Gilberto Gil, a public speaker by nature

Throughout Gil’s career—in music, politics or during the times when he balanced both majestically—there was no lack of invitation for masterclasses, biennials, conferences, debates, forums, seminars, and talk shows. As Gilberto Gil conquered the world with his music, he started to also be a part of the international environmental, cultural, and social universe.

The protection and promotion of cultural expressions were constant subjects in the singer and songwriter’s agenda, whether he was at the Inter-American Development Bank or in universities like Harvard, Sorbonne or Brazilian public universities, in Portuguese lands or in China, Tunisia or Canada, in the National Students Union of Brazil or Unesco.

Attentive to diversity, the musician followed in the footsteps that brought about a new kind of citizenship: as opposed to mass society, he saw the birth of neotribalism—individuals building new arrangements through social networks—and recalled, in his talks, that culture is a governmental obligation. He did not shy away from questioning the absolutism forced by dominant countries and the pressure to create a worldwide pattern of monoculture through imposed consumerism patterns.

By calling for a decentralization of cultural production, he saw it as an element to overcome exclusion, through the many possibilities for job and income in the creative industry—an asset that still needs to be incorporated to the notion of social well-being and sustainable development. In his dialogues as minister, he promoted deals that stimulates cultural exchange and production, making it possible, internally and externally, to raise foreign investments.

Aware of the disparity between the planet’s North and South, he highlights the importance of culture to overcome social inequality and achieve a fuller citizenship, by reinforcing self-esteem and a feeling of belonging.

Gilberto Gil often says that giving precedence to economic aspects in social relations reduces culture to a mere product, whereas the opposite makes it possible to enjoy material and symbolic wealth. The singer and songwriter advocates for culture and development as processes that are necessarily interconnected:

Gilberto Gil frequently talked about being fascinated by the internet’s capillarity, but always calling attention to the management model—restricted to few. As a speaker, he advocated non-stop for a multilateral, transparent governance in the world web, “reducing the digital abyss among developed and developing countries” through access democratization.

In 2017, at a talk show during Brazil Conference at Harvard, he evaluated that the reach of virtual flows require a diverse scientific knowledge, with the contribution also of non-Western systems, opening up more possibilities for technological autonomy.

A witness of the leap between the creation of the personal computer and the internet, Gilberto Gil is a spreader of collective intelligence attached to the world computer network and the importance of collaborative practices through the internet as a strategic public policy.

Among the many themes he cares about is the difficulty history has faced in truly rescuing black people’s culture and nature, precisely due to a “reiterated maintenance of their poverty-stricken condition.” It is noteworthy that the anthropocentrism brought on by westernization affects living potentials all over the world and that disparities are fostered by a lack of appreciation for the coexistence of everything and everyone.

Always attentive to quick changes, Gilberto Gil puts his words in motion: “Throughout my life, I carry a preference for what is changeable, for the diverse, and even for the paradox.” By not attaining to the specific, he gives precedence to a broad view. In the shock and harmony of multiple cultures trying to mark their space and connect globally, through his words he spreads tradition and modernity as complementary opposites for cultural progress.