Is there any harder or more important work in the United States than working to improve and deliver on the promise of democracy? Addressing economic inequality, overcoming historical racism and sexism, protecting the right to vote, upholding the truth amid a cacophony of conspiracy theories, and defending against the scourge of gun violence — all in an increasingly polarized society — are just a few of the most pressing challenges that are vitally important to the success of our democratic experiment, and the solutions to them are seldom clear and never simple. With such an array of challenges, it’s easy to despair and withdraw from the struggle “to form a more perfect union” and pursue our own narrow interests in a modern version of Hobbes’ war of all against all.
These days at UVA, we’re lucky to host a wide variety of democratic activists from around the world who come here not in despair, but in hopes of learning from the American experiment and securing refuge in UVA’s values of free speech and respectful discourse, while teaching us about their own experiences along the way. Largely through Professor Steve Parks’ groundbreaking work at the Karsh Institute’s Democratic Futures Working Group, we’ve had the honor to host remarkable heroes of democracy who have endured extraordinary hardship and sacrifice to fight for their countries’ democratic futures.
There’s international Woman of Courage and environmental activist Evgeniya Chirkova, who from exile in Estonia works tirelessly to communicate the truth about Russia’s disastrous aggression against Ukraine to her countrymen and -women, and who shared her story this week on Grounds. South Sudanese human rights activist Manasseh Mathiang, who works from exile in Kenya to keep up the fight for human rights and dignity back home through his powerful music, was also on Grounds this week to make connections and share insights. Since last fall, the Law School has provided a refuge for Afghan legal scholar Assia Nazari and her family, and Olena Protsenko, a Ukrainian legal scholar who is working at the school’s international human rights clinic to help support investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Next month, the Karsh Institute and the Miller Center will host four more democracy activists from around the world in a special program devoted to the “Worldwide Struggle for Democracy” to share their inspirational stories. Participants will include former Zimbabwean political prisoner the Reverend Evan Mawarire, Burmese democracy activist Myo Yan Naung Thein, Bolivian human rights activist Jhanisse Vaca-Daza, and Serbian leader Srdja Popovic, who won fame for his extraordinary achievements in working to overthrown Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, and who went on to provide support and advice to dozens of other democratic movements around the world. A week after this program, the University will host Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull, former Australian Prime Minister and Lord Mayor of Sydney respectively, to share their lessons on making democracy work effectively at the national and local levels, while fireproofing them from populist threats.
The convergence of so many prominent democracy advocates here on Grounds in such a short period of time is a powerful reminder of the global resonance of the values on which our University was founded, and that while we have a lot to learn still about democracy, we also have much to give and inspire. And that we are not alone in this unending work. Please join us.
Stay global!
