Forum 2000: October Bulletin

Forum 2000 Conference – Take a look back

Do not miss the latest updates from our annual conference. Read and download the new documents and find new photos on our website.
– The 5 Big Ideas
– Democratic Roadmap for Ukraine
– New photos

Member of the Forum 2000 ICDR Ales Bialiatski Awarded Nobel Peace Prize 2022

Ales Bialiatski, a Belarusian human rights activist and a member of the Forum 2000 International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR), was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. Mr Bialiatski, who is currently being held in prison without trial on politically motivated grounds, is the founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre. He has dedicated his life to fighting for democracy and human rights, standing up for freedom with courage and a strong sense of responsibility. The Forum 2000 and the ICDR strongly condemn Mr. Bialiatski’s arbitrary detention on trumped-up retaliatory charges. We call for his immediate and unconditional release and for all charges against him to be dropped.

#Forum2000online: Kleptocracy and technology

In this month’s #Forum2000online chats:

Kleptocracy: An invincible (and invisible) enemy?

“What Putin has created was essentially a sort of feudal system”, says Rostislav Valvoda in a new episode of #Forum2000online Chat. Mr. Valvoda, Director of the Prague Civil Society Centre, Czechia, joined Jessica Ludwig, Director of Freedom and Democracy at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, USA, to talk about kleptocracy. Is kleptocracy the same as corruption? Why is it a security issue? How can kleptocracy be countered?

Technology: Is it time to stop? 

“The kind of AI [Artificial Intelligence] that we see in Terminator is nowhere near possible at present. We are very far from achieving any form of Artificial General Intelligence”, says Trisha Ray in this week’s #Forum2000online Chat. Ms. Ray, a Deputy Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India, joined Arzu Geybulla, a journalist and member of the Forum 2000 Program Council and the ICDR, to talk about technology, privacy, power and how to manage risks

The Forum 2000 Editor’s pick

A selection of essential articles, opinions and ideas from the Forum 2000 network.

The Rise of the Xi Jinping Eraby the Journal of Democracy | Xi Jinping is China’s most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping. But Xi has led China in a very different direction than his predecessors. He has remade China ideologically, socially, and economically, bringing the country under his increasingly iron-fisted, centralized, and personalistic rule and flexing its muscles abroad as never before. Read 7 essential Journal of Democracy essays on China under Xi Jinping’s rule.

What can we learn from Brazil’s presidential election, where right- and left-wing populism are facing off?, by Fareed Zakaria | A conversation with Moisés Naím (ICDR)

Can democratic norms catch up with AI surveillance?, a conversation with Vidushi Marda and Christopher Walker (NED/ICDR) | “In this episode of the Power 3.0 podcast, featured guest Vidushi Marda discusses the global AI surveillance market, the struggle to set ground rules for emerging technologies, and how governments’ race to adopt cutting-edge tools could threaten the democratic principles of transparency and accountability”.

Kleptocracy’s corrosive impact on democracy, by Melissa Aten (NED) | “Democracies are not just victims of transnational kleptocracy; they are also often willing participants. The powerful professional groups—lawyers, accountants, consulting firms, lobbyists, PR firms—that facilitate kleptocracy and make it easier for kleptocrats to move their loot through the international financial system are typically based in systems that offer rule of law protections” 

Why Women Are Leading the Fight in Iran, by Ladan Boroumand (ICDR) | “Mahsa Amini’s tragic death has transformed those sympathetic but passive bystanders into angry and active supporters of the fight against mandatory veiling. Her name has become a codename for radical change. Women are burning their veils in public squares, and they are being cheered for it and protected by the crowds. They are burning the regime’s main ‘paradigm,’ before the eyes of the whole world and chanting the slogan ‘Woman, life, liberty’”.

The views expressed in these works are the responsibility of its authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forum 2000 Foundation or its staff. 

The Bulletin can be found here.