By Kibo Ngowi
The Citizens’ Summit in Defense of Democracy and Freedom has officially begun! Civil society, international organizations, academic institutions, think tanks, philanthropic organizations, and the private sector converged in the Zambian capital of Lusaka to make their voices heard in the Summit discussions and in the global democracy debate.
“This initiative and engagements such as this one, which bring together various actors involved in a functioning democracy, are extremely important to upholding the democratic ideals that we all share and aspire to attain,” Zambia’s Minister of Justice, Mulambo Haimbe, said during his opening remarks.
“We often talk about democracy, what it looks like and how it should work. Often it is as though democracy is merely an abstract notion that is there only to be discussed and deliberated on, but to the contrary, democracy is in the everyday duties that we carry out, and is about what we do, not only what we say. Indeed, it is at the very essence of our lives.”
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