Democracy and the human spirit

There’s a certain conventional wisdom that Third World countries can’t understand or handle democracy. But anyone who harbors such notions has not witnessed, as I did last week, the people of one such nation, Nigeria, calmly standing in line for hours in the brutal heat to cast ballots in the exercise of self governance.

Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria is ravaged by poverty. Still, its residents just participated in arguably their nation’s most successful national assembly elections. This weekend, they’ll turn out en masse to elect a president with hope and pride.

Now that I’ve returned to the world of technology, I’ve downloaded some pictures and video I shot during my week in Nigeria as an election observer with the Washington-based National Democratic Institute. I hope they give you a sense of the passion that millions of people beyond our own borders hold for the development for democracy in their lands.

Counting the votes: A video by Zev of ballots being tallied in Iolin, the capital of Kwara state.

Posted 4/14/11