This was the question over 700 diverse speakers and participants—a 33 per cent increase over prior year—gathered to tackle at the fifth annual DemocracyXChange, three day summit held in Toronto, April 11-13. The conference is organized by the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University in collaboration with Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
Over 65 speakers and participants alike shared their questions, concerns, expertise and insights on the state of modern democracy in Canada and around the globe. Topics included Russian ambitions, role of capitalism, online harassment, role of media, the election of far right parties in Europe and beyond. The conference also covered chaos caused by artificial intelligence, another Trump presidency, activist burnout, the role of whistleblowers, influence of dark money, and growing foreign interference in democracies here and abroad.
Recordings of mainstage talks are now available online. In the meantime, below are more than a handful of thought provoking quotes, stories and ideas (edited for clarity) from the event that will either enrage or engage you to be more courageous in your work to defend Canadian democracy-before it’s too late.
On capitalism:
“We were told that capitalism and democracy would work hand in hand and that one needed the other. Now, 25 years later, we see that’s absolutely wrong. Capitalism does not need democracy [to thrive]. The best pupils of modern capitalism are dictatorships…. the far-right is on the edge of reaching power and might do an even better job at maximizing profits.” –François Cusset, Historian of Ideas and Professor of American Studies at the University of Paris Nanterre
“When Theodore Roosevelt started his crackdowns on the monopolies in the early 20th century, had a very good reason for doing so. He said, we have to prove that ultimately the government is in charge. We have to restore people’s faith in democracy because if they believe that the corporations, or the few people who run the giant monopoly trust companies actually run this country. Well then, they’ll turn to socialism. They’ll turn to anarchy. And at some point, we’ll face another revolution.”—Tim Wu, Former White House Antitrust Advisor and Columbia Law School Professor
On Russia:
“Russia is much more right-wing and capitalist in terms of wrong capitalism than any western society.”
“After the [Nalvany] film had been released, a group of FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) spies broke into my apartment in Vienna with clear instructions to find the laptop that was featured in a scene. They thought they found that laptop. Stole it. Took it all the way to the Kremlin or to the FSB headquarters. As it turns out, they stole the wrong laptop. They took my mother’s recipe laptop”
— Christo Grozev, award-winning investigative journalist, formerly executive director of Bellingcat, the award-winning open-source investigative platform.
“I don’t think Putin really understood the force that he unleashed when he murdered Nalvany. He thought that he was solving a problem, but now he’s going to have a much bigger headache on his hands because Yulia (Nalvany’s wife) is fierce. She’s also incredibly intelligent.”—Daniel Roher, filmmaker and 2023 Oscar winner for his documentary, Navalny.
On big tech:
“The one area where I think we should be taking action and where Congress should pass new laws, where we are lacking is the problem of human impersonation. I don’t want business models growing that are based on human impersonation …. nothing good comes out of Ai impersonating humans.”
“I think that TikTok is a national security threat to the United States because it’s a form of spyware embedded in phones of millions of Americans .”
—Tim Wu, Former White House Antitrust Advisor and Columbia Law School Professor
“There is a cultural sentiment at Meta that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. The CTO was quoted as saying, yes, people are going to die from us connecting the world but it’s still worth it. The engrained mindset that you don’t have a responsibility to do harm reduction is blocking Meta’s interest in self-correcting. It needs an outside incentive.”
“The TikTok that operates in China operates very, very differently. They limit kids to 40 minutes a day. They cut off at 10 p.m. at night. They show largely educational content. It operates totally differently in the US”
— Frances Haugen, Senior-Fellow-in-Residence, Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy
On climate crisis:
“The idea of anger, especially in feminist movement, used to be something that was considered negative but now, they realize anger is legitimate. We need to leverage our anger to make something that seems impossible just happen. We need to surprise catastrophe. This is exactly my definition of activism.”-Camille Étienne, Youth Social and Climate Activist, “the Greta Thunburg of France”
On democracy:
“The biggest threat to democracy today is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the reaction to it everywhere. But at the same time, perhaps the greatest promise for the future of democracy is also this conflict. It depends on how we, and the world respond. “ –Judy Rebick, Canadian writer, journalist, political activist, and feminist.
“Of all the things to be concerned about now (human rights, liberty, surveillance capitalism, state surveillance), the American election is the most important.
What happens when you knock out the foundation stone [United States] of an international alliance that believes in the rule of law and human rights and democracy, imperfectly practices it, but at least believes in it. It is bad news for Ukraine.
If Trump wins, it is bad news for a lot of other countries. There will be a lot spillover effects in Canada. You will see how a lot of Americans move to Canada. Frankly it’ll be like the draft Dodgers of the 1960s. The right-wing in the US has already started to turn its attention to Canada. American dark money, right-wing media and activist groups are already here.”
–Michael Wernick, Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management at the University of Ottawa
Even in this country of which we are so very proud, we are vulnerable, and we must be vigilant. Democracy is indeed fragile, but we are not broken. And I have no doubt that we can move beyond panic, fear, blame and hate. Democracy cannot be a partisan issue. – The Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell (Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (2014-2023).
And finally, from the organizers themselves, Ana Serrano, President of OCAD U and Karim Bardeesy, Executive Director, the Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University:
“First and foremost we cannot take our democratic freedoms for granted; a healthy democratic society is far from assured and we must take action to protect it. Now is not the time to be complacent. We need to overcome our perceived collective powerlessness and work toward a more resilient and sustainable democracy.”—as published in their recent op ed in the Toronto Star prior to the event. To watch the recorded talks from this event, click here.
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