collaborated with us . We have already accustomed to the participation of Dr . Robert Cavalier , Director of the Program on Deliberative Democracy at the Carnegie Mellon University . He insisted on the points needed to climb the ladder of the democratic process and brought examples of how such a process unfolds in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , where the vision of citizens and the professional expertise are combined with emphasis on achieving a well-structured environment of discussion and exact background information . The participants had the opportunity to reflect and to promote respect and tolerance to other opinions . Thus , they are forging a laudable civic culture in the pursue of consensus . Another great satisfaction was the addition of two new speakers . Valeriano Ramos , Director of Strategic and Official Partnership Equity at EveryDay Democracy , exemplified with the organization and efforts for involving the communities in the process of democratic deliberation and in the actions for change , because practical result should come out after the dialogue . And the Czech Ambassador Martin Palous , Director of the Vaclav Havel Initiative at Florida International University , shared the invaluable historical experiences in the former Czechoslovakia to emphasize the importance of deliberation before and after the transition to democracy . In the Cuban panel , the National Coordinator of the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration , Juan Antonio Madrazo , talked about how deliberative democracy serves as a tool for generating the plural participation of the citizens and has become an attractive concept for cordially returning to the political activism . Manuel Cuesta Morúa emphasized how the consensus practice is needed among Cubans in the pursue of a new model . Consensus is actually a mechanism for working for democracy and leads to a common ground that allows to identify the right rules of game and coexistence . In order to illustrate how it works in Cuba , he stated that so began the creation of the MICs across the whole country and the process has been moving forward with more citizens taking part in the debates on the constitution and the legislation . In such a way , the civic culture is taking shape along with perhaps the essential virtue that should be enhanced : the tolerance within the diversity of the citizenship . Apart from the activities carried out in Cuba and as a keystone for continuing the process , Manuel Cuesta Morúa , Sander Alvarez , and Juan Antonio Alvarado held several meetings in Pittsburgh from September 22 to 24 , 2015 , with Dr . Robert Cavalier and Dr . Kenya Dworkin , from the Program of Deliberative Democracy in Pittsburgh , as well as with Will Friedman and Matt Leighninger , from Public Agenda , in order to precise how both prestigious institutions could collaborate with the work in Cuba . At the end of our work sessions in September , Dr . Cavalier said : " This has been an incredible process that lasted several years . It is amazing to see how it has been growing , deepening , widening … The implementation is on track .” Leighninger concluded : " It is a privilege for me to be here today . I greatly admire your courage by doing this work under very difficult and frightening circumstances . I really have not had many opportunities to meet and work with people like you .” The essential concept for this type of dialogue , which otherwise could be called elegant conversation , is Deliberative Democracy : permanent spaces for the citizens regardless of class , race or gender , to propose different ideas for change , with neither political middlemen nor pressure groups , and to share different views for enriching and strengthening the ideas
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