Jarreth Merz: Filming democracy in Ghana

I was born in Switzerland

and raised in Ghana, West Africa.

Ghana felt safe to me as a child.

I was free, I was happy.

The early 70s

marked a time of musical and artistic excellence in Ghana.

But then by the end of the decade,

the country had fallen back into political instability

and mismanagement.

In 1979,

I witnessed my first military coup.

We the children had gathered at a friend's house.

It was a dimly lit shack.

There was a beaten up black and white television

flickering in the background,

and a former head of state and general

was being blindfolded

and tied to the pole.

The firing squad aimed, fired --

the general was dead.

Now this was being broadcast live.

And shortly after, we left the country,

and we returned to Switzerland.

Now Europe came as a shock to me,

and I think I started feeling the need

to shed my skin in order to fit in.

I wanted to blend in like a chameleon.

I think it was a tactic of survival.

And it worked, or so I believed.

So here I was in 2008

wondering where I was in my life.

And I felt I was being typecast as an actor.

I was always playing the exotic African.

I was playing the violent African,

the African terrorist.

And I was thinking,

how many terrorists could I possibly play

before turning into one myself?

And I had become ashamed of the other,

the African in me.

And fortunately I decided in 2008

to return to Ghana,

after 28 years of absence.

I wanted to document on film

the 2008 presidential elections.

And there, I started by searching

for the footprints in my childhood.

And before I even knew it,

I was suddenly on a stage

surrounded by thousands of cheering people

during a political rally.

And I realized that, when I'd left the country,

free and fair elections in a democratic environment

were a dream.

And now that I'd returned, that dream had become reality,

though a fragile reality.

And I was thinking,

was Ghana searching for its identity

like I was looking for my identity?

Was what was happening in Ghana a metaphor

for what was happening in me?

And it was as if through the standards of my Western life,

I hadn't lived up to my full potential.

I mean, nor had Ghana,

even though we had been trying very hard.

Now in 1957,

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country

to gain its independence.

In the late 50s,

Ghana and Singapore had the same GDP.

I mean, today, Singapore is a First World country

and Ghana is not.

But maybe it was time to prove to myself,

yes, it's important to understand the past,

it is important to look at it in a different light,

but maybe we should look at the strengths in our own culture

and build on those foundations in the present.

So here I was, December 7th, 2008.

The polling stations opened to the voters at 7:00 AM,

but voters, eager to take their own political fate into their hands,

were starting to line up at 4:00 AM in the morning.

And they had traveled from near, they had traveled from far,

because they wanted to make their voices heard.

And I asked one of the voters, I said, "Whom are you going to vote for?"

And he said, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

He said that his vote was in his heart.

And I understood, this was their election,

and they weren't going to let anyone

take it away from them.

Now the first round of the voting didn't bring forth a clear winner --

so nobody had achieved the absolute majority --

so voting went into a second round three weeks later.

The candidates were back on the road; they were campaigning.

The rhetoric of the candidates, of course, changed.

The heat was on.

And then the cliche came to haunt us.

There were claims of intimidation

at the polling stations,

of ballot boxes being stolen.

Inflated results started coming in

and the mob was starting to get out of control.

We witnessed the eruption of violence in the streets.

People were being beaten brutally.

The army started firing their guns. People were scrambling.

It was complete chaos.

And my heart sank,

because I thought, here we are again.

Here is another proof

that the African is not capable of governing himself.

And not only that, I am documenting it --

documenting my own cultural shortcomings.

So when the echo of the gunshots

had lingered,

it was soon drowned by the chanting of the mob,

and I didn't believe what I was hearing.

They were chanting, "We want peace.

We want peace."

And I realized it had to come from the people.

After all, they decide,

and they did.

So the sounds that were before distorted and loud,

were suddenly a melody.

The sounds of the voices were harmonious.

So it could happen.

A democracy could be upheld peacefully.

It could be, by the will of the masses

who were now urgently pressing

with all their heart and all their will

for peace.

Now here's an interesting comparison.

We in the West,

we preach the values,

the golden light of democracy,

that we are the shining example of how it's done.

But when it comes down to it,

Ghana found itself in the same place

in which the U.S. election stalled

in the 2000 presidential elections --

Bush versus Gore.

But instead of the unwillingness of the candidates

to allow the system to proceed and the people to decide,

Ghana honored democracy

and its people.

It didn't leave it up to the Supreme Court to decide;

the people did.

Now the second round of voting

did not bring forth a clear winner either.

I mean, it was so incredibly close.

The electoral commissioner declared,

with the consent of the parties,

to run an unprecedented

second re-run.

So the people went back to the polls

to determine their own president,

not the legal system.

And guess what, it worked.

The defeated candidate

gave up power

and made way for Ghana to move into a new democratic cycle.

I mean, at the absolute time

for the absolute need of democracy,

they did not abuse their power.

The belief in true democracy and in the people runs deep,

proving that the African is capable of governing himself.

Now the uphill battle for Ghana and for Africa

is not over,

but I have proof that the other side of democracy exists,

and that we must not take it for granted.

Now I have learned

that my place is not just in the West or in Africa,

and I'm still searching

for my identity,

but I saw Ghana

create democracy better.

Ghana taught me

to look at people differently

and to look at myself differently.

And yes,

we Africans can.

Thank you.

(Applause)