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On December 14th and 15th, Hernán Alberro, CADAL’s Programme Director attended a conference in Warsaw organised by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Institute of National Remembrance about the future of democracy. The conference, entitled “Warsaw Dialogue for Democracy”, focused on the question of democratisation and systematic transformation and provided the opportunity to strengthen the claim to the European Fund for Democracy and to encourage discussions on its functions.
The Conference comprised of four sessions: 1) From revolution to transformation; 2) Transitional justice; 3) New meanings of “civil society”; y 4) Shaping minds for democracy. Among its most outstanding speakers were the dissident and ex Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abderraouf Ounaies; Zbigniew Bujak, Zbigniew Gluza and Jan Litynski, the three ex dissidents and members of the Solidarity in Poland Movement; Markus Meckel, one of the main driving forces behind the European Fund for Democracy, ex member of the German Parliament and political opponent in East Germany; and the Secretary of State of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerzy Pomianowski.
The first panel on “transformation processes for democracy” was integrated by Wolfgang Templin (Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany), Zbigniew Bujak, (ex-member of Solidarity in Poland), Antoni Dudek (Jagiellonian University, Poland), Jawad Kerdoudi (Moroccan Institute of International Relations, Morocco) and Claudia Luciani (Council of Europe).
The second panel provided an analysis of the question of transitional justice and presented the folowing speakers: Lavinia Stan (Centre for Post-Communist Studies, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada), Zbigniew Gluza, (Polish hisorian), Miguel Luis Amunátegui M. (National Institute for Human Rights, Chile), Egils Levits (Europa Court Judge, Latvia) and Dr. Albin Eser (Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Germany).
On the third panel, the following speakers analysed the new meanings and challenged of civil society: Joanna Rohozin'ska (National Endowment for Democracy, USA), Tamara Mackievic (Belarusian School Association, Belarus), Markus Meckel (Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of SED-Dictatorship, Germnany), Jan Lityn'ski (ex-member of Solidarity in Poland) and Asma Cherifi (TACID –NGO network, Tunisia).
Finally, the topic of the conceptualisation of democracy and education that allows its integration was left to the fourth panel, integrated by Steven Wagenseil (Council for the “Community of Democracies”, USA), Boris Raonic (School of Democratic Leadership, Montenegro), Amb. Maria Leissner (General Secretary of the Community of Democracies), Elena Nemirovskaya (Moscow School of Political Studies, Russia) and Dr. Lukasz Michalski (Institute for National Remembrance, Poland).
Hernán Alberro and Markus Meckel
Jerzy Pomianowski and Hernán Alberro
