The Power of Recognizing Universally-Shared Values: Lessons from Firdaus Kharas, O.C.

At this critical moment in history, fractured by polarization, disinformation, and cultural misunderstanding, the very idea of “universal values” is under siege. Many argue that we must accept that we live in a world of deep and fundamentally-incompatible values, shaped more powerfully by differences in history and culture than by any universally-shared characteristics of “human nature”. But the life’s work of Firdaus Kharas, a Canadian humanitarian, social innovator, and media producer, offers compelling evidence that universal values not only exist, but that they can be a uniquely-powerful force for constructive change in our world.

Kharas’s work was honored last month when he was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada, the highest award Canada bestows. He has created more than 5,000 animated and live-action productions in hundreds of languages, almost all readily available and freely disseminated in nearly every country. Covering topics from disease prevention to human rights and violence prevention, his work has been viewed by over one billion people worldwide. His guiding principles are simple yet radical: his work is always human-centered, rooted in science and facts, carefully crafted to avoid causing any harm, and never prescriptive. Instead of telling people what to think, his media appeals to what is common in all of us, sparking individuals and communities to think for themselves about how they can lead healthier and more fulfilling lives.

In recognition of his impact, Kharas has received many earlier awards, including the prestigious Peabody Award, given for “stories that matter”, for his The Three Amigos campaign to combat HIV/AIDS.

The Method That Makes Change Possible

Kharas’s methodology rests on five insights:

First, universal values are real.

Human dignity, compassion, empathy, equality, honesty, and non-violence are affirmed across all traditions. There are no fundamentally incompatible “Western” or “Asian” values — all are rooted in deeply shared human values. This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, given that 99.9% of our genes are universally-shared.

Second, many of our most urgent problems exist because people fail to see these shared values clearly and live by them.

We exaggerate our differences and ignore our common humanity, with the inevitable tragic result that problems from violence to disease to discrimination not only persist but falsely seem unsolvable.

Third, “universal values” are too often stated so abstractly that we cannot see how they actually apply in the widely-diverse concreteness of our individual lives.

Kharas’s videos all address very concrete issues in ways that show exactly what those values mean in a person’s life.

Fourth, change starts in each individual’s mind — when people experience cognitive dissonance.

Kharas’s videos challenge viewers to reflect on ways in which their current ideas and behaviors are in conflict with their own deepest values, and then to talk with others, in ways that lead to a reconsideration of those ideas and behaviors.

Finally, effective tools are needed to spark that process, and resulting behavior change.

Kharas’s short videos are designed to be only an initial catalyst to reflection and conversation, leading to meaningful behavioral change. The real impact comes when that process takes on a life of its own, independent of the original stimulus.

While Kharas’s own genius lies in designing animated videos as tools to help people see and live by universal values, animation is not the only possible medium. Every community and every individual can create their own “tools” — whether music, theatre, podcasts, children’s books, or neighborhood projects — that foster reflection, dialogue, and behavior change. The point is not the medium but the method: awaken universal values, spark conversation, and inspire action.

Kharas’s short videos work because they are emotionally engaging — humorous, empathetic, and rooted in local languages and cultures. The point is not to impose values but to reveal the universal values we already share. For example, every parent wants the best for their children, and knows that is true of other parents throughout the world.

Examples of Universal Values in Action

Concrete examples of Kharas’s compelling evidence that universally-shared values can unite people in constructive change include:

Hind and Hamza. A series of 46 Arabic-language shorts on gender equality, anti-racism, and respect for other cultures. Broadcast repeatedly into 350 million homes, it sparked no controversy — only recognition of common humanity.

The Three Amigos. Perhaps Kharas’s most famous campaign, developed with the strong support of Desmond Tutu, this series of animated condoms broke taboos around HIV/AIDS prevention. Released in 45 languages, it carried a simple universal message: respect your partner, protect your health, value life. It is credited with saving millions of lives.

A Poem for the Living. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, misinformation and fear spread faster than the virus. Using local storytelling traditions and voices, Kharas created an animated film of empathy and solidarity that reached even the most remote villages.

No Excuses. Tackling sexual and domestic violence, these animations exposed the absurdity of rationalizations for abuse. The message: there is never an excuse to abuse another human being.

The Aftermath of Rape. Originally produced for the Democratic Republic of Congo, this video — featuring a young boy pleading with his father not to mistreat his wife and daughter — spread organically to Uganda, Nigeria, and beyond. Women carried it from school to school as a catalyst for conversations about dignity and justice.

Survival of Human Civilization as a Universally-Shared Value

While Kharas’s animated videos have focused on concrete problems at the level of our individual lives, he has also been deeply engaged in addressing the greatest threat to humanity’s collective survival: nuclear weapons. Throughout his career, including as current Deputy Chair of Canadian Leaders for Nuclear Disarmament, he has spoken and written about the catastrophic risks of nuclear war, highlighting how leaders and citizens alike must base policy on shared values of life and dignity, not fear and division. His clear vision — that if we do not urgently unite in prioritizing our common humanity, the very survival of human civilization is at risk — is shared by the rapidly-growing numbers of people throughout the world united in supporting the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

In an age where not only nuclear weapons, but also the cascading and deeply-interconnected crises of climate change and inequality, threaten all of us, Kharas’s work offers hope and urgency. If humanity is to successfully emerge from these crises, a clearer and far more widespread appreciation of our shared values must guide us.

Diversity in Expressions of Shared Values is Also Constructively-Powerful

Universally-shared values are strengthened, not weakened, by the obvious diversity in how those shared values are expressed in specific human communities, and across human history and cultures. The tragic error lies in the ways that rich diversity blinds us to the deeper underlying commonalities. Even within a single human community, the diversity of its members, including the ways in which those reflect differences in what they value, is essential to its vibrancy. We all know this from our experience of music — in any orchestra, jazz band, chorus, or other musical ensemble, the distinctive differences in the participating instruments or voices are what give the overall community its greatest and richest power. Vibrant human communities are fundamentally polyphonic, and in the complex counterpoints of their interactions even periods of superficial dissonance are crucial to the emergence of richer, deeper harmonies than had previously existed, or even believed possible. But this depends on every instrument or voice expressing itself within a shared framework of clear underlying commonalities, some defined with great precision and rigidity (e.g.underlying rhythm/meter, and an 8-note tonal scale in Western musical traditions). Without a universally-shared commitment to those commonalities, diversity rapidly degenerates into persistent discord, and ultimately even chaos.

A Call to Action

As co-authors — one a physician, bioethicist, and longtime anti-nuclear activist, the other a humanitarian working with UNICEF — we have seen how powerful recognition of shared values can be in transforming both personal and political choices. But values only become alive when we act on them.

For our readers the invitation is simple: take inspiration from Kharas’s example. Think about what already-existing tools you can start using. Also think about what new tools you and others can create. Use them in your own life — through your work, your community, your choices. Use them in advocating locally in your own community, or globally, for health and education, for peace and against senseless violence, and for fundamental human rights. And even more simply, remind yourself regularly of the common humanity you share with everyone, and in your own daily small interactions treat others with compassion, and respect for their human dignity. Each individual act strengthens the fabric of a civilization in which we all can not only survive but flourish.

In a world where division today seems inevitable, Firdaus Kharas proves otherwise. He shows us, in vividly-concrete ways that we can all understand, how our collective survival and flourishing can be fostered by recognizing, and living by, the universally-shared values we are too often allowing ourselves to be tragically blind to.

Lachlan Forrow, MD, longtime faculty at Harvard Medical School, has served as Senior Fellow at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, Board Chair and CEO of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, (1985 Nobel Peace Prize), and is currently President Emeritus of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship/USA, and Senior Adviser at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University.

Alessia Radice is a Social and Behavour Change Specialist at UNICEF. She writes in her personal capacity.