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Tending the Garden of Democracy

 
by Hon. David Kilgour, P.C., M.P., Secretary of State (Latin America & Africa)
Address to Alberta Teachers’ Association, Annual Social Studies Council Conference
Jasper Park Lodge, Jasper, Alberta, October 15, 1998

Democracy has been compared to a flower that needs constant nurturing to survive. As we approach the new millennium, one should take stock of the current state of our garden.

In its older parts, some of the flowers are wilting from neglect; weeds are beginning to take over. There is work to do. Looking at the tropical plants, however, we see new shoots breaking through the ground. They are hesitant, even fragile, but at the same time apparently healthy.

I refer, of course, to the state of democracy in the so-called developed countries, where a certain atrophy, often real cynicism, has set in. Daily we are bombarded with news of political scandals, so it is perhaps not surprising that many North Americans, Europeans, Japanese and others throw up their hands and retreat from active participation in the political process.

Emerging democracies

At the same time, as Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa, I am moved by the strong beginnings democracy is making in many places that have not known very much of it. Most of the Caribbean, especially the former British colonies, has a tradition of representative government, and in many cases of long-term parliamentary democracy. The most dramatic changes have occurred in Latin America and Africa. There, one after another, military dictators have fallen and been replaced by elected civilian governments. Equally encouraging are the emerging civil societies actively participating in the political process.

Before looking in greater detail at the new blooms in the developing world, I’d like to discuss the ailing state of democracy in some OECD member states. Democratic traditions are much older here, in some cases going back hundreds of years, but they are still surprisingly fragile.

It was suggested to me that I might want to encourage those of you who are social studies teachers to take your knowledge of civics and democratic participation to the emerging democracies. Of course I encourage any of you who are so inclined to take up that challenge. Many societies are experiencing the growing pains of new democracy, and certainly you have skills to contribute.

There is, however, no shortage of challenges at home. You don’t need to travel to Ouagadougou or Tegucigalpa to find flowers of democracy that badly need nurturing. There is a vital need to instill in young Canadians a more dynamic concept of citizenship. If our own democracy is to become more vigorous, we must overcome the cynicism and helplessness with which many Canadians now view our political system.

The Québec journalist Lysiane Gagnon has observed: "The biggest threat to democracy is the public’s cynicism toward politicians. Part of that cynicism is well deserved, but only part, since most politicians are motivated not only by power, but by altruism. What is dangerous to democracy are the actions that weaken political involvement, those that put elected officials at the mercy of single-issue interest groups or that discourage good people from running for office, including any witch hunt that, in the name of moral rectitude, invades the private life of politicians."

Gagnon didn’t cite specific cases, but some she refers to are obvious. In too many recent events, politicians have brought this cynicism upon themselves. But the willingness of media to engage in feeding frenzies on the scandal of the day, and the tendency for political opponents to engage in protracted witch hunts, only exacerbates the problem. A jaded public shrugs: "all politicians are slime." The unfortunate tendency then is to abandon political participation, and to leave the field to single interest groups. Sometimes even more ominously, there is an expressed wish for authoritarian solutions.

Canadian vs. U.S. democracy

At a conference a few years ago, one academic contrasted the civic cultures of Canada and the United States. South of the border, there is an institutional emphasis on "citizenship" in a full participatory sense. In Canada, he argued, our political institutions imply "subjectship" in a more passive sense. These concepts are not always accurate – consider, for example, the much lower voter turnouts in the United States, although I was saddened to note that the turnout in Edmonton Southeast in the ’97 election was only 57 per cent.

In Canada, there was an historic mistrust of what was once termed "the excesses of democracy." In the United States, civic participation is a tradition dating back to the American Revolution settler society. I hasten to add that Western populism, which has fertile roots in Alberta, also has a strong tradition of citizen participation and popular sovereignty. I am reminded of that every time I hold a town hall meeting.

All too often in Canada and elsewhere there has been a tendency to equate democracy with the holding of elections, forgetting that democracy must be continuously nurtured – not just once every four or five years. Democracy demands vigilance, and a willingness to pose difficult questions and to take risks. I do not mean by that only taking to the streets to complain about what is wrong, but also advocating constructive alternatives.

You social studies teachers face the challenge of inculcating in young Canadians, in a passive television era, a sense of civic responsibility. I’m pleased that many of you have succeeded admirably.

Recently I presented the Edmonton Southeast Leadership Awards to five deserving high school graduates. One of them, Leanne Wong, organized a letter writing campaign for International Human Rights Day, ran a charity auction to raise money for a battered women’s shelter, promoted an e-mail dialogue on Canadian unity with students in Québec, coordinated an awareness campaign on impaired driving and another on racial discrimination – when she wasn’t busy with sports and athletic activities.

The other four award winners had equally impressive résumés. Their accomplishments reflect personal talents, but no doubt their parents and teachers also deserve much credit. If these young people are representative of our future leadership, there is still much hope that democracy and citizenship will bloom in our garden.

Latin America / Africa

On that upbeat note, I turn to the growth of democracy in Latin America and Africa. Twenty years ago, military dictatorships in Latin America were the norm and democracies were the exception; today the situation is completely reversed, and every country of the hemisphere except one (Cuba) is now ruled by elected civilian governments. To be sure, democratic institutions are stronger in some than in others. Death threats, assassinations, extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detentions continue to mar the human rights records in a few countries in this hemisphere. Still, even in the worst cases, there are great signs of democratic progress.

Last year the great majority of Colombians voted in favour of peace in their decades-old brutal civil war. Their recent presidential election saw a relatively smooth transition of power. It was most impressive to meet with representatives of Colombian human rights organizations, many of whom take great personal risks.

Five years ago a coup attempt in Guatemala failed, sending a signal throughout the region that there was no going back to the old ways. Mexico has made great strides in implementing clean elections, and it now has a vibrant and effective opposition.

But democracy, of course, requires more than periodic elections. The key element is a vibrant civil society, including free media, good educational institutions, the rule of law, and organizations able to articulate the concerns of those who are often marginalized – women, indigenous peoples and the disabled, for example. I have been impressed by the degree to which civil society is beginning to flourish in many countries of Latin America.

Nelson Mandela

In Africa the challenges are often greater, but the accomplishments have been at least as dramatic. Who could have imagined 20 years ago that apartheid in South Africa would crumble and that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison to lead a nation where people of all colours are learning to live together? Mandela’s recent address to our joint houses of Parliament brought tears of joy to many eyes and long standing ovations. Our 13-year-old daughter was at the Skydome in Toronto with 40,000 other young people to meet one of democracy’s greatest heroes.

In the worst days of Uganda’s Idi Amin, who would have imagined the economic and social advances under the current President Yowari Museveni? In terms of democratic development, Uganda has not yet embraced the ideal of multiparty government, but Museveni hasn’t muzzled the opposition either. He has, however, moved forward with a consensual model that allows expression of direct dissent and incidentally allocates five parliamentary seats for representatives of the disabled. Earlier this week I listened to a representative of SADEC criticize Museveni for not being democratic enough because Uganda is still not a multiparty democracy.

In Sierra Leone early this year, a combined African military force restored the government of President Tejan Kabbah, who was elected in 1996, but ousted in a 1997 rebel coup. The subsequent civil war, which involved child soldiers as young as seven, left scars on that country that will take decades to heal. My point isn’t that democracy can flourish overnight. Rather, the actions of Sierra Leone’s neighbours, led by Nigeria, suggest that there is vanishing tolerance for the overthrow of elected civilian governments. Popular respect for democratic governance is a necessary precondition for the deeper evolution of democracy.

Hope in Nigeria

Nigeria’s role in restoring civilian rule to Sierra Leone was a paradox because at the time was ruled by a military dictatorship, which three years ago shocked the planet with its execution of writer Ken Saro Wiwa and eight of his young colleagues. Nigeria’s generals thumbed their noses at world opinion, and the brutal kleptocracy stole probably billions from the treasury. Only a few months ago, who was more optimistic about Nigeria than when Ken Saro Wiwa was executed?

Even in Nigeria, dictatorship is now out of fashion. I was there only last month and recent changes give us hope that human rights are returning to the "Giant of West Africa." Head of State Abubakar seems genuinely committed to returning Nigeria to democracy. We Canadians can be proud of the principled position we took on human rights in Nigeria: that position won us the respect of Nigerians and many others around the world.

The impetus for democratic change must come from Africans themselves. Canadians can, however, play a supportive role in nurturing the growth of civil society and democratic institutions. Canadians worked through the Commonwealth to apply pressure for change in South Africa, Nigeria and elsewhere. We have been ready to provide assistance and expertise in restoring democracy. Last week the Canadian government announced it is providing $100,000 through CIDA to support election management training in Nigeria. This project, in cooperation with the Commonwealth, will assist with local, regional, federal and presidential elections to be held in December 1998 and January and February of next year. This is consistent with Canadian efforts to strengthen civil society and make citizens aware of their role as voters.

A few months ago, I met a Canadian teacher in Georgetown, Guyana, who is working as a consultant to the Education Department there. In short, despite the low salary, she was having a marvelous experience.

But that’s just one teacher, and while there are other teachers involved in other countries, we need much more. And we need to focus some of our energies on teaching democracy. While we can and I hope will make citizenship education more effective in Canada, we have a tremendous resource of social studies teachers who could make a valuable contribution to the teaching of democracy in other countries.

I believe the time is ripe to engage teachers generally in this cause. There appears to be more interest from CIDA in starting to engage teachers for a civil society. CIVITAS International is one organization already involved, although using American teachers. Canadians would be welcome in this endeavor.

Social studies teachers today face new challenges and opportunities. Democracy is threatened to a degree at home by growing cynicism and apathy, but at the same time we as Canadians are being drawn closer to a world in which positive new experiences with democracy are daily taking deeper root. At the start of the new millennium, it is time to do some weeding in the garden of democracy, and to put down some fresh fertilizer. Let’s also look around us, to the gardens of our neighbours, and enjoy the new flowers that are starting to bloom.

Thank you.

 
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