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As soon as I was born, my grandpa Beto 
put a Boca jersey on me.

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In my family, we all root for Boca.

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My uncles, Aitor, the Dude, 
they would tell me glorious stories

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about the best football team in Argentina.

5
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Well, actually, in the whole world.

6
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They especially loved telling me

7
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about matches we had won
to our archrival.

8
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And on Sundays, we got together 
for a barbecue.

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Sometimes my grandmother cooked gnocchi.

10
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The food varied,

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but what never changed was that
in the afternoons, we all got together

12
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to listen to the game on the radio.

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One day, when I grew up, 
my dad took me to the stadium.

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The mythical 'Bombonera'.

15
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Oh, I will never forget!

16
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That's how my family
would pass on to me

17
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a sense of belonging to a community,

18
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which I later passed on to my children.

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We're from Boca and Boca is our team.

20
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This isn't much different 
from what I lived at school.

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From what all schools do 
to promote national identity.

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We used symbols like 
the flag, the anthem,

23
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we would share great stories and tales

24
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about how unique and unrepeatable 
our country is.

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We have rituals, some national heroes 
and even rivals.

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No one is born biologically 
Japanese, Venezuelan or Mexican.

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We need others to approach us

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and show us what it's like
to be a part of,

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to feel part of a community
like our nation.

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That way, we can think 
that patriotism

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is the result of a huge effort

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made from generation to generation

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to keep us together.

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To enable this living together 
in a territory we call our own

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which we have respect for, 
and we feel responsible for.

36
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The good news is that

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if patriotism is a construction 
that we created all together

38
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we might also think that 
we can go one step further.

39
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And that's what I do in my work:

40
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To think about how we can train people

41
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who learn to live together 
and collaborate globally.

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No one wants to stop loving their homeland
or stop defending it, of course,

43
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but I do think we can rethink 
some of the ways

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in which we learn to live with others.

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Evelin was my student in college.

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She's a 'porteña', as we call the people
from the City of Buenos Aires.

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She speaks porteño. 
She says 'che', 'pibe', 'boludo'.

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His parents are Korean.

49
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She did her thesis with me about 
Korean immigrants in Argentina.

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She told me that when she goes to a café
in the city of Buenos Aires,

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she sits down, and the waiters usually 
speak to her in English.

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And they're surprised when
she replies back in her perfect porteño.

53
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I recently learned also about the story 
of María Magdalena Lamadrid.

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María Magdalena is the president 
of the Africa Vive Foundation,

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which is dedicated to making visible

56
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the presence of Afro-descendants
in Argentina.

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To make it visible because
popular knowledge

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and some of the stories they tell us
wrongly indicate

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that in Argentina there are no people
of African origin.

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It's a mistake. It's not like that.

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And something terrible happened
to María Magdalena once.

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She arrives at the airport to travel,

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She was going to a convention representing
Argentinean Afro-descendants,

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I think it was in Panama,

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And when she reaches
the airport in Buenos Aires

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she is stopped by immigration police

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who takes away her passport 
and tells her it's fake.

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It seems that to the eyes of these cops

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there was no way there could exist
a person like María Magdalena

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who is black and Argentinean.

71
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Today it doesn't matter much
where we live.

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We're in constant contact 
with other cultures.

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And if I meet someone 
from Japan or India,

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I'm sure the differences 
will call my attention.

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But, don't we also have a lot in common?

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There's a movie, Letters from Iwo Jima,

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in which there a scene that
makes me think a lot about this.

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I will share it with you,
it goes like this:

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There's a group of Japanese soldiers 
who are in a cave, on an island,

80
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defending against a U.S. attack 
during the Second World War.

81
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And they have a prisoner.

82
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The prisoner dies
with a piece of paper in his hand.

83
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And right away they start to wonder 
if that would be the enemy's plans.

84
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And they ask one 
who knows English to read aloud.

85
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But no, it wasn't the enemy's plans.

86
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It was a letter.

87
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A letter from his mother telling him 
that she loves him, she misses him,

88
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that she hopes the war will end soon.

89
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And she'd tell him stories about the farm
and the town where they lived.

90
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One by one, as they listen
to the reading,

91
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Japanese soldiers 
begin to get on their feet

92
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and take off their helmets to honor him.

93
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That letter was identical

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to the letters they received 
from their mothers.

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That letter turned an enemy 
into a fellow man.

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And those soldiers couldn't fight anymore.

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Think about how much violence 
is generated in the world

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because we focus on differences.

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In religion, in nationality, skin color.

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Humans as a species 
face enormous challenges.

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The climate crisis,

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the global growth
of inequalities, pandemics.

103
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And also the challenge to live together 
with those who are different.

104
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A world, a future, awaits for us
plagued by ethical decisions

105
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we will have to take as a species.

106
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And we will only be able to do it properly
if we collaborate.

107
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That's why I believe it is key

108
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that in schools we go beyond
soccer rivalry.

109
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Beyond the 'Boca-River'.

110
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Today, education policies

111
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focus a lot on the importance

112
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that students learn 
math, language, science.

113
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And that's okay, of course. 
They have to do it.

114
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But it's not enough.

115
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I think we need a school

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that teaches us how to live together 
and to collaborate,

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with those who are different.

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Those who think differently.

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And a good way to start doing that

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is to start by realizing

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that our students are already citizens

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who make ethical decisions every day 
in a hyper connected world.

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I think it would be great 
if we could use those experiences

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as a starting point
to offer these students,

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our students,

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a really practical ethical education.

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An ethical education 
to serve as a guide

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for everyday decision-making.

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We can start with something
simple and even trivial

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like thinking about the clothes we wear.

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Why do we choose the clothes we chose?

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How are our tastes set up?

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Are they really ours?

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What do they symbolize and which tribe 
they make us belong to?

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Then we could ask ourselves about
how these clothes are produced

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and how those production ways 
interact with global warming

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or with the growth of inequalities.

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And so our students 
could debate and talk

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about interdependence in the world.

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About how our actions, 
even those simple actions

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like the clothes we chose to wear,

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can have an impact 
in people far away,

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and in other living beings, 
and on Earth as an ecosystem.

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And if our actions 
have an impact on others

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that brings a moral responsibility to it.

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We have to suggest in schools 
debates about that responsibility.

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And we are probably
going to find students

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who have very different
and opposed views,

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and even very heated debates.

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Great!

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It would be a spectacular moment 
to be able to develop a skill

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that I think is key 
to live together on a global scale.

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The ability to genuinely discuss
with others, with those different to us,

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with those who think differently.

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Not necessarily to try to convince them.

156
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Neither to necessary agree.

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It's enough for us to make an effort 
to try to understand them.

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Understand why they think
the way they think.

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And why they defend the values 
and ideas they advocate for.

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Do we really need to all agree 
in order to live together?

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I don't think so.

162
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The goal then is not training people
all over the world

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to have exactly the same values.

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I invite you to think 
if we can design an education

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that trains people who keep
loving their homeland

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and still, see all humans 
as their brothers and sisters.

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And planet Earth as a shared house

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we all have to take care of.

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And if it works out, I'm not saying 
we would have a conflict-free world.

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Of course not.

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But maybe we could live together 
more harmoniously

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not just on a global scale,

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but also in our homeland.