Freedom Square (Photo: Mike Brown)The dialogue on Making Democracy Real ended on 12 Jan with 32 people speaking in less than two minutes each, sharing their conclusions from the conference and the actions they have decided to take. Among them were some of the Tahrir Square revolutionaries, representatives of the Arab Spring.

Each day of the Dialogue on Making Democracy Real had a session, titled ‘Courage to Act’. On 12 January, the last day, 32 people spoke in two minutes or less, giving their conclusions and the actions they would take.

It had been one of the goals from the start: that the Dialogue itself would model an ‘inclusive and responsive’ democracy where ‘every voice could be heard’.

Following a student leader from Indonesia came Lesotho’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. An Egyptian lecturer in architecture shared the microphone with an Indian media student who had come to photograph the conference.

Prabhat Kumar (right) in Freedom Square (Photo: Mike Brown)One of those on his feet was Prabhat Kumar, a Cabinet Secretary for three Indian prime ministers: ‘Speaking for myself, these four days have been among the most memorable of my life... I have learnt more about democracy than I ever knew. We have learnt that for a new created future... to overcome the past legacies, we need the collective will and collective action of people.’ As president of the IC Centre for Governance in Delhi, he pledged that the Centre would follow up the ‘deliberations and decisions’ of the Dialogue.

The Centre for Governance made strong connections with the challenges being faced by those from the world’s newest democracy, the Republic of South Sudan. Justice John Gatwech Lul, chair of South Sudan’s Anticorruption Commission, called Asia Plateau (the IofC Centre in India) ‘the centre for real democracy’.

On two afternoons, an open forum held in ‘Freedom Square’ – on a terrace outside the building -- gave space for many to air their views, share experiences. The website (www.makingdemocracyreal.org) has an active ‘Freedom Wall’ where all sorts of thoughts are expressed – still open for any to participate.

Afternoon workshops drew vigorous participation on such subjects as ‘The Challenge of Democracy – addressing corruption’, and ‘Building participative democracy from the grassroots up.’ An outstanding example was social activist Aruna Roy, whose village based organisation in Rajasthan helped provoke the strong ‘Right to Information’ (RTI) bill passed by India’s Parliament. She told how 100,000 villagers have been trained in ‘social audits’ to uncover government corruption, and $20 million has been returned through the 300,000 complaints lodged under RTI.

The largest delegation came from Egypt. Anissa Hassouna, of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, compared the delivery of democracy in her country to a painful birthing process – more difficult now, having now kicked out the doctors! The only way forward now, she said, is for the main stakeholders – the military, Islamic forces, liberal groups, and the youth ‘who brought the change’ – to put their cards on the table and talk.

Tahrir Square revolutionaries (Photo: Mike Brown)Two young ‘revolutionaries’ from Tahrir Square demonstrated their openness to such an approach. Speaking passionately of their support for ‘mothers of martyrs’ and for the 1200 undergoing military trials, one said it would take time but ‘we will overcome the reactionary regimes who don’t want to see democracy work in an Arab country.’ Another reflected on Gandhi’s advice to Nehru – ‘that if you face the arrogance of power with the arrogance of revolution, their power will beat you’ – and concluded that humility in their struggle would now be their greatest strength.

Early morning sessions on ‘Nurturing democracy’s wellsprings’ brought depth and reality as people shared approaches to reflection and moral change. An evening on ‘Healing wounded memories’ revealed moving stories of Australia’s national apology to Aboriginal people, a young Lebanese working to bridge religious divides through education, and one of the ‘Lost Boys’ of the Sudanese war telling of his long journey through hatred to healing.

‘We have learned that administering justice is much more difficult than removing injustice,’ concluded Prabhat Kumar. ‘Democracy is not a sprint but a marathon. The idea of organising this Dialogue was not to give ready-made answers, but to start a conversation. We have been immensely successful in doing that,’ he said.

‘The task for us now is take this conversation wider and deeper.’

The conversation continues on the internet. There are 10 videos up on YouTube under the Asia Plateau page www.youtube.com/user/AsiaPlateau

See also the report of the opening of the conference (including videos of Aung San Suu Kyi and Rajmohan Gandhi); the report of day 2 of the conference, including the speech by Dr Riek Machar; and the report of Malaysian Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim speaking on the dictates of the conscience

Further written reports, speech transcripts and resources are at: www.makingdemocracyreal.org