What does Democracy mean to you?

I have willfully avoided describing my first day at Create South Africa (CAS) because it simply overwhelmed me.  I'll try later today to put a narrative into text since I'm spending much of the day reading outside in the shade or in my room in Glenwood (a relatively quiet, suburban enclave in the city).  For now, I want to discuss one project M (whom I will work most closely with at CAS) introduced me to on Friday and the particular question it poses to its participants.

CAS has recently partnered with the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa's Parliamentary Millennium Project, "Perspectives On and Of Africa."  The PMP supports CAS to conduct quilt workshops with groups of women (living in both urban and rural areas) in each of the nine provinces of the country.  M had just completed her first workshop in December with a group of about thirty women from the Eastern Cape province and the next workshop is scheduled for March right here within the KwaZulu-Natal province.  At the beginning of the week the women are asked, "What Does Democracy Mean to You?" and by the week's end each woman has narrated (orally for those participants who are illiterate) a response to the question and accompanied it with a sewn quilt panel using mixed media of cloth, thread, and beads.  Translators working for the PMP assist in the translation of the narratives from their original language (which, depending on the area, is usually in any one of ten official African languages or possibly in Afrikaans) into English.  Eventually these quilt panels will be framed with the narratives (both forms) and a photograph of the panel's creator for display at the Parliament in Cape Town.

On Friday M and I pored over the English translations the PMP had sent along to edit them further (making small changes in grammar, syntax, and sometimes diction).  M speaks seven of South Africa's official languages fluently to my one, but I suppose my background in composition instruction came somewhat in handy (I never imagined I would be so grateful for the time I spent, both as a student and an instructor, enmeshed in the brambly rules of English grammar offered by Diane Hacker and her kind). The overwhelming majority of responses cited the following four components of democracy:
potable water
electricity
paved roads
close access to health clinics
I will be entirely honest to say that my particular background unprepared me for responses that were so immediate and concrete.  What I wonder is, what is the difference of conceiving of democracy as equality of access to an essential bundle of material, social goods and conceiving of democracy through other abstractions such as equality before the law, rule of law, or human rights?  Additionally, how have universal or global conceptions of democracy been put to use compared to site-specific or local understandings of democracy?

The question of how to conceive of democracy remains an important and highly contested one here in South Africa, particularly as the years from 1994 when South Africa formally achieved complete enfranchisement of the population elapse.  The practical and widespread implementation of this formal achievement has been criticized on many fronts (nationally and globally).  For example, last Tuesday (29 Jan 2008) John Minto, a New Zealand anti-apartheid activist who organized the 1981 Halt All Racist Tours, rejected a nomination for the Companion of OR Tambo Award (a prestigious award whose past posthumous recipients include Ghandi and MLK Jr).  In his rejection letter to South Africa president Thabo Mkebi, Minto insisted, "when we protested and marched into police batons and barbed wire here in the struggle against apartheid, we were not fighting for a small black elite to become millionaires.  We were fighting for a better South Africa for all its citizens."

Comments

[Annie]

Sounds like this has been an amazing experience so far--I've really been enjoying your entries. In particular, your entry about democracy had me wondering about South African attitudes toward the U.S. (insofar as you've been able to gather) and in what ways their democratic goals are defined alongside or against Western standards. I look forward to reading more!

[mar]

Your question is really interesting Annie and has made me think more about the cloths - I had coffee this morning with J, the executive director of the project, and I was talking to her about my reaction to the "democracy" cloths. She made a point much related to yours - that US or Western conversations "about democracy" assume middle-class standards and subject positions of those involved or able to participate in democratic engagement (assumptions that include certain kinds of literacy and access to social goods).

[Diamond Core Drill]

I enjoyed your post throughout the reading..In particular, your entry about democracy had me wondering about South African attitudes toward the U.S..