Democracy is being tested. Citizen assemblies can help | Ketakandriana Rafitoson
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. It is Election Day across the United States, and voters are heading to the polls, if they haven't voted already. The presidential race often gets all the attention, but key races are happening up and down the ballot. And it's a reminder that democracy can take place at every level of our society, including and especially in our own communities.

Today, activist Ketakondriana Rafi Tosin of Madagascar shares what she did to help restore democracy in her community in a way that drove citizens to take action and make their voices heard. I also got a chance to speak to Ketakondriana after she gave her talk on the TED stage. So stick around for that conversation. It's all coming up after a short break.

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saying people are driven by misery to revolution. And I told myself, "That would make a fantastic intro to my talk," because, you know, this is a story of misery, but also of resistance and revolution. Almost 80 percent of the Malagasy people live in extreme poverty, and they are in a survival mode every day.

Madagascar is a really fantastic country, very beautiful, very rich in terms of biodiversity, natural resources, land, people, culture. But at the same time, we are lacking the most basic things such as food, electricity, education, health care, roads, energy, everything.

Politicians promise us the moon, but they just deliver dirty governance, corruption and misery. We don't have a fair and just society where people have a say on decisions made on their behalf. And we don't have democracy. This is a notion that remains blurred to many of our people. But it doesn't have to be this way, and this has to radically change.

So for the last 20 years, I've been working for the democratization of my country in various instances, and of course, power holders don't like that, but it's OK. I'm not here to please anyone, frankly. The most important thing -- The important thing is to keep preventing dictatorship from happening in my country and to keep fighting against corruption at all levels.

So what I wanted to tell you about today is something that we launched in our community.

It's called "Citizen Assemblies." The idea is just to gather ordinary people from all walks of life around the idea of learning about democracy, deliberating about important public questions and then taking actions together. And we do believe that citizen assemblies can be a powerful way for restoring democracy, not only in Madagascar but elsewhere around the world.

The first aim of those assemblies is to ensure that everyone understands what a true democracy looks and feels like, and then to give them practical tools in order to engage them into practical actions. Because, you know, there are so many confusions around the notion of democracy. If you walk around Madagascar, you will hear lots of definitions, things going from absolute freedom

or no rules. And the confusion with anarchy is sometimes compelling. So we need to tell people how it is really, and we need to fill this knowledge gap about democracy. Because when people don't have the right information into hand, they are more vulnerable to political propaganda, which in turn takes even more power out of their hands.

So that's the idea. And here I would like to say that in those assemblies, we really go beyond lofty ideals of democracy, because what we want to trigger is a collective strategy for really improving people's lives. So those who join us are totally free to participate

pick whatever issue matters to them, and any burning question, and we want to solve this together and make tangible impact. The philosophy is to educate, empower, and then engage into democratic action, and that's exactly what we are doing through our citizen assemblies. So how does it work? Every week, in various locations, flexible locations,

we are convening a group of 10 to 20 ordinary people, regardless of their age, gender, level of education, social status or employment, whatever. And because of security reasons, we only rely to our former participants and we ask them to bring new people each time for the next assembly on the same location.

And the gathering style is really mixed between word cafe, deliberation, and a caucus. And we always start with very basic questions such as, what is democracy? And does my voice as a simple citizen matter? Newcomers sometimes feel skeptical and hopeless because they think that their fate lies only in the hands of the government. But very rapidly,

they shift their mind and they start to open up and then we discuss those practical issues and we find solutions together. In these assemblies, when people bring their issues, we are also connecting them with

safe whistleblowing platforms for reporting corruption. And this works. I will give a practical example. In 2018, an investigation from the Malna Network exposed that a member of parliament was planting illegalism crops in a protected area on the west coast of Madagascar. That area is named Mena Bia Antemena. So almost...

Half of this dry forest, a very unique landscape, has been slashed and burned for the last decade. This member of parliament then hired migrants to work illegally in this area, and he bribed the local authorities for silencing them, and he spread terror in the whole county.

So this case was brought to our assembly, and people were discussing about it and decided to take action. So with the help of local civil society organizations, this assembly of small farmers, teachers, journalists, people from local churches, they gathered evidence and they asked the prosecutor to act.

Following that, the Member of Parliament who was reputed to be untouchable has been sentenced to prison and convicted of murder. Since he escaped from prison,

and threatened our journalists, but nonetheless, he has been sentenced and convicted for additional criminal charges. This story shows the power of cities and assemblies because those ordinary people felt the power of getting together and daring to act together. That's it. So in order to enhance the dynamic of the cities and assemblies, we launched...

the Learning Initiative Aiming at Nonviolent Action, or LINA, a Malagasy word meaning keen to learn. And this work builds on the teaching of American political scientist Gene Sharpe,

and it aims to really teach people about tactics and methods of nonviolent civil resistance. So with the help of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, we crafted a curriculum, and we converted it into a film for nonliterate audiences and into a guidebook for citizens, grassroots organizations and civil society organizations.

And through these tools, we are teaching people how to organize peaceful protests, how to face police violence, and how, importantly, to build, nurture, and sustain a movement. And when the time comes for action, we encourage people to really do this with their own means, because we don't have any kind of funding.

And the idea is really to trigger a revolution from the inside. We have a medical doctor who is ready to assist in case of injury. We have a lawyer ready to assist if someone gets arrested. And we have people bringing us colorful pens and markers or drawing nice placards for the protests. These are neighbors. These are friends, ordinary people, just, you know, from various profiles, but

brought together by the idea and dream of a better democracy and a more just society. I do believe that the power of citizen assembly

brought a positive shift in Madagascar because despite the shrinking civic space and despite the fear for reprisal, people are protesting more and more. We witnessed that during the pandemic when nurses and doctors dared to go on strike

for claiming their extra wages. I know that may sound very common to you, but for us, that was something that was very unusual, and that happened. We also saw teachers resisting political instrumentalization during the last elections, and we saw women breaking the silence around the rape culture.

and the impunity surrounding it. And more and more of our communities dare to really claim their lands and report land grabbing perpetrated by greedy politicians. So that's the sparkling and the magic of citizen assemblies. Of course, you know...

This work is very draining. This is very frustrating because it takes time to build this people power. We would like the revolution to happen now, but we have to be patient, okay? But nonetheless, sometimes we feel really frustrated and we are about to give up, I tell you. But witnessing the small, tiny victories that people are achieving,

that keeps us going because they are chipping away at injustice. And we all know today that democracy is backsliding around the world, but we need a remedy. The combination of cities and assemblies and civil resistance can make that difference.

This year is a special year. Democracy will be tested more than ever before around the world, as almost half of the population is going to vote in various scales of elections in 70 countries. Let's seize this momentum to build a global movement of citizens empowered to take back the power. We need that now.

And I would like people to feel that they have the power within their hands. I want them to feel that their voice matters. And I want them to stand with the mission, breaking injustice and breaking the status quo. It's high time that we restore democracy back.

And it is us, the citizens of this world, who can make that happen. And now is the time. So, you know, it all starts with a conversation. And I really hope that you will remember this one that we had today. Let us bring the power back to the people. Thank you. And now I'm so excited to share with you my conversation with Ketakandriana, recorded on site at TED 2024.

Ketakonjina, let's start with your journey to grassroots work and activism in the first place. What mobilized you and what

And where did the idea for Citizen Assemblies first come from? Yeah, so getting back on my journey, it started a long time ago while I was in high school. And what motivated me really to start organizing with my community at that time is just witnessing my family struggling in daily lives. Like we are missing everything in Madagascar, most basic stuff.

I witnessed my mom really getting painful in trying to school me and my brother, giving us a great education where she didn't have that much. So I was thinking, why should it be this way? Why don't we deserve better? I realized that it is just a matter of policymaking.

And the way politicians just don't care about the people. So from there came the idea of, you know, empowering people so that they claim for better because that's about fundamental rights. And then comes democracy afterwards, the right to take part into decisions. How did you first spread the message that these assemblies were getting started?

We had elections and we wanted people to take part into electoral monitoring, but we didn't have funds for doing nothing. So we just said, look, why don't we just ask people to volunteer for doing this by first explaining them why it matters to observe the elections. So it all started like that.

And then after the elections, we kept going because there are so many issues within our societies. And the feeling is really, let's solve one thing after another. And at the same time, building this consciousness among our communities like we deserve better. There won't be any kind of miracle. No one is going to save us from that. We are the ones who have to act.

Was there a particular aha moment where you realized, oh, this is making a difference or we are beginning to make a difference? Yes, definitely. When we crafted this curriculum about tactics and methods of nonviolent civil resistance and started the first training through our citizen assemblies, people...

people actually understood what we meant. And they were thirsting for this kind of knowledge because everybody is struggling with issues.

But beyond just talking about that, between our circles, they don't know how to organize. So we were bringing those practical tools and people were like, that's exactly what we were looking for. And they started organizing by themselves. So that's exactly the moment when...

You feel that, yeah, it's happening, starting to happening. And what kind of practical tools are you talking about specifically that really led to the birth of other leaders and a real pipeline? Yeah.

Yes. So we have this guidebook about the tactics and methods of nonviolent civil resistance. And in that, you really have like a roadmap starting from scratch, how to build a movement, how to build a coalition of just aware citizens. What do you need? If you need to plan an action, what elements to look for, what to be aware of, beware of the police, whatever. So

It's really this roadmap, very practical, giving a guidance to people who want to organize by themselves. And of course, we are always there if they have questions. We can provide assistance, but not funding. And that is really particular. And I do insist on that because it's not a story about money.

It's a story of courage and daring to go and claim for your rights and daring also to defy the fear of reprisal because that's the most hardest part.

how to get people to cross into the direct action by overcoming this fear. Once they cross this first path, it is done. They will be empowered like forever and they will call other people to do the same. So this is really this snowball effect that we want to trigger.

Would you say that has been the biggest challenge, just getting over the psychological fear of resisting or taking action? Or what are the challenges that you've faced in this journey? That's one challenge. But the other challenge is that people are busy making survival every day. So they don't have the physical time for thinking about resistance. And I think it's all well organized from the political side because people

we are kept in that status of survival mode so that our population is not able to think about anything else. So we really need to break that shape of enslavement because that's how I see it. It's enslaving us in our capacity of citizens because when you are starving, then it's your belly who is thinking for you. It's not your brain anymore. It's not your heart anymore.

We want to break that cycle. And other challenges, of course, is also the lack of education in Madagascar. It disempowers people because they don't have the information in hand and critical thinking that is needed to get into the another level. And that's our purpose, our role, you know, to break big concepts such as democracy into small pieces and make it

understandable by ordinary people and that they feel that's their aha moment. Oh, now I understand, I see, and I want to be part of it. Is building a really strong education system or helping fight to fund it one of the primary pillars of your advocacy work now? Yeah, exactly. It's part of it because...

With a good education, it's like opening someone's mind into the world. We live on an island, so we are landlocked somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and we need to open people's mind to that place.

freedom as well, and seeing how the world works and see that some uprisings are happening all over the place. Why don't we do the same? Why don't we be part of this revolution too? What is your vision for a democratic future? Because so much of what you said, we can relate to in the global north, we can relate to all over because we all get kind of lulled into the status quo.

So what does democracy look like to you from this year and beyond? Democracy, first of all, for me, it's equality of rights. That's about it in my sense, so that people have access to all basic and fundamental needs such as food, energy, shelter, work, job, education, health care.

But for accessing that, we need to have into place the right political system. And that's a democracy that we want to happen because the one that we have right now is just a dictatorship disguised under a fake democracy. You have the institutions, you have the legal framework, but nothing is working. So no, we have to shake the tree and really tear the system apart.

Now, as we are speaking here, civic liberties and basic freedoms are restricted more and more in Madagascar, and people are really afraid to speak out because police violence, we have lived a lot of that last year during the presidential elections. The president made himself reelected through rigged elections and corrupt elections. So he's there for five years.

That's why it is high time for us to do something about that and to take our fate into our hands and make a change that we need. Well, thank you so much for the work that you do and thank you for sitting down with us. Thank you so much.

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That was Ketakondriana Rafi Tosin at TED 2024. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines.

And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Fazi-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. PR.