Joe Biden mentions Mahatma Gandhi in Democracy Summit speech while referring to John Lewis

During his opening remarks at the Summit for Democracy on December 9, US President Joe Biden cited Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela while referring to the efforts of civil rights activist Congressman John Lewis. Congressman John Lewis, he continued, was a global champion of democracy and civil rights activist who drew inspiration from other great leaders such as Gandhi and Mandela, ANI reported. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, Biden's Democracy Summit was held via video conference. The White House describes it as US leadership in an existential conflict between democracies and powerful autocracies or dictatorships.

Media agency ANI reported, citing US president Joe Biden, "Democracies are not all the same. We don't agree on everything. But the choices that we are going to make today together are going to define, in my way, the course of our shared future for generations to come," Biden said. "Congressman John Lewis was a great champion of American democracy and civil rights around the world, learning from and taking inspiration from other great leaders like Gandhi and Mandela. In the final words, when he was dying, he reminded our country when he said 'Democracy is not a state, it is an act'.''

Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of the 1963 March on Washington organising committee. He played an important part in the civil rights movement and its efforts to abolish legislated racial segregation in the United States. From 1987 until 2020, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives. Biden stated that democracies must defend the ideals that define us. "We have to stand for justice and rule of law for free speech, free assembly and free press, freedom of religion, for inherent human rights for every individual," he remarked, according to ANI.

Joe Biden's Democracy Summit

On the first day of the virtual 'Summit for Democracy,' Biden gave the opening speech, which focussed on the problems faced by global democracies. The democracy summit, running Thursday and Friday, is expected to bring together representatives from more than 100 nations, as well as NGOs, private corporations, philanthropic organisations, and legislators. However, the reality that Biden is still dealing with is Donald Trump's unexpected assault to US democratic norms and his attempt to sway the 2020 election, creates a difficult backdrop for the conference. President Joe Biden, who took office in the midst of the country's worst political crisis in decades, has drawn criticism from China and Russia. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and a dozen more countries are not among the 110 countries invited to the summit.

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: AP