Panel 2: The Powerful and the Powerless

Time: Monday, October 13, 12:00 – 13:30

By Anni Zhu

“We have to be aware that the powerful often have a sense of being on the edge of losing power, and the powerless often have capacities and abilities to bring about change,” British Academy President Adam Roberts said, when opening the panel.

Keynote speaker, former President of Mexico Vicente Fox, began by referencing the current global financial crisis and emphasizing the importance of transparency and accountability in governments. Combined with a strong middle class, they are the best ways to keep the “powerful” in government in check, and thus protect the “powerless”. Using Latin America as an example, Fox noted the correlation between authoritarian governments and slow economic growth in the region, in contrast to the growth in Latin America experienced after the onset of democracy and freedom coupled with a market economy: “The only and best scenario where human beings can develop all their potential, carry out in all their capacities, and can exercise their leadership, is in an environment of freedom and democracy.”

From a different angle, Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov also touched upon freedom and economy noting that some authoritarian regimes are powerful and protected from harsh international reactions because of their economic and business power: “Russia’s gas and oil make Putin’s regime immune to outside influence. How do you pressure China when China holds hundreds of millions of dollars of American debt?”

Zimbabwe Parliament member and opposition leader Trudy Stevenson pointed out the sharp dichotomies that exist between different social groups, such as the rich and the poor, or men and women, in her country: “We have had the problem of two countries for generations. We had the powerful colonial whites and the powerless blacks. And both then and now we had two economies. We have a powerful male-dominated economy for the minority who are well-connected, and then we have a powerless female-dominated black market for the majority.” She also explained the problems facing the powerless—a lack of basic supplies, such as electricity, food, and running water, limited media resources and low international awareness and assistance—and called on the international community for support, urging people to “watch and expose” the developing situation in Zimbabwe.

Similarly, Burmese political activist Zoya Phan made a call for help, sharing her experience as a refugee looking to the UN for help and hope and how the UN has failed her and her people by not taking decisive action against the totalitarian regime.

Finally, Belarusian opposition leader Alyaksandar Milinkevich introduced the idea that the “powerful” could be abstract factors, in addition to concrete people. “The strength of our convictions is very important: people who are for democracy don’t fight for political jobs for advantages; they fight to preserve dignity and their rights as citizens,” Milinkevich said and also called for international solidarity.

“It is the powerless that defeat the reason of the unreasonable,” Vicente Fox concluded.