A discussion of the ideals of democracy -- and the realities that sometimes plague them --kicked off the Penn Humanities Forum's first lecture in a year-long series dealing with the topic of belief.
Alexander Boraine, a key player in the South African transition to democracy and the founding president of the International Center for Transitional Justice, enlightened his audience on the subject of the somewhat "imperfect," but "pragmatic," system of democracy in a lecture followed by a question period.
Boraine presented democracy as a form of government that was, "pragmatic rather than based on principle" -- a categorization based on his many years of experience with fostering democracy in South Africa.
As a white South African, Boraine described living in a world that was isolated and out of touch with the reality of most South Africans. Upon trying to change that world through the established national government, he said he saw little progress and realized that a different approach was needed.
It was for these reasons that Boraine became actively involved in the democratic transition of his, and later on, many other countries.
From this wealth of experience, Boraine conveyed the difficulty of developing democracy.
He described democracy as being not only a set of procedures, but also a set of working relationships. However, for these relationships and for a government to truly function, he explained that "democracy on its own is not enough," rather "one must work with the people, because without trust, democracy cannot work."
Success instead lies in a mixture of "good politics and reconciliation," he said.
Boraine also advocated against "cheap reconciliation," noting that the labor of having a "true democracy and a reconciled society is never easy... and never finished."
He further reminded the audience that one must "hold both remembrance and forgetfulness" in order to achieve reconciliation, noting that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
His speech not only touched upon the many trials and tribulations faced by young democracies, but also discussed U.S. democracy and the "war on terror" -- a subject that invited a range of reactions from audience members.
Boraine mentioned the possible consequence of "fear becom[ing] a hallmark of American society." He said he was concerned about the way in which dissent could be misconstrued into disloyalty, because he strongly believes that the voice of dissent is the voice of democracy.
He went on to describe the present state of affairs as a "challenge" that continually faces any democracy, whether young or old. This challenge is one which he believes the United States must overcome and use to "demonstrate that justice will not be sacrificed by the demon of security."
