The Annual History for Peace Conference
The term democracy originates from the Greek word dēmokratiā which drew itself from the terms dēmos (‘people’) and kratos (‘rule’). Thus, a democracy draws its strength solely from the people.
The 1789 storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution, the Springtime of the People—1848 Revolutions across Europe, the 1918 women’s Suffrage movement in Britain, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the 2011 Arab Spring—these are historically some of the biggest struggles that have seen the world mobilize and rise in defense of the idea of the democracy. What is so powerful about this idea of democracy, why does it resonate so strongly with people’s struggle across time and space?
On the other hand, historically, every few decades the world has also witnessed the rise of authoritarian rule and the backsliding of Democracy. This is one such time, when increasingly we are witnessing more countries moving towards authoritarianism than at any other point in the recent past. The optimism and the triumph of Democracy that the world witnessed at the dawn of the 21st century has rapidly diminished.
What are the patterns and conditions of democratic backsliding? How does civil society resist the encroachment of this rapidly shrinking civic space? What is the role of print/electronic media and social media in the rise of populism? What is the role of the judiciary in upholding the rule of law? How has the ‘new normal’ of Covid 19 impacted the state of democracy worldwide? Above all, what can education institutes do to instill democratic values in young minds? What can educators do to inspire active citizenship?
‘History for Peace’ conference’ is initiated by The Seagull Foundation for the Arts, supported by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata.
Speakers include: Romila Thapar, Krishna Kumar, Arun Thiruvengadam, Sudipta Sen, Sundar Sarukkai, Anurag Bhaskar, Apoorvanand, Arvind Narrain, TM Krishna, Shahnaz Khan, Shivangi Jaiswal and Smita Bhattacharya.
For details about the speakers and the complete schedule of the conference kindly click
here.
Entry to this programme is by registration only.
Back
