Democracy Is Being Tested. Citizen Assemblies Can Help | Ketakandriana Rafitoson | TED

8,196 views ・ 2024-11-07

TED


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I’m from Madagascar,
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and on my way to Vancouver --
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and I can swear it’s a pretty long trip --
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I watched a movie on the plane.
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And I stumbled into a nice quote saying,
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“People are driven by misery to revolution.”
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And I told myself that would make a fantastic intro to my talk,
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because, you know, this is a story of misery,
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but also of resistance and revolution.
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Almost 80 percent of the Malagasy people live in extreme poverty,
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and they are in survival mode every day.
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Madagascar is a really fantastic country.
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Very beautiful, very rich in terms of biodiversity,
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natural resources, land, people, culture.
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But at the same time,
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we are lacking the most basic things
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such as food, electricity, education,
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healthcare, roads, energy, everything.
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Politicians promise us the moon,
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but they just deliver dirty governance,
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corruption and misery.
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We don't have a fair and just society
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where people have a say on decisions made on their behalf.
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And we don't have democracy.
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This is a notion that remains blurred to many of our people.
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But it doesn't have to be this way, and this has to radically change.
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So for the last 20 years,
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I've been working
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for the democratization of my country in various instances.
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And of course, power holders don't like that.
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But it's OK.
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I'm not here to please anyone, frankly.
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The most important thing --
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(Applause)
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The important thing is to keep preventing dictatorship
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from happening in my country
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and to keep fighting against corruption at all levels.
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So what I wanted to tell you about today is something that we launched
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within our community.
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It's called citizen assemblies.
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The idea is just to gather ordinary people from all walks of life
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around the idea of learning about democracy,
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deliberating about important public questions
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and then taking actions together.
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And we do believe that citizen assemblies can be a powerful way
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for restoring democracy,
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not only in Madagascar, but elsewhere around the world.
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The first aim of those assemblies
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is to ensure that everyone understands
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what a true democracy looks and feels like,
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and then to give them practical tools
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in order to engage them into practical actions.
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Because, you know,
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there is so much confusion around the notion of democracy.
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If you walk around Madagascar, you will hear lots of definitions,
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things going from absolute freedom or no rules.
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And the confusion with anarchy is sometimes compelling.
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So we need to tell people how it is really,
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and we need to fill this knowledge gap about democracy.
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Because when people don’t have the right information in hand,
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they are more vulnerable to political propaganda,
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which in turn takes even more power out of their hands.
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So that's the idea.
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And here I would like to say that in those assemblies,
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we really go beyond lofty ideals of democracy,
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because what we want to trigger is a collective strategy
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for really improving people's lives.
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So those who join us
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are totally free to pick whatever issue matters to them
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and any burning question.
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And we want to solve this together
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and make tangible impact.
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The philosophy is to educate,
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empower and then engage into democratic action.
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And that's exactly what we are doing through our citizens assemblies.
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So how does it work?
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Every week in various locations, flexible locations,
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we are convening a group of 10 to 20 ordinary people,
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regardless of their age,
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gender, level of education,
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social status or employment, whatever.
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And because of security reasons,
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we only rely to our former participants,
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and we ask them to bring new people each time for the next assembly
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on the same location.
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And the gathering style is really a mix
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between World Café deliberation and a caucus.
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And we always start with very basic questions
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such as what is democracy?
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And does my voice as a simple citizen matter?
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Newcomers sometimes feel skeptical and hopeless
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because they think that their fate lies only in the hands of the government.
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But very rapidly they shift their mind,
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and they start to open up.
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And then we discuss those practical issues,
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and we find solutions together.
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In these assemblies,
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when people bring their issues,
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we are also connecting them with safe whistleblowing platforms
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for reporting corruption.
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And this works.
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I'll give a practical example.
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In 2018, an investigation from the Malta Network
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exposed that a member of Parliament was planting illegally some crops
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in a protected area on the west coast of Madagascar.
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That area is named Menabe Antimena.
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So almost half of this dry forest,
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a very unique landscape,
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has been slashed and burned for the last decade,
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as you can see from the maps.
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This Member of Parliament then hired migrants
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to work illegally in this area,
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and he bribed local authorities for silencing them
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as he spread terror in the whole county.
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So this case was brought to our assembly,
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and people were discussing about it
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and decided to take action.
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So with the help of local civil society organizations,
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this assembly of small farmers,
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teachers, journalists, people from local churches,
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they gathered evidence, and they asked the prosecutor to act.
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Following that, the Member of Parliament, who was reputed to be untouchable,
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has been sentenced to prison and convicted of murder.
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Since --
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(Applause)
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Since, he escaped from prison and threatened our journalists,
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but nonetheless he has been sentenced and convicted
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for additional criminal charges.
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This story shows the power of citizen assemblies,
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because those ordinary people felt the power of getting together
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and daring to act together.
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That's it.
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So in order to enhance the dynamic of the citizen assemblies,
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we launched the learning initiative aiming at nonviolent action
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or Lina, a Malagasy word meaning keen to learn.
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And this work builds on the teaching
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of American political scientist Gene Sharp,
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and it aims to really teach people about tactics
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and methods of nonviolent civil resistance.
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So with the help of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict,
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we crafted a curriculum
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and we converted it into a film for non-literate audiences
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and to a guidebook for citizens,
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grassroots organizations
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and civil society organizations.
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And through these tools,
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we are teaching people how to organize peaceful protests,
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how to face police violence,
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and how, importantly, to build,
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nurture and sustain a movement.
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And when the time comes for action,
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we encourage people to really do this with their own means.
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Because we don’t have any kind of funding,
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and the idea is really to trigger a revolution from the inside.
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We have a medical doctor who is ready to assist in case of injury.
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We have a lawyer ready to assist if someone gets arrested.
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And we have people bringing us colorful pens and markers
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for drawing nice placards for the protests.
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These are neighbors.
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These are friends, ordinary people,
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just, you know, from various profiles,
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but brought together by the idea and dream of a better democracy
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and a more just society.
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I do believe that the power of citizen assembly
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brought a positive shift in Madagascar
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because despite the shrinking civic space
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and despite the fearful reprisal,
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people are protesting more and more.
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We witnessed that during the pandemic,
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when nurses and doctors dared to go on strike
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for claiming their extra wages.
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I know that may sound very common to you, but for us that was something.
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It’s very unusual, and that happened.
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We also saw teachers resisting political instrumentalization
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during the last elections,
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and we saw women breaking the silence
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around the rape culture and the impunity surrounding it.
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And more and more of our communities dare to really claim their lands
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and report land grabbing perpetrated by greedy politicians.
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So that's a sparkling and the magic of citizen assemblies.
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Of course --
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(Applause)
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This work is very draining.
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This is very frustrating.
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Because it takes time to build this people power.
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We would like the revolution to happen now,
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but we have to be patient, OK?
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But nonetheless, sometimes we feel really frustrated,
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and we are about to give up, I tell you.
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But witnessing the small,
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tiny victories that people are achieving,
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that keeps us going
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because they are chipping away at injustice.
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And we all know today that democracy is backsliding around the world.
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But we need a remedy.
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The combination of citizen assemblies
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and civil resistance can make that difference.
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This year is a special year.
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Democracy will be tested more than ever before around the world,
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as almost half of the population is going to vote
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in various kinds of elections in 70 countries.
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Let's seize this momentum to build a global movement
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of citizens empowered, you know,
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to take back the power, we need that now.
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And I would like people to feel
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that they have the power within their hands.
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I want them to feel that their voice matters.
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And I want them to stand with a mission,
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breaking injustice and breaking the status quo.
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It's high time that we restore democracy back.
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And it is us, the citizens of this world, who can make that happen.
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And now is the time.
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So, you know, it all starts with a conversation.
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And I really hope that you will remember this one that we had today.
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Let us bring the power back to the people.
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Thank you.
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(Cheers and applause)
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Helen Walters: Thank you so much, Ketakandriana.
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I just had a few quick questions.
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So you referred to this being a draining experience.
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It's also, I just want to be clear, it's pretty dangerous.
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So how do you, like, talk to us about that
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and talk to us about your personal commitment.
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KR: I mean, we are constantly attacked, you know,
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because of our anti-corruption commitment,
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because we are also outspoken about things happening in Madagascar.
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But I will say that it's very fair because we are ready to go for it.
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We know that there is a price to pay when you are reporting bad things.
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I think it's the same all over the world,
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so we are ready for that.
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But the thing is, you know, I have maybe a network,
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I have some colleagues who can protect me.
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But what about ordinary people in rural areas
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who don't have anyone to protect them?
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This is unfair and unjust,
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and that's why we need to break this system.
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HW: So you also referred to --
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(Applause)
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You also referred to using small wins as ways to charge and boost yourself.
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Can you give us an example of a recent small win
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that has given you strength?
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KR: Oh yeah, of course.
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So we have this unit of investigative journalism,
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and we are conducting a lot of investigations,
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and there is one on sexual corruption
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happening in schools and universities in Madagascar,
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that we are really proud of
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because we exposed that.
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And it is now raising awareness among our community.
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Because some people in Madagascar do consider
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that this is a traditional thing,
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that we don’t have to complain about that.
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But it’s not the case.
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So raising this awareness
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drives people to sue the perpetrators of sexual corruption to court.
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So that's a win.
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We're happy about that.
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HW: Ketakandriana, thank you so much.
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KR: Thank you so much for having me.
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(Applause)
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