Europe, Global, Global Geopolitics, Headlines, Human Rights

RIGHTS: New Democracy Beckons Via Madrid

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Feb 22 2005 (IPS) - On the anniversary of the Madrid train bombings March 11, some people will do more than just remember.

The anniversary will mark the beginning of a civil society push towards a new democratic approach.

An International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security will be held in Madrid March 8-10. More than 50 former and current heads of state and government, decision and policy makers, experts on terrorism and security, and citizens from around the world will participate in the forum.

The forum will produce a Madrid Agenda on democracy. The London-based group opendemocracy.net, an online global magazine of politics and culture, and the independent Club of Madrid which seeks to strengthen democracy are calling for meetings to be held around the world to provide input for the final Madrid Agenda.

Most meetings so far have been planned in the North Atlantic region. But the 450 people who have pledged to hold meetings so far come also from countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Iraq and Indonesia. They are being invited to provide input for the Madrid Agenda.

“The Madrid principles will be based on what is put to them,” editor of opendemocracy.net Anthony Barnett told IPS. That agenda, he said, will look at democracy in terms of poverty, population, religious differences and other issues that are not just election-related.

“It’s a striking fact that there was no such response after 9/11,” Barnett said. “A reader from the United States said that after 9/11 we stayed at home, were frightened, and went to war, and that you came out on the streets, were not frightened, and declared peace.”

Barnett said theirs was “not a Bush-bashing exercise because we want consensus on democracy and against terrorism.” But there is more to democracy than a U.S. election, he said. “I feel that one of the issues is that democracy itself is just beginning, it’s not done and dusted, tied up and finished.”

The meetings leading up to the Madrid Agenda are opening up new forms of democracy that include “openness, deliberation and participation,” he said. Elections are only a “good starting point.”

The Madrid summit has received some powerful blessings. The Club of Madrid includes 55 former heads of state or government, including former U.S. president Bill Clinton and former Irish president Mary Robinson. The president of the Club of Madrid is former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and the secretary general is Kim Campbell, former prime minister of Canada.

The civil society summit will release its agenda just ahead of the anniversary March 11. Last year on that date ten bombs exploded on four commuter trains in Madrid in a coordinated attack that killed 191 people and injured thousands.

On the anniversary date large numbers are expected to gather in the streets leading to Atocha station in Madrid to mourn the dead and call for an end to terrorism. The King of Spain will attend a public ceremony being held by the Madrid local government. Several leaders from Spain and from other countries will be present.

The Club of Madrid and opendemocracy.net are asking people around the world to hold their own small gatherings the same day. “Whether it is five people sitting down over lunch, or a larger meeting in a college refectory, work canteen or a local café, we believe that the people of the world can make a difference by talking about this vital issue,” the two organisations said in a joint statement Monday.

“It is a chance to reflect on what can be done and to think about how democracy can be deepened and how it can respond to terrorism,” they said. “Along with the experience and cooperation of other high level political practitioners and governance experts, this resource is a working tool to convert ideas into practical and feasible recommendations and action plans for implementation."