Society

More girls have been killed in the past fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the battles of the twentieth century.

Pulitzer Prize Winner & Co-Author of Half the Sky

Every human being on the planet- genetically- is 99.9 percent identical. Of the remaining 0.1 percent, only 10-15% accounts for the differences we see between asserted 'races' of humans.

The difference now is that our actions are not isolated. Developments in communication mean that we now engage in a subtle yet continual process of peer-review which assesses the morality of our conduct as societies and individuals.

Our contemporary society uses this statistically insignificant variation to support the 'reasoning' behind cultural, social, economic and political practices that cause hundreds of millions of people, every day, to face discrimination.

Success for me has been the ability to change my life, change my family's life and help a lot of other people. Athletics has brought me fame and fortune and I enjoy using it to help those around me and those less fortunate.

Jamaican Sprinter & Olympic Gold Medalist, Fastest Human Ever

If you are someone who has generated wealth, you have the responsibility to make sure this money is used to benefit the community. This is something that exists in all philosophies, cultures, and all religions. You have an obligation to the people around you, and your society.

People really don't oppose new technologies but they question the way they are used so the challenges are more social than they are technological.

Leading African innovation and development scholar at Harvard Kennedy School

It is natural that a society would want to keep what they think works, the status quo. We are also acutely aware that technological changes alters society in unpredictable ways. It is the uncertainty associated with change—especially the fear of losing what we value—that leads to resistance to change.

Leading African innovation and development scholar at Harvard Kennedy School

History is full of changes that were only made because of direct action. In the US context, you need look no further than the civil rights movement. Racial segregation would not have been dismantled the way that it was, to the extent that it was without the work of grass roots movements who were prepared to take risks and break the law.

In a world where everyone gets to play in social media, we're about to realise that the vast majority of people aren't good enough. Now we have an ecosystem where everyone gets out there and says they're great. The vast majority are not going to be great.

Serial Entrepreneur, Author & Digital Marketing Strategist

There is a strong possibility that the relationship between humans and their environment would be so fundamentally changed that hundreds of millions of people, perhaps billions, would have to move. History tells us that this carries serious risks of severe and extended conflict.

Economist & Author of Stern Review on Climate Change Economics

We are the first generation that through its neglect could destroy the relationship between humans and the planet, and perhaps the last generation that can prevent dangerous climate change.

Economist & Author of Stern Review on Climate Change Economics

It's almost like we have the left eye covering itself up and saying, 'nothing to see here, nothing to do with Islam', and the right eye bursting a blood vessel saying, 'it's all Islam, it's all Muslims', and Islamists saying that the divine inspiration for them is from above.

Salman Abedi, Khalid Masood, Khuram Butt, all of these people and the people in ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab… We tend to think sometimes that they are extremism. But the reality is they didn't breed extremism. Islamist extremism bred them.

Extremism is the desire to enforce illiberal views which are in a dichotomy to the liberal values that we all adhere to in a Liberal secular democracy; and you can have non-violent or violent extremism.

Doing something which has a social purpose gives you the motivation to overcome the hurdles and obstacles that you will meet along the way. It gives you that inner strength when you're doing something and you know it's making a massive difference.