Democracy is always in the betting. Interpersonal trust of citizens or collective trust is very important to oversee the state in carrying out its functions and responsibilities.
By
Saras Dewi
·5 minutes read
SALOMO TOBING
Saras Dewi
The 1998 movement felt never-ending. At least it is so in my memory, when day after day was passed at the post, discussing, working together among elements of society: pupils, students, laborers, teachers and anyone who believes in a shared ideal called reform. Up to 25 years have passed, unwittingly, in the blink of an eye; but there appears a question of whether meaningful changes have happened in line with the spirit of reform?
This reflection overshadowed my journey to meet an invitation to attend a cultural symposium in Weimar, Germany. Kultursymposium Weimar is an activity initiated by Goethe Institut in order to encourage intercultural conversation to respond to global conditions such as post-pandemic, gaps and climate crisis.
The symposium held a discussion on trust, especially public trust in the political structure, or trust among individuals in striving for cooperation to deal with various problems in social, ecological and economic fields.
I looked at the opening speech delivered by Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff, the Culture Minister for the Free State of Thuringia, Germany; Federal Affairs; and Europe. He said the crisis of trust that occurred was mainly connected to conflict and war in a number of regions in the world.
He also mentioned Weimar's privilege as a city filled with European cultural values if associated with intellectual figures, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, but in contrast, he also added, Weimar kept the dark history of the Nazis. The Buchenwald memorial building remembers the brutality of Nazi power and torture of hundreds of thousands of people who were detained in the concentration camp.
The crisis of trust that occurred was mainly connected to conflict and war in a number of regions in the world.
While walking in the city of Weimar, I thought about this contradiction, the good and bad sides in a culture. I stopped when I saw a small placard on the Weimar rocky streets with names written there. This is part of the Holocaust memory program by Gunter Demnig called stolpersteine or stumbling stones. A cube-shaped marker stone with a brass placard on the surface containing the names of victims of Nazi violence made pedestrians stop, interrupted, pulled into the history of terror experienced by the victims. I found out about the names on the streets. They were people who were executed, imprisoned and killed due to their identity as Jews.
The atmosphere of this anxiety continued in discussions that became a series of events in Kultursymposium Weimar. I had the opportunity to listen to the testimony from Sara Mardini, an activist from Syria who loudly advocated for the rights of the refugees. Together with her younger brother, Yusra Mardini, she had risked her life crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Lesbos Island, Greece.
She experienced various traumatic events: being forced to leave her house, parting with her family and seeing her country destroyed, and had lost confidence in humanity because she had had to withstand blasphemies and expressions of hatred targeted at the refugees. What a multilevel misery.
The same tone was delivered by Nathan Law. We spoke while sharing the shade of an umbrella from spring rain. Nathan was an activist and leader of the student movement in Hong Kong who was forced to leave his country and has now settled in England. He criticized the authoritarian Chinese government, which silenced the freedom of expression of Hong Kong residents. Even though he was far away in exile, he was endlessly worried about the situation of his friends and also other Hong Kong residents who experienced criminalization.
Disappointment such as the experiences of Sara and Nathan can make any person feel beaten and pessimistic. Is there anything we can trust when we repeatedly collide with hatred, suspicion and even lies? Who can we trust? Is trust always positive? How do we care for trust and optimism in an excessively declining world? Here are some philosophical questions that occupy my thoughts.
Trust is basically linked to the object of trust. In terms of spirit of reform, for example, it is difficult to strengthen trust in political institutions if these institutions are difficult to rely on. Public trust in this context is not an absolute belief in the existing system; to the contrary, the lack of trust is a way for people to criticize the ongoing power and governance. Trust, in my opinion, requires a careful examination; trust also involves strict reasoning and consideration of empathic aspects. This prevents us from being trapped in trust that focuses only on certain groups or classes and closes ourselves off from equivalent, open and inclusive communication.
Trust in reform is the freedom from the shackles of tyrannical power and the formation of a democratic order of society. When referring to the thoughts of a political philosopher, Seyla Benhabib, deliberative democracy means the active participation of citizens and leads directly to public issues. Dialogue among individuals becomes the most important part of decision making.
Benhabib said, in the introduction of Politics in Dark Times, the emergence of novelty in sociopolitical movements had been possible because there was courage from citizens. What I can conclude from this reform process is that democracy is always in the betting. Interpersonal trust of citizens or collective trust is very important to oversee the state in carrying out its functions and responsibilities.
Saras Dewi, Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of Indonesia
