The 44th American President Barack Obama warned of diversity and assaults against democracy during his speech at Obama Foundation Democracy Forum in New York City on Thursday.
The former president highlighted the threats against democracy
and the forum agenda, saying that ‘foundational principles of democracy have been challenged and became under assult in today’s world.
“The belief in the dignity and worth of all people, a belief in rule of law and the accountability that comes from representative government. A belief in human rights and the free exchange of ideas. And as I know has been noted in many of the conversations that have already taken place today, these democratic ideas are currently under assault around the world,” Obama said.
After addressing the importance of peaceful change of power, the 44th president said that ‘diversity is not going away’ cautioning against ‘single characteristic’ societies.
“History tells us that when our identities are reduced to a single characteristic, our race, our sex, our nationality, our tribe conflict follows. So we’re going to have to figure out how to find overlap in a sense of multiple identities and we’re going to have to figure out how to live together or we will destroy each other,” he concluded.
In partnership with Columbia University and the University of Chicago, Obama Foundation hosted its first-ever Democracy Forum at the Javits Centre.
