By David Bornstein
The participation of the Indonesian military in this summer's wave of
massacres in East Timor is a reminder that dictatorships do not readily
transform themselves into peaceful democracies. Just as it was impossible to
predict that the reforms in Yugoslavia in the 1980's would open the door to
Slobodan Milosevic's butchery, the future of post-Suharto Indonesia remains
uncertain today. The habits of democracy must be instilled in citizens from
an early age. Given the state of many of the world's democracies, we must
continue to explore the question: How do we break the habits of prejudice,
passivity, fear and authoritarianism that nourish demagoguery and undermine
democracy?
This issue of Changemakers profiles three social entrepreneurs who have
established educational systems that instill in young citizens the skills,
attitudes and beliefs that will enable them to help build healthy
democracies. All three – Alicja Derkowska in Poland, Peter Lazar in Hungary
and Sofyan Tan in Indonesia – believe that recent social and political
changes have prepared the way for broad and penetrating reforms in their
countries.
