“Our lives are given texture and meaning not by technology, but by each other.”
Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan delivering Her remarks at the Web Summit 2022, in Lisbon, Portugal.
© Photo Credits: Royal Hashemite Court
It comes as no surprise to hear Her Majesty Queen Rania putting refugees at the core of her remarks at the recent Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. Her Majesty has always been an advocate for equality and refugees, as seen just recently at the Clinton Global Initiative in September.
The Web Summit, an annual tech-oriented conference, highlights technology’s role in making lives better since 2009. Starting on 1 November this year, it hosted over 70,000 guests, including chief executives of medium and large-scale corporations, politicians and policymakers, celebrities, and experts, who focus on topics revolving around technology.
Alongside prestigious speakers from across a spectrum of industries, such as Toto Wolff, Noam Chomsky, and Nathan Blecharczyk, Her Majesty introduced an approach on symbolically reclaiming four minutes of our daily life – or what “over a year […] adds up to one whole day, per person”. In her remarks, she refers to a report, which finds that the daily average of time spent online went up by four minutes per day. These four minutes – although not referring to Madonna and Justin Timberlake’s 2008 hit – could in fact save the world if “we invest those minutes wisely”.
“I believe we should invest our first minute toward mobilizing collective compassion—and not in a selective or sporadic way, but as a matter of practice”, HM the Queen said in Lisbon. “It’s time to upgrade our own operating system as a human family, starting from the conviction that every human being has equal worth.”
Queen Rania used her speech to put into perspective the difference in how the international community received, welcomed, and showed generosity towards displaced populations in different parts of the world. The world’s response to the crisis in Ukraine this year demonstrated high levels of compassion and empathy, and “that we can do so much when our hearts are joined as one”, Her Majesty said. “And yet, it’s hard to ignore the difference in generosity, tone, and urgency between the welcome extended to Ukrainian refugees and those fleeing devastation in countries like Syria, South Sudan, or Myanmar.”
Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan during Her visit to Bangladesh in 2017.
Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan during Her visit to Bangladesh in 2017.
Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan during Her visit to Bangladesh in 2017.
At a time when UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, reported a record 100 million displaced people around the world, Her Majesty insisted this figure referred to “people like us. People with hopes, and worries, and dreams, and families they love” as she called for a more just allocation of resources. “As a human family, our priorities are skewed if we are valuing VR, Instagram, and likes over the life of a refugee child”, she added.
For reclaiming our second, third, and fourth minutes, HM the Queen called to “invest (…) in building a common concept of truth”, “reclaiming our human agency” where “we need our human powers to be fine-tuned, so that we can decide among imperfect options, and adjust to unexpected demands”. Above all, Queen Rania called on the attendants of the Web Summit to “invest your time in the people you love”.
Queen Rania used her speech addressing the vast audience and the ears of a wide and diverse world for a call to action: “Let’s put them (four minutes) somewhere that counts. Compassion. Truth. Human agency. And time well spent with those we love.”
Looking at technology’s place in our lives, her Majesty concluded: “Our lives are given texture and meaning not by technology, but by each other.”
Watch the full remarks here:
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