Report: ‘Learning Democracy by Doing’ Conference Hosted at Univesity of Toronto

Barack Obama, Class Issues, Economics, Election reform, Elections, Impeachment, International Politics, National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Di, activists, authors, boycotts, debate access, health care, latin america, politics, white house

Conference Report at Univesity of Toronto:‘Learning Democracy by Doing’

‘Learning Democracy by Doing’ was a three day conference held at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.  The conference brought together academics, practitioners, and students from around the world to discuss participatory democracy and citizenship learning in both a local and global context.  Globally, countries are suffering from a “democratic deficit” with low voter turnouts, declining citizen confidence in the political establishment, and criticism about the ability of representative democracy to ensure social inclusion and equality of opportunity for all. 

Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas.

The documentary film “Beyond Elections”, which made its Canadian premiere at the conference, explores the political processes taking place in Latin America today.  Participatory budgeting, communal councils, cooperatives, and constitutional assemblies are all ways that Latin Americans are getting more involved in governing their countries.  In Brazil, participatory budgeting has allowed citizens to take part in the allocation of city funds to services they deem most important like daycare, education, housing and other social services.  Democracy in Latin America has existed consecutively for the last 25 years and was won through constant battles against oppressive regimes from both within’ and outside the country.

The hard work and sacrifice Latin Americans have put in to have the democracy they do today means that they take their citizenship participation very seriously and display an unwavering vigilance against threats to take their democracy away.   

Participatory Democracy at home and online.

  Closer to home, Matt Leighninger is tackling the issue of participatory democracy in North America through his work with the Deliberative Democracy Consortium.  During the opening plenary on Saturday, Leighninger tackled the question of how we can engage large numbers of people in participatory democracy here in Canada.  Working towards a solution, Leighninger says, involves consulting with those at the top.  We put a lot of faith in our elected representatives here in Canada and expect that they will run the government for us, rather than with us.

Many people exercise their democratic rights only for the thirty seconds it takes them to drop their ballot in the box on election day, and even then it’s only a little over half of the country.  For this reason Leighninger suggested that if we want participatory democracy to work here, it is imperative that we work with elected officials to promote these ideals through their campaigns.  We have to get them to disseminate this idea to their constituents: if you elect me, you will have more power.

The political campaign of Barack Obama was discussed as one current example of this.  William Benet, a member of the Progressive Democrats of America argued that Barack Obama’s campaign has inspired the potential for real change in America and a deepening of democracy. In a workshop on media literacy for democracy led by Howard Budin, Judith Cramer and David Boxer of the Centre for Technology and School Change at Columbia University, Barack Obama’s campaign was discussed as a revolution in politics. 

 They argued that he has infused life back into the bottom-up model of politics by assuring citizens that if he is elected President they will have more power.  A quick trip to www.mybarackobama.com will indeed assure you that “it’s all about YOU” as Obama asks you to believe in your ability to change Washington and create an account and learn about the issues you consider most important. 

  The presenters argued that this form of e-learning and engagement will continue on not just in future political election campaigns, but in the actual process of governing by whoever is elected President. 

 The internet is obviously being used as an indispensible political tool, but some question the degree to which it can produce a sense of community and solidarity among people.  While there is no doubt that the internet is informing and mobilizing people around politics at an unprecedented rate, some presenters warned us that we must be critical of the type of political citizen we become online and whether true democracy can be exercised in the absence of real, tangible human contact.

 Education and citizenship learning.

Patricia Carabajal of the Universidad Iberoamericana Leon, Mexico, used the Spanish term Convivencia to describe the process of living together, something she says is essential in any democratic society.  By sharing and commutating with each other, we fulfill our basic human needs and also discover our own identity and purpose in life.  In an individualistic society such as North America, it may be hard to see convivencia as something worthwhile, but in Latin America this value is very strong; in the constant struggles for democratic societies, convivencia has been the way people and democracy have persevered.  Carabajal is part of Red Latinoamericana de Convivencia Escolar, a Latin American network of University affiliated researchers who believe that schools have a very important role to play in the education and formation of citizens. 

 This organization takes issue with the fact that most schools are so focused on teaching technical subjects that they forget that perhaps the most important part of our education is learning to relate to each other.  They found that violence in schools was most prominent when students felt unequal to one another.  Red Latinoamericana de Convivencia Escolar strives to construct school practices based on equality, solidarity, responsibility and democracy and brings together educators and researchers to apply convivencia and let it spread, hopefully not only in Latin America, but around the world. 

The next conference, “The Challenges of Participatory Democracy and Citizenship Education in the 21^st Century”  will be held in 2010 in Rosario, Argentina at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario. 

 ~Jenna

GlobalPundit.Org hopes we can attend the next Conference. Please consider donating any amount (yes dollars count!), securely-via Paypal, to assist us in bringing you information from across the Globe. Just have a peek at the logo in the upper r-hand corner and follow that. Thanks in advance.

 comments, notes, information on coming events, and all that jazz, email editor@globalpundit.org

admin @ October 23, 2008