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The Unruly Heart of Freedom
- Date
- January 30, 2025
- Time
- 7:00 PM EST - 8:30 PM EST
- Location
- Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library
- Open To
- Open to All
- Contact
- Brianne Watkins: brianne.watkins@torontomu.ca
- Website
- https://www.jarislowskydemocracychair.ca/frontlines-of-democracy-lectures (external link)
Democracy is always a risky business, full of promise and danger. The promise is the freedom to rule ourselves. The danger is fear: fear of the unknown, fear of the unruly, fear of anarchy. Fear leads to authoritarianism. As a result, liberals and conservatives embrace rules and regulations. We have been taught to see the people as a problem to be managed.
But ultimately it is daily ethics of ordinary citizens, who struggle to rule themselves, that captures the meaning of democracy. Virtues like courage, self-reliance and solidarity make it thrive. And they grow in the wild.
What if anarchy is the nursery of democracy?
The distinguished political theorist Anne Norton explores these questions in conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia.
