WE Are Democracy 

Director: Helena Steger

“Is my five year old sister a part of Democracy?” “Am I a part of it?” These are the questions that kids aren’t asking because they’ve already been told that the answer is no. But what if we told them the answer was yes? And why isn’t it?

We’re here to speak about what Democracy means to us. It doesn’t have to be this huge “political idea”. For us it’s just a way of life; one that involves making every person’s story matter in the story of our world, no matter how many years they’ve lived here. And it’s a way of life that we’re willing to fight for in our communities where, for sure, some voices are treated as less important than others.

How do we make space for people to be themselves? How do we amplify youth voices? What even is Democracy? When we speak out and live our lives freely, that’s Democratic. When we listen to people of all walks of life (our young, and our old), that’s Democratic. When we bring unheard people into the spotlight, that’s Democratic. We are NECS, and we are Democracy.