“Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent,” said Ms Sithara Shreen in her address at the NIA 2011 presentation.
Full text of her speech:
Article 29(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible”. I presume most us here would agree with the idea that individuals have certain duties or responsibilities that should govern the way we behave. These individual duties may be legal obligations, or may be based on religious practice, customary values in the community, or personal ethical convictions. We as citizens have both rights and duties. This includes public participation in decision making and demanding decision-makers at every level to be accountable to stakeholders/citizens. Public participation is also a means of individual and community empowerment and is currently much in need to rebuild post-war Sri Lanka.
Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent. Among the few certainties we are left with, is that the law enforcement machinery would cover up or turn upon the victim as soon as it senses that the party responsible for a grave abuse is a functionary of the State. Within this space it is not easy to raise issues of good governance, not only in matters of race and religion but in gender justice and ensuring all sections of society are treated equally and their interests taken care of. The fundamental idea Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent. Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent. Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent.
Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent. behind a vibrant democracy is that the government and all its institutions are meant to work for us – and for all of us equally. Our obligation is not to protect the state, or to be loyal to a particular community, but to make sure that the state is as fair, inclusive and representative as possible. And this ultimately.
Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent.
Democracy should be the duty of the people but what we see now is that the state mechanism has ensured that only the very brave dare to exercise this civic duty to dissent. compels our duties – to ask questions, to work with others, to organize, to challenge wrong policies.
Among the basic responsibilities of a citizen are:
1. Being informed about what is happening at the local and national level. In particular, what is happening to our country and to our fellow citizens? This is a basic question that each one of us should be asking ourselves – and working hard to inform ourselves about. This means asking our fellow citizens questions about their lives and experiences with empathy; it means speaking to people who are from different communities or different classes to see how their experience – and their life-chances and opportunities and treatment — differ from ours. This means, to the extent possible, traveling to other parts of the city and the country especially to the north and the east (not for tourism but to build trust). And, it also means questioning officials – both to find out what they are actually doing and thinking, and to challenge them when they are doing something problematic, something that doesn’t seem to meet the standards of equal treatment, openness and inclusivity.
2. As democratic citizens we should also be actively working to insure that the means of informing ourselves are in good working order: that the government is making public important information about their policies and actions, that the big institutions of society – corporations and universities and religious organizations – are transparent about what they are doing, and that the media is able to function freely, to gather and disseminate information fully and widely, so that all citizens have a chance to know what is going on in their society and to hear the ideas and wishes of our fellow citizens.
3. The next step in being a democratic citizen is to work actively to make sure that the policies of the state should represent everyone fairly and equally. In doing so, when there is evidence that certain groups of people or communities are not being treated equally – are getting less or more than their fair share of public services, are not allowed to use their own language, are not allowed to practice their religion, are not compensated when their land is taken, are not protected against sexual violence, are not allowed to retain a lawyer when they are detained – it is the responsibility of their fellow citizens to speak out; to inform the wider community, to speak to journalists and to inform those government officials who can/should respond. I know it is tough but if Killinochchi mothers can demand their children’s whereabouts from the LLRC without any security assurance, we can follow their example and do the same.
4. Finally, this also implies that being a democratic citizen means working to insure that public institutions through which the people can assert their rights and challenge and change government policies, are in good working order. If they aren’t we have to work to repair them. This means speaking up and organizing to influence the executive, politicians, government officials and the corporate sector. It also means challenging the political parties, NGOs and media institutions to do their job better – to take on their own responsibilities of questioning and challenging the government and organizing people in ways that allow all citizens to assert their rights and express their ideas in an equal manner.
While concluding I would like to stress on two most vital responsibilities which are particularly hard to discharge in Sri Lanka right now. We all know that it isn’t realistic to expect everyone to start challenging the policies of the state and trying to repair its broken institutions. But perhaps we could acknowledge this and say that everyone can at least begin by informing themselves better about what is happening to their society and to their fellow citizens – especially those in other regions of the country and from other classes, ethnic groups and communities. We have to learn how to respect the rights of all citizens to see themselves represented equally in and by the state – in the language they speak, in the cultural opportunities available to them, in their ability to be safe and to decide their own local affairs to a large degree. These are the most fundamental responsibilities without which no society can be democratic, no matter how many elections it has.