Tallulah Brown Van Zee
Staff Writer
Individual rights are the greatest asset we have when fighting against any threat to our democracy, said Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center.
At 10:45 a.m. today in the Amphitheater, Alexander will deliver a lecture connecting the history of authoritarianism and the current issues the United States faces in a divided political climate as part of Chautauqua Lecture Series’ Week Six theme “The Global Rise of Authoritarianism.” Alexander will emphasize the need for personal strength during times of distress.
When Alexander took on her role as CEO of The Carter Center in 2020, she had to juggle the international health crisis of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd.
Despite The Carter Center’s main focus on alleviating global health and peace crises internationally, Alexander centered her attention on the United States. She said that, in order to be a global example and proprietor of peace, you have to “take care of your own backyard.”
As people become increasingly wary of the state of the nation, Alexander said that “individual rights is something America was built on.” She referenced former President Jimmy Carter’s farewell address, in which he said that “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it’s the other way around. Human rights invented America.”
Alexander said that, during this time, Americans must focus on the use of individual rights in addition to community action and the system of checks and balances. She compared this to organs in the body that must be taken care of when one is malfunctioning.
“When something is going wrong in your body, you have to take care of everything to make sure you get better,” Alexander said. “You can’t just focus on the one thing that is wrong.”
During her lecture, Alexander’s overall goal is “for people to not be in despair.” By putting authoritarianism in a historical perspective, she will show how the world has experienced autocracy before and how it has come out the other side. After going through this history, she will speak on what people can do to combat any threats to their democracy.
When it comes to individual action against authoritarianism, Alexander will speak on the strength of inspiration. She proposes for Chautauquans to consider “what people inspire you, what artists inspire you or what books inspire you.”
“We get inspiration from various places and that’s what keeps us going as individuals,” said Alexander. “That’s what should keep people going as being part of American society right now.”
By channeling both individual inspiration and the historical collective successes of the past, Alexander illustrates the power people hold to both spot out and combat threats to democracy.
“I’m looking to put things in a historical perspective to talk about the changes that have taken place and the changes we have seen,” said Alexander. “From the death, destruction and totalitarianism I’ve seen in my generation, I’ve learned that you can come out the other side of this.”
