---
author: TED
date: '2026-05-01'
guest: ''
layout: post.njk
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e0ujKe66vM
speaker: TED
tags:
  - democracy
  - resilience
  - human-values
  - ai-truth
  - geopolitics
title: 科索沃的自由之声：从战争创伤到民主韧性，再到AI时代的真相保卫战
summary: 本次TED演讲中，科索沃前总统 Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 分享了她从战乱童年到国家领导人的宝贵经验。她强调了民主的脆弱性与韧性，指出机会、人道主义和国家故事的力量是构建与维系民主的关键。演讲还深入探讨了地缘政治中的价值冲突、AI滥用对民主真相的威胁，以及跨宗教和谐（特别是“Besa”精神）在化解仇恨中的重要作用。最终，她呼吁为受冲突影响的儿童提供机会，让他们成为未来的和平领导者。
insight: ''
draft: true
series: ''
category: politics-society
area: society-thinking
project: []
people: []
companies_orgs: []
products_models: []
media_books: []
status: evergreen
---
### 民主的挑战与战争遗留的教训

在离开总统职位后，科索沃前总统 Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 深刻反思了当前全球民主面临的严峻挑战，即民粹主义、犬儒主义和普遍的疲惫感。她指出，支撑民主不仅在于政治层面的努力，更源于个体和国家的深刻经验。她童年时期在压迫和战争中成长的经历，使她深刻理解了生存的意义和“机会”的价值——这种机会，不仅是活下去的可能，更是实现自我、茁壮成长的契机。她强调，正是那些坚持人道主义、不回避苦难的政治及军事领导人，以及那些伸出援手、捍卫自由和人权的全球民主国家，还有那些敞开心扉、凝聚社区的宗教领袖，共同塑造了她作为一位和平领导者的理念。她认为，一个小国家也能在全球舞台上发出强大的声音，反对压迫和暴政，并成为那些无声者的代言人。她从中领悟到，一个国家真正的力量，不在于其政治、军事或经济的强大，而在于其故事的叙述能力，以及讲述这些故事的勇气。

<details>
<summary>Original English</summary>

Angus Hervey: President Osmani,
thank you so much for joining us.
Vjosa Osmani Sadriu:
Thank you so much for having me.
It's a great honor.
AH: You've just left office
under circumstances you didn't choose,
and you're not alone.
Democracy right now looks
like it's losing ground everywhere
against populism, against cynicism,
against sheer exhaustion.
What lessons has
this experience taught you
about what it actually takes
to build and sustain democracy?
VOS: I'd like to say
that the lessons that I've learned
don't only belong
to my mandate as president.
I continue to learn as we speak.
I learned a lot today by listening
to the previous speakers,
and I learned a lot throughout my life,
growing up as a child of war,
as you mentioned at the introduction.
We grew up together
with all the children of Kosovo
under a system of oppression,
which started as an apartheid-like regime
and ended as a genocidal war.
Growing up in that system
where everything is taken away from you,
from your childhood
to the right to go to school,
to your parents' right to go to work,
at that time, just, you know,
going out and playing as children meant
that it was an act of quiet resistance.

</details>

### 叙事的力量：科索沃的韧性与成功故事

尽管面临重重危机，科索沃作为一个崛起中的民主国家，其繁荣的背后是对“机会”的深刻理解——这机会关乎生存，更关乎发展。Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 总统强调，正是这份来之不易的机会，以及那些坚守人道主义价值的全球伙伴，塑造了她致力于和平的领导理念。她认识到，即使是一个小国，也能在全球范围内发出强有力的声音，反对压迫和专制。她特别指出，一个国家的真正实力，并非仅由其军事或经济实力定义，而在于其独特且勇敢讲述的故事。即使在充满冲突和苦难的世界地缘政治格局中，科索沃作为一个“微小”的国家，也努力在国际决策的房间里发声，分享其作为成功民主典范的故事。这不仅是为了展现民主国家团结一致、捍卫自由的成就，更是为了证明即使在压迫之下，人民对自由的渴望也无可阻挡。科索沃的故事，跨越世纪的苦难，最终赢得了自由，其成功经验对于改变大国心态、激励行动、将价值观置于一切之上至关重要。

<details>
<summary>Original English</summary>

But at the same time, as a nation
that today is thriving in many senses,
but especially in terms of democracy,
despite crises
that we're facing right now,
we've learned that oftentimes
the line that stands
between a child of war
and a leader of peace
is an opportunity.
The opportunity to live,
to survive, first and foremost,
and then the opportunity to thrive.
And this opportunity was given to us
by people who believe in humanity,
people who never gave up on human values,
even against all odds,
whether it was political and military
leaders who came to our rescue
and did not turn a blind eye
on our suffering
and came to save our lives,
democracies around the world
who joined to save those values
of freedom and human rights or,
you know, leaders
in churches and mosques
who opened their hearts and minds
and joined communities together
so that we can have
some humanitarian support.
And practically, it's this that shaped me
to the leader that I was
for the past five years,
a leader for peace,
because I knew that while
I was leading my country,
no matter how small my country is,
we could have a powerful
voice in the world.
That voice that is going
to speak up against oppression,
against autocracies,
against genocidal regimes,
and make sure that we become
the voice of that child
who today is standing on the line,
on the line to survive,
but also in the line for food to survive
because we were there --
I mean, a few decades ago.
And today we are given the opportunity
to give that contribution for peace.
These past five years have not
just been years of leading my country
defending democracy,
but at the same time,
speaking for those
who don't have a voice right now.
Because once we did not have a voice,
and there were people around the world,
whether political leaders
or leaders in their communities
or just ordinary people
who joined to help us,
who became our voice
when we did not have one.
So that's the lesson that I've learned,
that no matter how small
you are as a country,
it is not just the political or military
or economic might
that defines your strength.
I think after all,
it's the strength of your story.
You just need to have
the courage to tell it.
AH: Kosovo --
(Applause)
is a tiny country -- you just said this.
Fewer than two million people.
But under your presidency,
it secured visa-free travel to Europe
and applied for EU membership.
So you've been in the rooms
where those big decisions get made.
You have an insider’s perspective
that none of us know
or have access to.
What do you see
when you watch the world's geopolitical
tensions playing out right now?
VOS: I see a lot
of devastation, obviously.
We're all seeing how there are
too many conflicts, too many wars,
too much suffering happening right now.
But at the same time,
when I sit around those rooms
and join world leaders
where these decisions are made,
we try to make an impact.
We try to make an impact
by sharing our story
because, as I said,
politics on one side or geopolitics,
if we're trying to talk bigger,
it's not just about military
and economic might,
it's about doing things right.
And we've heard,
and we're hearing nowadays,
so many stories about suffering,
about pain, about things going wrong,
about things being destroyed.
But at the same time,
it is important
that we share success stories,
and Kosovo is one such success story.
It shows what democracies can achieve
when they stand together for values,
when they stand together
in defense of freedom
and against autocracies
and against some
of the crazy, genocidal minds
that we had to live under.
And at the same time,
it shows that even
when you live under oppression,
there's nothing,
nothing that can stand in the way
of a people that wants to be free.
It takes years --
(Applause)
It takes years, it takes decades.
In the case of our nation,
it took centuries.
We had to live occupied and under
oppression for century after century.
But we never gave up on our identity.
We never gave up on our quest for freedom.
And ultimately, we became free,
and just sharing that story of success
is so important in these rooms
in order to also change
mindsets among countries
that are so much bigger than ours
and to also convince them to act,
to make sure that they save lives,
to make sure that they put values
in front of everything else.
Because sometimes standing
on the right side of history,
it's the most difficult decision.
It’s not convenient for the moment,
but long-term, it is what
humanity needs right now.
So it's very important for us
to be in those rooms,
to raise our voices, to speak up,
but also to be heard and to have an impact
on how these decisions are made today
that may not impact necessarily
my country very much,
but they do impact humanity
at the much larger level.
And we need to make sure
that we are part of those decisions.

</details>

### 价值冲突与坚韧的外交：在道德与地缘政治间斡旋

在复杂的地缘政治博弈中，当个人道德价值观与战略决策发生冲突时，需要的是一场“战斗”。Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 总统强调，这并非一场简单的辩论，而是要运用动态的外交手段，说服其他国家领导人，在保护道德价值的同时，亦能让战略利益与这些决策相契合。她坦承，并非总能获胜，有时其他利益会优先于道德考量。然而，这绝不意味着放弃。在这些时刻，她总是被科索沃人民的“韧性”所激励——这种韧性不仅是生存能力，更是在获得生存机会后蓬勃发展的能力。科索沃的故事，正是关于幸存者如何茁壮成长，关于永不放弃、持续奋斗，因为深知事关重大，以及全球无数人的希望寄托于这些房间里的决策。她回想起孩童时期躲避战火、收听国际会议广播，祈求救援的经历，提醒自己在与世界领袖会晤时，绝不能忘记那些身处困境、等待援助的孩子。她认为，持续的斗争和永不放弃的精神，是至关重要的。

<details>
<summary>Original English</summary>

AH: OK, I want to pick up
on something you said there,
which is about being in those rooms
and when you have a decision
that conflicts,
what do you do when your own
personal moral values
rub up against a strategic geopolitical
decision that you need to make?
How do you figure out which way to go?
VOS: You fight, that's what you do.
You have to fight.
You have to fight your way through
and try to use a very dynamic diplomacy
to convince other leaders
to find a way that can protect both,
that can protect moral values on one side,
but at the same time,
make sure that enough countries think
that that is also strategically
in their interest,
so that these decisions can be made
in a way that can better the societies
and better human values
and protect human values.
It’s not easy, and we don’t always win.
We don't always win.
There are times
when not necessarily moral values
are the ones who win.
It's other interests that come beforehand.
But that doesn't mean
that we have to stop.
And when this happens,
I'm always reminded
of the resilience of my nation,
the resilience that our people showed,
because resilience oftentimes
is not just about surviving.
It's also about thriving
after you're given the chance to survive.
And this is the story of Kosovo.
It's a story of survivors who thrive.
It's about not giving up.
It's about continuing to fight
because you know how much is at stake.
And you know how many people
around the world have their hopes
on those decisions
that are made in those rooms.
And you know, when I would visit
the United Nations
or when I would visit
the European Parliament
and other institutions,
I shared with leaders how, as a child,
we were sheltering in mountains,
we were sheltering
from the shelling and the bombing
and the people who were trying
to come and kill us.
And we had that little radio
with batteries,
and we were listening
to these meetings and these speeches,
hoping, hoping that someone
would come and save our lives.
And it's so important,
when I sit in that chair,
when I sit in those big
meeting rooms with leaders,
that I never forget that.
That there is a child, there are millions
of children around the world
who are now listening to today's leaders,
hoping that someone would not turn
a blind eye on their suffering.
And it's about continuously,
continuously fighting and never giving up.
(Applause)

</details>

### AI的滥用：对民主根基——真相的威胁

在人工智能（AI）日益渗透的时代，围绕其可能对社会产生的影响，尤其是对“真相”的真实斗争，已不再是理论上的探讨。Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 总统分享了她个人的负面经历，包括语音和视频被克隆，以及伪造的会议和对话。她深信，真相是民主的生命线，破坏真相即是动摇民主本身。她坦承，民主虽不完美，时而混乱且进展缓慢，但其对立面是毁灭、痛苦和折磨。科索沃人民因亲历过民主的反面，故而格外珍视和坚韧地守护民主。她认为，AI在当今的滥用对全球民主构成极端危险，迫切需要通过教育，让人们具备辨别AI生成内容与真实信息的能力。同时，她呼吁建立不过度管制的系统，既能支持AI为社会和人类进步（如医疗、拯救生命）做出贡献，又能赋予人们捍卫真相的工具。她警告说，若无捍卫真相的机制，AI的积极潜力将大打折扣。在民主国家，若宣传压倒真相，将滋生民粹主义和极端主义，人道价值观将无法主导，谎言将随数字时代的便利而泛滥。因此，投资于能够教会人们分辨人工智能制造内容与真实叙事的系统至关重要。

<details>
<summary>Original English</summary>

AH: OK, we're at TED.
So it wouldn't be TED if we didn't ask
a question about AI.
We hear a lot these days
about what AI might do to society,
but for you, these questions
aren't theoretical.
I mean, they are a very
real fight over truth.
What's been your own
personal experience of this?
VOS: It hasn't been a good one,
I have to say this,
and especially if we're looking
at the past couple of days
after I finished my mandate,
which I just finished.
Actually, this is my first
international activity
after finishing my mandate
as the sixth president of Kosovo.
But it was important
for me to not miss this one.
It hasn't been a good one
because in politics,
obviously you have to be
prepared for everything.
But we're living at a time
when they can clone your voice,
clone videos of you,
make pictures of you
that never actually took place,
of meetings that never took place,
of conversations that never took place.
And this changes the entire narrative,
because, look, I honestly believe
that the truth is the real
oxygen for democracy.
So when you're undermining truth,
you're undermining democracy itself,
which obviously is not perfect.
It can be messy, it can be
painfully slow sometimes.
But the opposite of it is destruction,
is pain, is suffering.
And we've lived the opposite of democracy,
which is why we're so resilient
in protecting it.
And it requires a day-after-day
protection and fight to keep it alive.
So I think the way how AI
is abused nowadays
is extremely dangerous
for democracies worldwide,
which is why it requires education
so that we have people
who are digitally prepared
to differentiate
between what is, you know,
made through AI
and what is actually true
for the people who are involved
in decision-making in our daily lives.
And secondly, it requires systems
that don't necessarily overregulate
so that they can block the use of AI
for the betterment
of society and humanity,
whether it's in medicine
or in saving lives
or doing much of the stuff
that we've heard from
the previous speakers today.
But at the same time,
it allows people to defend truth
because if we don't find instruments
that will defend truth,
ultimately, everything
that we can use AI for,
which is good,
will be diminished,
in terms of their impact
if we do not defend truth.
And especially in democracies,
this is crucial.
Because if propaganda
is going to overcome truth,
we're going to have populism,
we're going to have extremism.
We're not going to have the human values
which kept us together during
the most difficult times prevail,
but we're going to have lies
that can prevail.
And that is very easy in the digital age,
unless we invest in systems
that can educate people
to differentiate between
what was actually made artificially
and what the true story of the people
that are going to represent you is.
(Applause)

</details>

### “Besa”精神：跨越宗教隔阂的人性光辉

Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 总统通过分享其个人经历，生动阐释了“不让仇恨获胜”的信念，特别是在她曾遭受压迫和种族灭绝战争的科索沃。她指出，无论是针对天主教徒还是穆斯林，塞族政权发动的屠杀并非基于宗教差异，而是出于泯灭人性的根本对立。在科索沃，人道主义价值观展现出强大的力量：清真寺庇护天主教徒，教堂则庇护穆斯林。她本人及其家人就曾在种族灭绝的威胁下，于一座教堂中获得庇护。她回忆了已故牧师 Dom Kelmend Spaqi 在塞族警察威胁下，挺身而出保护不同宗教信徒的英勇事迹，证明了勇气与人性可以超越任何压迫者和政权。这种“Besa”（承诺）——一种以生命守护承诺的民族准则——是科索沃数个世纪以来捍卫的价值。二战期间，科索沃人民保护犹太人的行动，使得战后犹太人口不减反增，成为独一无二的例证。这体现了对彼此价值观的尊重，而非仅仅容忍，最终形成了即使家庭成员信仰不同，也能和谐共处的社会。她希望这种以尊重和人道为先的价值观，能在世界其他国家生根发芽，拯救生命，并提供一个避免分裂的典范。

<details>
<summary>Original English</summary>

AH: You're a Muslim,
but you recently went back to a church
where your family
was sheltered during the war,
and the pastor who hid you was there.
You've also just received
the Bonifacio VIII prize
at the Vatican,
which was an award previously given
to Pope John Paul II.
What does that tell us
about what's still possible?
VOS: I think it tells us
that we should not let hate prevail.
As I said, we’ve lived under oppression,
and we went through a genocidal war.
In Kosovo, the biggest massacre
that was committed by the Milošević regime
was a massacre against Catholics.
But then if you look at every
other village, every other town,
they killed Muslims.
So they killed everyone,
no matter their religion,
because it wasn't
about religious differences.
It was about human differences
in the sense that you either believe
in human values or not.
You either believe in the right
of someone else to live,
whether they pick one religion or not.
And in Kosovo, we've seen
how these human values prevailed.
We've seen cases where
mosques sheltered Catholics,
and we've seen cases where
churches sheltered Muslims.
And yes, my family and I were Muslim,
but we were sheltered
in a church when, you know,
the Milošević regime
was trying to kill us.
And just a few days ago,
I participated in the funeral of a pastor,
Dom Kelmend Spaqi,
who sheltered hundreds
and hundreds of civilians
of different religions.
And when the Serbian police
went to his church
and asked him to give up on those people,
he said, "No, if you're going
to kill someone,
you have to kill me first."
And he stood between those police officers
of that genocidal regime
and civilians of different religions
on the other side,
showing that an act of courage,
an act of humanity
is bigger than any oppressor,
is bigger than any regime.
And for us as a nation,
this has been a value
that we've defended for centuries.
Even during World War II,
our nation gave an example
of what we call “besa.”
It's a code of promise.
When you promise to protect someone,
you do it with your life.
And our nation is the only place on Earth
where the number of Jews
after World War II
was higher after the war
than before the war,
because we protected them with our lives.
(Applause)
It's a case where
we've shown not just tolerance,
but respect for the values of each other,
no matter which religion you belong to.
It's humanity that should prevail,
it's respect for each other.
And today in Kosovo, you have families
where one brother is a Catholic,
the other one is a Muslim.
This has never differentiated us
because we've put these values
of respect and humanity
before everything else.
And we're very, very proud of that.
And we hope to have these
kind of values also in other countries,
as I think it can save lives
the same way that it has
saved lives in Kosovo.
It hasn't divided us.
And I think
it is important that we give that example
to other people in the world as well.

</details>

### 未来展望：给予战乱中的儿童希望与机会

面对充满不确定性的未来，Vjosa Osmani Sadriu 总统呼吁不要忘记那些依旧“站在线上”等待机会的孩子们。她指出，无论是在乌克兰、加沙，还是非洲的某个角落，今天饱受战争之苦的孩子，都有可能成为明天的和平领导者。因此，为他们提供改变命运的机会至关重要。她感谢TED平台给予的分享机会，并强调拥有未来本身就极为重要，因为世界各地有太多人对未来感到迷茫。最后，她以充满希望的结语，鼓励大家共同努力，为那些“战争之子”创造可能性，让他们有机会实现从生存到领导的转变，为世界的和平贡献力量。

<details>
<summary>Original English</summary>

AH: President Osmani,
thank you for joining us.
We know that this is a tumultuous time
and that the future
is unclear and uncertain.
But we're so grateful that you appeared
here on the TED stage
and shared with us.
VOS: Thank you so much.
The future ...
It's important that we have a future.
So many people around the world
don't know whether they do.
There's always that child
that is still standing on the line
and waiting for that opportunity.
And let’s not forget
that that child of war today,
whether in Ukraine or in Gaza
or somewhere in Africa,
can be the leader of peace tomorrow
if we together give them that opportunity.
Thank you.
(Applause)

</details>