Covid-19 has not only prompted global health and economic crises: It has contributed to a democratic crisis as well. The pandemic has often been used as a pretext to shrink civic rights and freedoms and for corporations and governments to break or evade laws which are meant to hold them accountable.

During the first wave of coronavirus, more than 2 billion people lived under temporarily or permanently suspended parliaments. The pandemic has exacerbated many underlying inequities in our world, and exposed long-term failures of our economic systems, global governance and political leadership. It has underscored how the media can be captured or manipulated, and how misinformation isn’t just a threat to elections. Covid-19 has sparked louder demands for justice, equity and accountability across the world.

As we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, does the “new normal” mean narrower civic space; long-term curtailment of freedom and equality; and the ubiquity of surveillance? Or could it mean harnessing the myriad opportunities offered by new forms of political and civic organising, and by technology, to help challenge power, deliver social justice and to reimagine and reinvigorate what we actually mean by “democracy”?

Speakers:

Lakshmi Sundaram, Executive Director, openDemocracy

Saskia van den Dool, Managing Director, Adessium Foundation

Interviewer:

Chris Burns, Journalist

EFC Conference 2021 - Democracy

PhileaBy Philea - Philanthropy Europe AssociationJul 27, 2021