“The current pandemic represents a formidable global challenge to democracy. Authoritarian leaders around the world see the COVID-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its dramatic gains of the past few decades,” the letter states. “Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. “This unprecedented demonstration of global solidarity is a sign that democracy, while threatened, is also resilient,” says Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy and one of the signatories. The pandemic and the global movement for racial equality have shown that democracy is more important than ever.

Source: Front Page Africa June 25, 2020 05:03 UTC