The Department of Social and Human Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences and Technologies of Senegal organized a conference on the topic “Threats to Democracy”. This conference was moderated by Professor Frédéric Worms, philosopher, director of the prestigious École Normale Superior in Rue Ulme (Paris).
“Threats against democracy” is the theme of a conference chaired by Professor Frédéric Worms, philosopher, at the initiative of the National Academy of Sciences and Technologies of Senegal (ANSTS) on Saturday, with the presence of leading researchers in public law and political science. And judges, historians, philosophers, members of civil society and actors in political life. What I was trying to show is that democracy is of course the unity of the people based on the recognition of their differences and differences. So discussion is not a secondary aspect but the essence of democracy. Democracy is the institutions that protect discussion.” It is essential because human beings have established agreements in all subjects but agreements that could aggravate subjects, if they turned into war,” the philosopher noted.
Asking why threats to democracy in the world are so violent today, Pr Worms invokes three dimensions that touch on current threats to democracy. First, common biological hazards. According to him, the dangers that we have and that afflict all human societies today are biological, especially an epidemic or climate: “It turns out that common dangers before we come together intensify division because they bring it back to the fore in the name of urgency. For example, when The virus arrives, forget democracy to save everyone. In the name of a public emergency, we must forget internal divisions.”The second dimension, according to Mr. Worms, is the stakes that weigh on human debate.However, for him, speech is not a secondary thing in democracy. Political institutions are institutions that pass and organize speech as a place of transition from conflict to participation The dangers of discourse are the second greatest danger to democracy today Philosophy and politics base their search on contradiction and discord.
The third dimension is what he calls democratic disillusionment. According to him, the big mistake is the belief in the existence and realization of democracy. To know this with a certain number of institutions that are considered essential, which are the stages that avoid war and killing, and which are not sufficient, which are the political institutions. The right to vote in particular. In his opinion, “Voting is a condition and a major level of democracy. What fuels the crisis of democracy today is the persistence of a sense of legitimate injustice, including in societies that claim to be democratic.”
In this regard, to counter the threats to democracy, the director of the High School of Rue Ulme (Paris) proposes to build frameworks where one can speak and say different things, in particular the political frameworks of decision: parliament, elections, the scientific framework for the formation of government: it is the school, it is the university, It’s the search. Social frameworks for access to information: it is journalism … “
Osman Gudibai
