More than flawed governance
More than political parties juggling responsibilities
In the aftermath of a disaster, in proximity of the election
More than the lack of infrastructure
What scares me
Really takes the guts out of me is
People becoming numbers
And numbers getting manipulated
Between reality and official
Faces becoming selfies
And losing the judgement of difference
Between entertainment and life
People considering themselves safe
(Because they are spared for now)
And switching between news and ‘soap’
In a DEMOCRACY …

This free verse was written in the aftermath of an overbridge collapse in Kolkata, West Bengal, that ended up claiming many lives due to infrastructural flaws, lack of maintenance, and possible corruption on the part of the authority responsible for building the said overbridge; by using cheap and adulterant materials and inefficient design, by appointing engineers who might not be qualified to handle the job efficiently. It was also a time of transition for the understanding of politics at the personal, National and International levels.

At the National level in India, it was just after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a result of his institutional persecution and state-sponsored discrimination against Dalits, which stirred up memories of the assassination of M.M. Kalburgi and Narendra Dabholkar as social activists speaking truth to power; thereby igniting a state-wide student movement, including hunger strikes and peaceful protests in Indian Universities, notably JNU and HCU among many others. In the International political context, it was approaching the proximity of a Presidential Election in the United States of America, as the presidential terms of Barack Obama were coming to an end, giving emergence to a new candidacy between Hilary Clinton from the Democratic side, highly endorsed by President Obama and First Lady Michel Obama themselves, against the Republican nominee Donald Trump, in the oldest and arguably most influential Democracy.

Going back to my high-school Political Science elective classes, the most rudimentary definition one can come across for Democracy is that it is “a government of the people, for the people, by the people”. Notably, the most pertinent question in this context is the nature and what constitutes the “Demos” or the “people”. Going back in history to ancient Greece, also known as the cradle of Democracy, one can see some exciting discourse around the topic under the discipline of one of the other significant achievements of ancient Greek philosophy.

Thinkers like Socrates have discussed and criticised this form of governance to a deep intensity as we can learn from the Republic of Plato, where Socrates discussed the merits and demerits of Democracy in the context of Intellectual Democracy as opposed to voting rights by birth; essential to keep in mind, hereby the term “Intellectual Democracy” doesn’t mean to convey elitism, but more likely the education and ability of thinking by voters to make informed decisions when it comes to voting and engaging in the procedures of governance and policy-making.

Although Athenian Democracy had flaws in terms of significant exclusionary policies towards women and enslaved people, one good thing about it was the involvement of the free and poor working class, which considering its time and influences, was an achievement. Although today’s liberal democracy is far from the Ancient Greeks and draws its origin to the Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for “Great Charter of Freedoms”), it is good to have a retrospective to contextualize it in history. As history is more than a path left by the past, it influences the present and can shape the future.

As Alex Tan, the self-exiled Singaporean political dissident and Social activist, iterated, Democracy is a messy process; as the popular criticisms continue, possibly from the ancient times of Plato and Aristotle, arguments like elected people as Charismatic Manipulators instead of effective leaders, masses are not educated enough to understand the complex issues of ruling; to later complaints like less immediate and falling behind Autocracy due to its need for consultation; Tan argued, citizens of Democracy enjoy more human rights. Although he acknowledged the flaws, like politicians detached from everyday life and public policy failures, often creating the gridlocks of democracy causing Political Alienation, that can further deteriorate and give rise to populism and extremism, further leading to Pessimism. But he still finds Democracy more resilient than any other system of governance. He further articulates that, as society changes, values change, and voters’ preferences change. There is also the possibility that the median voter can be influenced.

Radical changes in median voter position depend on two things, the vote and the voter. The median position of a small-turnout election is very different from that of a large-turnout election. Furthermore, institutions and structures of government: we constitutionally engineer and create these institutions to come as close to the values we hold dear and associate with Democracy, values like Responsiveness, Representation, Accountability, and Equality, to name a few.

In the contemporary context, we can observe Democracy not as a singular form but as an approach to governance marked by its multiplicity. The V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy), an independent research initiative dedicated to conceptualising and measuring Democracy founded in 2014, distinguishes the system among five levels depending on the data, looking at it as a spectrum, starting from the very basic and increasing to the higher level depending on its democratic principles. The five-level measurement starting from the very basic and rising to their higher levels, respectively, are 1) Electoral, 2) Liberal, 3) Participatory, 4) Deliberative, and 5) Egalitarian, following the order.

Conceptually, an Egalitarian Democracy is highest in its order in terms of its freedom and functionality. Although it can appear to be an almost utopian imagination, we can try and define what its intel is and the ideals it pursues. To me, it seems like a shared idealism, marking the unity of ambition and passion for freedom; looking at the works of some of the esteemed Cultural workers like the President and First Lady (Obamas), I would try to structuralise a draft of the essential natures that inspires my imagination.

The core of this system would be based on the essential universal values of Dignity, Determination, and Distinction. It would strive to protect the health of those without wealth and seek that precious balance between security, which is too often threatened, and human rights, which are too often denied. Abraham Lincoln had once made an observation that nearly all men (people) can stand adversity, but if one wants to test a man’s character, give him power! Considering that in an ideal and egalitarian democracy, power is bestowed on its people, it will be required from all the people to have a character that can withstand and officiate the power without corruption. In the globalised world, Democracy has its shared history and heritage; it has been a work in progress, and the path has never been perfect; whether it's women and ethnic minorities or persecuted religions, the longing for freedom and human dignity- is universal and it beats in every heart.

There are some profound challenges: In a world where the prosperity of all nations is now inextricably linked, a new era of cooperation is required, to confront climate change and combat social inequalities. The responsibilities of global leadership are indispensable for a more peaceful, prosperous and just country that can be the catalyst for global action, tolerance and self-determination, progressing through building new partnerships, adapting to new circumstances and remaking ourselves to meet the demands of a new era.

Adam Smith’s central insight is that there is no greater generator of wealth and innovation than a system of free enterprise that unleashes the full potential of individual men and women. To succeed, we must cast aside the impulse to look at impoverished parts of the globe as a place for charity; instead, we should empower the same forces that have allowed our people to thrive; solidarity is sustainable and goes a long way to set people free of their limitations. We should advance the truth that the nation prospers when it allows women and girls to reach their full potential. Albeit Power rarely gives up without a fight, challenging the dysfunctional status quo is pertinent. It requires backing up our words with deeds and embracing a broader responsibility and circumstances that cut through our caution.

As a Democracy, our patchwork heritage is an enormous strength; in a world which will only grow smaller and more interconnected, people can be united by their ideas instead of divided by their differences. Change only happens when ordinary people get engaged. Democracy requires a balance of speaking and listening, having a dialogue with disadvantaged communities, breaking taboos and being confrontational in doing that, learning from the communities themselves and their creativity, engaging in relevant and appropriate interpretation of civic participation, finding new ways to engage and new ways to build trust. It requires everybody to have a fair shot and live a productive life; the inequalities must be addressed and rectified. Under-resourced communities need to be supported and elevated and exposed to different cultures. Exposure is a crucial solution to resolving violence; if we show somebody better, they will do better; that’s how hope works.

In comparison to reality, young people in India grow up in a culture of silence, where they are often told not to question the norms or not to break the stereotypes or work on issues that they are passionate about. Citizen voices have long been left out of the mainstream media discourse, with no possibility of marginalised people finding a voice. But the hope is that if we all come together and speak up, something really can change and will change. Hundreds of millions of people in the world do not have an equal shot at speaking up. Through speaking up, our generation handles some of the most challenging issues we are facing, be it menstrual taboos, violence against women, or discrimination based on caste, class and sexual orientation, and all these are the idealisation and hope that our generation represents; through reshaping narratives that have for far too long marginalised them.

To uphold Democratic ideas like Empathy, Equality and Justice, we all have our contributions to be made. From advocating for climate change and inequality, fighting against the forces of discrimination, lifting and identifying stories that are often unheard, educating and empowering men and women, taking action against sexual abuse, pushing to destigmatise mental health issues through the power of storytelling, wading through flaws, doubts, problems. Still, despite all their imperfections, it is crucial to press down anyway. It is essential to recognise that efforts matter and make part of the upward trajectory in our human story. Through parity and equality, we have to model the kind of world we want.

For learning, it is crucial to listen to people who disagree with you. Change is a painfully slow process, and it can be demotivating at times. The perception of differences is broken down when people start recognising their own experiences in others; they see their common humanity. This is one of the reasons why Art is often a powerful tool in social change. Because what often it does is through art, suddenly people see for the first time their reflection in other people, the impact of which can be profound and powerful. The idea of change is an incremental process; that’s how change works in nature, that’s how change works in Geology, and that’s how change works in human society. The ability to focus long-term is a great luxury; it also allows one to reflect and study. One has to imagine what the world might be and then push and work towards that future.

In Democracy, as people, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, in enduring power, power of ideals, in heartache and unyielding hope, in struggles and progress. Everything we are today is an amalgamation of people we have come across and engaged with, whether in person or accounts, of stories and folklore, of mortal and fictional.

Too often charity is the redemption of the giver, not the liberation of the receiver; this is something that needs to be changed about our welfare policies; to steer them towards a narrative of solidarity and empowerment, towards a self-sustaining strategy. There is a need for more inclusion in growth, making sure that people are not left behind in a globalised economy.

Yanis Varoufakis, a Greek economist and politician who also served as a Minister of Finance and a member of the Hellenic Parliament, cast insight into the contemporary dynamics between governance and economy. He argued what he called the economic case of an authentic democracy through the idea of two mountains: one, is a mountain of debts, the other, a mountain of idle cash belonging to rich savers and corporations terrified to invest it in productive activities; the combined effect of which creates an economic paralysis in Global scale as its inability to effectively cancel out one another and contributes to further economic crisis like inflation, increase in inequality, and stagnation in cash flow. He also attributes the ineffectiveness of governance to the stripping of power for the government and the migration of power from the political sphere to the economic sphere, which he only sees the hope to reconcile through reconfiguration or reunion of the political and economic sphere by democratising the institutional and structural discourse.

Egalitarian Democracy is fundamentally the reimagination of a meritocratic system that puts the interests of ordinary working people first. A system where the advantage is based on merit, not a privilege, while keeping the understanding that in our contemporary times’ disadvantages are much morre complex, often hidden and less easy to identify; and there is no more important place to start than education. It requires a radical increase in the capacity and qualitative improvements of the school system, using it to promote greater integration in our society in general. Resolving the divide between the rich and the rest is not easy, and cannot be done by abolishing and demolishing them, as many feared and raised caution and demonstrated against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which later turned into the Act, along with the National Register of Citizens.

As Dr Tharoor pointed out in his well-researched speeches, the tendencies we have been witnessing in India for the last couple of years have been dangerous. He insists that India has an enormous contribution to make to the world of the 21st century and it should. It has the skills, the resources, the technology, and the human capacity, to make a difference in everything, from Cyberspace to Outer Space. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of Indians were, more often than not, complicit in their oppression, whether under colonial rule, or post-independence.

What characterises sentient beings from robots or stones is that we can suffer. But the question remains how do we move from pain to purpose? It is not the absence of failure that makes us succeed, it’s our response to failure that helps to buffer the reverses that we experience. There is no isolation of emotion in real life. As Cultural practitioners and artists, I believe that we need to be politically educated; that’s what inspires me to let my activism bleed into my work, whether pictorial or narrative. The limit of our Representational Democracy lets us choose who goes into the room where decisions are being made, but we don’t get to say what they do in there!

Peter Emerson, a Political Activist from Northern Ireland, unpacked the method and multitude of voting as a process of Democratic decision-making by drawing a comparison between Majority voting and Preferential voting. To cite examples of majority voting, some pertinent instances will be the election of Hitler in Germany – in1934 as the Chancellor with 88% majority, and in 1936 as Fuhrer with 98% majority, and in 1938 for “Anschluss” or German for “Union”, denoting political union of Austria with Germany achieved through annexation, with an astronomical 99% majority marking the victory. Referring to its diabolic historical consequences, Emerson argued the risks of majority voting as decisive and majority rule as a potential cause of conflict. To suggest the remedy, he made the case for Preferential voting; building on the arguments that Democracy would be good if it were inclusive: in the ideal scenario, the parliament should represent all the people, and the government should represent the entire parliament, and this condition could be facilitated through Preferential voting, a non-majoritarian method that identifies the options with a highest average preference, creating the possibility for Pluralist Democracy, where Collective will is expressed through Individual will, mediated by the method of Analysis of preferences.

When we continuously see the careless display of incompetence by leaders, and the absence of empathy and conscience for the citizens, it is easy to feel helpless. In both our governance and Civil Society, between different Political Parties and between people and the administration, the most popular discourse as per my experience is an exchange of blame game, an urgency to pass accountability, an unwillingness to take responsibility, a tendency to trivialize reality and life, sensationalise the make-belief spectacular, patronization of sombre, exotification of gore, the commodification of emotion, objectification of entity; the list can go on.

But we cannot change the world while staying at a distance from the problems that we face; there is power in proximity, it is the perspective to see potential instead of the problems. In Democracy, our politics and governments are as good, as fair, as competent, and as effective as our people; the citizens who elect and appoint, engage and disperse, create and constitute, debate and deliver, and decide our pertinent values and how it can be manifested in our cultural discourse. Taking that into consideration, political decay is not an excuse to flee, but a reason to dive in.

The digital revolution is leading to a redistribution of power that is not matched with a redistribution of accountability; we must urgently avoid and stay cautious that the digitisation of everything creates risks of the privatisation of everything and the weaponization of everything. But it also opens up opportunities for a parallel public discourse, of virtual public forums and networks, People’s media initiated and distributed through citizen journalism, and access to people and information of the entire world any-place-any-time, around-the-clock, for the comfort of our convenience, at the click of buttons and swipe of fingers, in a device of my choice.

We should seize this opportunity and push the threshold of our Physical and Geographical limits. In the context of these new frontiers, the role of media and communication is getting revised and reimagined. In this changing environment, journalists, creatives and communicators should be like bees, cross-pollinating disciplines and highlighting innovations, so that other people can take advantage of it; tasking ourselves with pertinent questions in the spectrum, from “How to be as poetic as possible” to “How to be as pragmatic as possible,” and anything and everything that comes in-between and ventures yonder.

A vision is nothing without the determination to see it through. As in our creative pursuit and so in life, ideas don’t come out fully formed, they only become clear as we work on them; the crucial part is to get started and keep at it, and incrementally as things get better, never getting complacent. Idealism without realism does no good for anyone; Change, irrespective of our ambition, starts locally, even global change starts small and modest. Social change doesn’t occur like the change of weather, it happens because of determined work over generations. Our success depends on our ability to coordinate and to be able to leverage our relations.

As British Artist Antony Gormley eloquently put it, “Art as an act of shared communication is a small way of saying, I make the world; I don’t simply inherit it!” Art can change the way we think; it can crack open cemented opinions and challenge the status quo. It looks at the world with a critical eye, it opens up horizons beyond those which are familiar to us. It challenges standardised or problematic views of the world; it expresses that which is often hidden. It reaches further than the accepted and the known and beyond the inevitabilities that we are told we cannot escape.

Art functions as the conscience of society; Art testifies to the power of human imagination. In a world driven by popular consensus, including, for example, the homogenisation of globalisation, and the general dominance of conservative values, Art advocates difference and gives voice to the Other. It highlights important ideas, problems and issues that are side-lined or silenced due to political or economic interests. Art doesn’t change the world at a macro level, it changes the world at a micro level; it is a form of Soft power. Art can foster dialogue, reconciliation, engagement, solidarity, connectivity and understanding of those with opposing views. Art is the last frontier of unregulated free expression, which is particularly important at a time when comments, public spaces and expressions are increasingly being privatised and regulated by the Neo-liberal order.

I treat artworks, not as isolated objects in the sterile 21st-century white-cube gallery settings, waiting to be commodified décor items, intended to hang from the wall matching the sofa set, in some private mansion of some random investor, who built his (usually it’s a he) wealth through big corporation driven by Capitalist principles; but with a view towards their purpose and meaning in the society that produced them at the context, they were produced, by the ambition, vision and attitude to contribute to the society.

Judgements and understanding are crucial, from school, for putting Arts at the very centre of the curriculum, where creativity counts. From the very beginning, children should be encouraged and allowed to feel like themselves in the art class. Art education is central to rethinking how students can engage in the creative process. In times of dictatorship, artists are the first to be censored and silenced. It’s a pertinent observation to make, and understand what it implies.

To reconcile economic disparity, education is fundamental. It is not consequential having a strong point of view and not being able to articulate it. Real change comes through persuasion and openness to others. The specific is observed to be Universal. It is worth the effort to understand how art and culture have a very unique and particular role in making our civic space more liveable, and more beautiful, as well as our civic discourse more interesting and multifarious.

Nothing can prepare us for this profession called Life! One can read about it, one can study it, but until they are on that task, they don’t know how to manage it. And amid crisis, keeping cool and treating everybody with respect; no matter how daunting the odds are, no matter how many situations try to knock it down, she never quits. While we need to fight for our principles, but also fight to find common ground, no matter how illusive that might sometimes seem.

Violence against women, in any form, in any place, including at home, especially at the home – is not just a women’s rights violation, that is a human rights violation. Women in India is a fascinating story! We have very strong women goddesses, even one of the early female Prime Ministers, but yet, there is an enormous amount of physical and psychological abuse of women perpetuated daily, adding to their disadvantages.

It is crucial to point out that it is problematic not just for what happened, it is also because it was allowed to happen, it was condoned by those who were in power to prevent it from happening. In this context and also speaking about exercising Democratic principles of independent decision-making, it is important to make a distinction between education and empowerment: Education is a precondition of empowerment, but it is not sufficient; education informs and shows us how to reach for the stars, empowerment permits us to do so. Seeking influence can sometimes feel uncomfortable, but it is an essential part of building change.

We are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eyes. There is an oneness to humanity that Democracy aims to uphold in its values and ideals, through processes and procedures of changing laws and changing hearts; in doing so, changing lives, while progressing on changing the world for the better, one step at a time. To keep on track, we need to include and nurture the human elements in education; the purpose of Design is about delivering change, not just imagining change. Leadership is inherently about responsibility; one believes in some idea, but people don’t believe it, but if one thinks it is critical, one should be ready to pay any price to reach it.

For catalysing and accelerating Global prosperity, we, as people, the elementary building blocks of the Democratic system, have to change our attitude before we can change our behaviour. It is crucial to understand and recognize that, it’s not our circumstances that define our future, it is our attitude and our commitments; we decide how high we set our goals, we decide how hard we are going to work for these goals, we decide how we are going to respond when something does not go our way.

There is enormous power in the plurality of our voices. Continuing with Alex Tan’s iteration, Democracy is a continuous experiment, it is not the destination, but the journey we take together, as a people, as a nation, and as a country; realistically the best possible achievable form could be imagined as a Multi-Party Proportional Parliamentary System, but according to practical-logistical possibility, Democracy is not perfect. But as Tan astutely put it, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. In similar ways, we, constituting the people in Democracy, might never attain perfection either. As Nelson Mandela, the distinguished flag-bearer of Democratic values articulated in his famed words, “I am not a saint. Unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” To my humble understanding, Democracy is the philosophy of Persistent Trying.