PHA-Exchange> World Social Forum - Brazil - this is democracy.

[Claudio]

This is a post from Lawrence Lessig, a professor at
Stanford Law
School. 
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002400.shtml 

I walked out of my constitutional law class, climbed
into a car to go
to
a plane to fly to Chicago to fly to Sao Paolo to fly
to Porto Alegre to
get into a car to come to this. Brazil is hosting the
World Social
Forum
and Barlow and I will be on a panel with Manuel
Castells and Gilberto
Gil
on Saturday.
But Thursday night, we visited the Youth Camp
 which in part
this year is
devoted
to demonstrating and developing tools to support free
software and free
culture. 

We arrived in the middle of a concert. Gil was asked
to speak. As he
went to the mic, the tent fell silent. Hundreds were
packed into a tiny
space. Gil began to describe the work of the Lula
government to support
free software, and free culture, when a debate broke
out. I don't speak
Portuguese, but a Brazilian who spoke English
translated for Barlow and
me. The kid was arguing with Gil about free radio. Two
minutes into the
exchange, about 8 masked protesters climbed onto
chairs on one side of
the tent, and held posters demanding free radio. A
huge argument
exploded, with the Minister (Gil) engaging many people
directly, and
others stepping in to add other perspectives. After
about 20 minutes,
the argument stopped. The band played again, and then
Gil was asked to
perform. For about another twenty minutes, this most
extraordinary
performer sang the music he's been writing since the
1960s, while the
whole audience (save Barlow and I) sang along. When
the concert was
over, Barlow, Gil and I were led out of the tent. It
was practically
impossible to move, as hundreds begged Gil for
autographs, or posed for
pictures. At each step, someone had an argument. At
each step, Gil
stopped to engage. Even after Gil was in the car, some
kid rapped on
the
window, yelling yet another abusive argument. Gil,
with the patience of
a saint, opened the window, and argued some more. 

This was a scene that was astonishing on a million
levels. I've seen
rallies for free software in many placed around the
world. I've never
seen anything like this. There were geeks, to be sure.
But not many.
The
mix was broad-based and young. They cheered free
software as if it were
a candidate for President. 

But more striking still was just the dynamic of this
democracy. Barlow
captured the picture at the top, which in a sense
captures it all.
Here's a Minister of the government, face to face with
supporters, and
opponents. He speaks, people protest, and he engages
their protest.
Passionately and directly, he stands at their level.
There is no
distance. There is no "free speech zone." Or rather,
Brazil is the free
speech zone. Gil practices zone rules. 

Even after the speech was over, the argument
continues. At no point is
there "protection"; at every point, there is just
connection. This is
the rockstar who became a politician, who became a
politician as a
rockstar. 

I remember reading about Jefferson's complaints about
the early White
House. Ordinary people would knock on the door, and
demand to see the
President. Often they did. The presumption of that
democracy lives in a
sense here. And you never quite see how far from that
presumption our
democracy has become until you see it, live, here.
"This is what
democracy looks like." Or at least, a democracy where
the leaders can
stand packed in the middle of a crowd, with protesters
yelling angry
criticism yet without "security" silencing the noise.
No guns, no men
in
black uniform, no panic, and plenty of press. Just
imagine.