Carnegie Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in the UK and Ireland
Today in London the Carnegie Inquiry is holding an event with openDemocracy, to explore the role of civil society associations in creating and supporting spaces for dissenting voices.
Kumi Naidoo is in London trying to get civil society organisations to work together. Photograph: Martin Godwin
One of the speakers, Kumi Naidoo, was a guest speaker at NICVA's 2003
Annual Conference on Divided Societies and was recently interviewed by
the Guardian's Annie Kelly.
The event draws on concerns around the marginalisation of dissent and diminishing spaces for public deliberation. Speakers
will consider the various ways in which dissent is marginalised, both
in the UK and globally, including factors such as threats to civil
liberties and anti-terror legislation, the behaviour of media, and
self-suppression on the part of civil society associations themselves.
Key questions that the speakers will address include: where
are the key areas where dissent is marginalised and what practical
steps should be taken to support spaces for dissenting voices?
The event will be chaired by Anthony Barnett (founder
of openDemocracy.net, Co-Director of the Convention on Modern Liberty
and Co-Chair of Real Change: the open politics network).
Other Speakers include:
- Sunny Hundal (Editor of Liberal Conspiracy, journalist, commentator, blogger and activist);
- Malcolm Carroll (Campaigner and Baptist Minister);
- Fran Bennett (Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford and independent consultant).
The
Inquiry has hosted two other events on the theme of dissent in Dublin
and in Glasgow. Findings from these events can be found at the Inquiry
web pages, Marginalisation of Dissent.
The work of the inquiry also formed the basis of NICVA's Annual Conference in 2008 and the more recent Dialogue on Democracy event aimed at exploring the role voluntary and
community organisations can play in creating a stable and inclusive
society.
More on the Carnegie UK Trust inquiry into the Future of Civil Society here.
Editor | 28 July 2009 - 2:50pm |
