muitas notícias ruins
do Oriente Médio:
10:02
We hear the chaos of war.
We hear terrorism.
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sobre o caos da guerra, do terrorismo;
10:05
We hear about sectarianism
and all this horrible negative news
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Ouvimos sobre sectarismo
e as notícias negativas horríveis
que vêm a nós o tempo todo.
10:11
that comes to us all the time.
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10:12
What we're not hearing is what are
the people, the everyday people, thinking?
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Mas o que não ouvimos é sobre
o que as pessoas comuns pensam.
Pelo que aspiram?
10:17
What are they aspiring to?
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1600
10:19
Let's give them the means,
let's give them the words.
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Vamos dar-lhes os meios, as palavras.
10:24
The silent majority is silent
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A maioria silenciosa está silenciosa
porque não tem as palavras.
10:26
because they don't have the words.
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2080
10:29
The silent majority needs to know.
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A maioria silenciosa precisa saber.
10:32
It is time to provide people
with the knowledge tools
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É hora de dar ferramentas
de conhecimento às pessoas
10:35
that they can inform themselves with.
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2240
com as quais possam se informar.
10:38
The silent majority
does not need to be silent.
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A maioria silenciosa
não precisa ser silenciosa.
Vamos ajudá-la a ter voz.
10:42
Let's help them have a voice.
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10:44
Thank you very much.
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Muito obrigada.
10:45
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Denise Pelusch
Reviewed by Maricene Crus

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Philippa Neave - Electoral consultant
Philippa Neave is senior advisor on the UN's Lexicon of Electoral Terminology.

Why you should listen

Philippa Neave specializes in electoral communications and education, devising information and training campaigns for voters and candidates in emerging democracies. Since 2005 she has worked in electoral assistance as a consultant for the United Nations, developing strategies to inform people on their voting rights, with particular emphasis on reaching women and people with low levels of literacy. She has worked on elections in Afghanistan, Iraq UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Cambodia, Madagascar, Southern Sudan and Tunisia.

An Arabic speaker, Neave initiated and conducted a three-year project to produce the first Arabic lexicon of electoral terminology. With close to 500 entries, the tri-lingual (Arabic, English and French) lexicon provides clear and accurate explanations of key concepts and terms in the field of elections. Neave's approach included a groundbreaking effort to account for Arabic language variations across the region in eight participating countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. 

Neave has always worked with words. For 15 years she was a reporter specialising in the Middle East. After a year and a half in Cairo, she became a foreign correspondent for an international features syndicate in based Rome, Paris and New York. Later, in London, she was chief editor of a magazine on arts and culture and in Paris after that, she was chief editor of European Press Network. She then left the news business and worked as Middle East Director for a British charity, based in Beirut for five years.

Her interest in democracy building goes back to the time when soon after leaving university, she served for several years as deputy Secretary General of the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation, organising and participating in the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Dialogue.

Born in 1960 in France to an English father and a Danish mother, Neave grew up bilingual. She studied Arabic at Durham University in the UK and obtained a BA degree. She speaks seven languages, including Arabic, and is based in Paris.


More profile about the speaker
Philippa Neave | Speaker | TED.com