Can’t Be a Purist If You Want to Make Change: Obama at Town Hall

The Town Hall will begin at 3:45 pm and will be live-streamed.

Former US President Barack Obama. (Photo: PTI)

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Former US President Barack Obama addressed the Town Hall in New Delhi. Ahead of the Town Hall, Obama spoke at the HT Leadership Summit on Friday.

He spoke about the importance of having a dialogue in the current noisy political climate, and the need to empower young people.

He added at the HT Leadership Summit that both prime ministers, Manmohan Singh and Modi value strong relations with the US.

• Former US President Barack Obama addressed a Town Hall in New Delhi
• “Since we’re in Delhi, I must mention the need for clean air,” he said about global health

• Earlier Obama spoke at the HT Leadership Summit
• “Modi has a vision for India,” said Barack Obama at the summit
• Obama also bragged about having a great dal recipe
  

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 5:41 PM

Q&A

How Do You Build Consensus When There Are Opposing Views?

This is a problem in democracies around the world. It’s important to listen more than you speak. It’s harder to do these days because there’s so much noise. 

What Is Your Vision of a Global Health Community?

If you have a healthy community, that is an indicator of overall development for the country. It starts with young people, who are naturally healthy if people don’t screw them up [sic]. 

Where Does Technology Fit in the Process of Training the Youth?

The obvious advantage is that you can reach more people very quickly. The fact that we had social media early in my campaign... [sic] we had MySpace back then, that’s how old I am! But we could transmit information to people directly. But technology in education doesn’t reduce the importance of teachers. 

How Do You Stay Encouraged When Dealing With Change?

Know ahead of time that change is hard, so you are not getting discouraged. Try to break up your efforts into bite-sized manageable pieces. Take time to have some fun within your work. I did not always follow this advice. All I did was party from the age of 15 to 20. Then something happened, and till 27 I was only working. I took myself very seriously. But if you’re doing something great or important, you have to make it fun.

As a Transgender, I’m a Criminal Under Section 377. How Do I Deal With That?

It begins with finding your voice. That’s true for any group that is marginalised. Break down the perception that you are different, so people recognise the humanity in you. This is why art is a powerful tool for social change. Find the right alliances, and then its a matter of mobilising political opinions. But that’s going to take some time, but don’t lose hope.

How Do You Empower Young People?

What I see when I travel around the world is political parties are full of old people, who have been around forever. Two things results from that – young people who aspire to have influence get blocked. Second, if you’ve been a leader for too long at the same spot, you lose touch. What is true for political parties is true for every organisation. 

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 5:28 PM

Obama Addresses Town Hall

As difficult as the world can seem, over the past 100 years we’ve come to a world where almost every woman can vote. We’ve cut extreme poverty and childhood mortality in half since 1990.

Barack Obama

None of this happened because of luck. It happened because people chose to make it happen. Many of the people who started these movements were young. Martin Luther King was 24 when he became an activist.

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 4:30 PM

Obama at HT Leadership Summit

At the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Obama spoke about how politicians use social media and whether their tweeting out their thoughts and messages oversimplifies complex issues.

Social media is powerful and can be used for good or evil. We are just beginning to understanding their potential... It’s important to be mindful of the power of these tools and also know its limits.

Also ReadObama’s Town Hall Will Have These 7 Inspiring Women

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 3:59 PM

"I Like Modi"

I like him! He has a vision for the country that is being implemented in many ways and is modernising the economy. But I was also great friends with Dr Singh and what he did was the opening of gates for the modern Indian economy.

“The unifying theme of strong India-US relations was important”, said Obama about the two Indian Prime Ministers during his tenure as US President.

Obama said that PM Modi was instrumental in helping with the passage of the Paris Accord.

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 12:46 PM

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On Terrorism and Osama bin Laden

When the tragedy took place in Mumbai, we were as obsessed with how to dismantle the situation. Our troops were deployed to work with the (Indian) government to help in whatever capacity.

“There are sometimes connections between explicit terrorist organisations based in Pakistan and elements that are connected to various more official entities inside of Pakistan... We had no evidence that the Pakistani government was aware of bin Laden’s presence in the country,” said Obama.

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 12:46 PM

"Cherish the Fact That Minorities Identify as Indian"

It’s remarkable that the large Muslim population (in India) see itself as Indian, which needs to be cherished. In other countries, there are minorities who don’t view themselves as part of the nation.

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 12:46 PM

"Need to Focus on Gender"

Obama said that eliminating of artificial barriers is the most consequential development in India-US relations.

A country shouldn’t be divided on sectarian lines and that’s something I’ve told PM Modi in person as well as to people in America... People see the differences between each other much too vividly and miss the commonalities. Commonalities are always based on gender and we need to focus on that.

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 12:46 PM

Obama's India Connect

I’m pretty sure I’m the first US President to have a ‘dal’ recipe, which is excellent. My ‘keema’ is also excellent, my chicken is okay. Chapati is too hard!

Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 11:58 AM

Obama to Host Town Hall

Former US president Barack Obama will host the first Indian Town Hall on 1 December, where he will interact with almost 300 young Indian leaders. He announced some of the people joining him would be Trisha Shetty, the founder of “SheSays” and Sanchana Krishnan, who founded “Living Stories”.

The event will be live-streamed at 3:45 pm.

This is Obama’s first visit to India after leaving office in January.

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Updated at:1st Dec, 2017 at 9:30 AM