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The 'Agora' Is Under Attack: Assessing the Closure Of IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE a think and do tank SP 49 STRATEGIC PAPER 49 PAPER STRATEGIC 2020 OCTOBER TheThe ‘Agora’‘Agora’ isis underunder attack:attack: Assessing the closure of civic space in Brazil and around the world IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 49 | OCTOBER 2020 Index Introduction .....................................2 Democratic backsliding .................3 The closure of civic space ...............4 Mapping threats ..............................5 The case of Brazil ..........................11 Fighting back .................................18 Endnotes ........................................20 References for Table 1 ...................25 Cover image: Presentation used by Joice Hasselmann (PSL-SP) at Fake News CPMI, https://noticias.uol.com.br/album/2019/12/04/ apresentacao-usada-por-joice-hasselmann-psl-sp-na-cpmi-das-fake-news.amp.htm?foto=1. IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 49 | OCTOBER 2020 TheThe ‘Agora’‘Agora’ isis underunder attack:attack: Assessing the closure of civic space in Brazil and around the world 1 THE ‘AGORA’ IS UNDER ATTACK: Assessing the closure of civic space in Brazil and around the world IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 49 | OCTOBER 2020 Ilona Szabó de Carvalho* But what, exactly, does the closure of civic space mean? What are its implications for democracy more generally? And most importantly, what can civil society groups do Introduction about it? Many countries are experiencing a dramatic closure of civic space. Populist and Civic space is an abstract social science authoritarian governments on the left and construct. It is described by Antoine Buyse as right are increasingly exerting influence over the layer between state, business and family artists, activists, journalists and scholars, in which citizens organize, debate and act.10 demonizing human rights and science, A healthy and open civic space implies that harassing and criminalizing political opponents, groups and individuals within civil society are and implementing repressive legislation to able to organize, participate and communicate chilling effect. In low, middle and upper- without hindrance or intimidation, and in doing income countries alike, a wide range of civil so, can claim their rights and influence the society groups fear for their own safety. Civic political and social structures around them. The institutions – from universities and think concept borrows from the traditional definitions tanks to front-line human rights organizations of civil society and of the public sphere, but it and independent and investigative media goes beyond.11 Civic space also accounts for groups – are reporting an uptick in threats the positive interactions between civil society and intimidation, especially from extremist and governments, which in representative politicians and their radical supporters. democracies tends to contribute to more informed and accountable decision-making. The perception that “civic space” is closing According to CIVICUS, three fundamental is now widely accepted by the international freedoms – of association, assembly and human rights community.1 Over the past expression – define the boundaries of civic decade, organizations such as the Carnegie space. Where these freedoms are infringed, Endowment for International Peace2, the civic space is constrained or contracted. Center for Strategic and International Studies3, CIVICUS4, and others have drawn attention Civil society organizations, including trade to the problem. Philanthropic groups have unions, faith-based organizations, indigenous issued multiple reports on the threats that networks, NGOs and think tanks, operate “civic space” and its actors face.5 New in the civic space alongside independent organizations devoted exclusively to monitoring media groups, universities and other types the phenomenon are emerging.6 Since 2013, of non-governmental entities.12 Civil society the United Nations Human Rights Council has organizations have a wide array of mandates launched a number of resolutions and a guide including, for example, providing knowledge on the importance of protecting and expanding and enhancing oversight over governments civic space.7 Although some commentators and, more recently, corporations and the believe that the term is too all-encompassing business community. Very generally, such to be analytically useful,8 there is a growing groups promote more accountability, body of research demonstrating the ways civil transparency and fair play. Efforts by states society is being “squeezed”.9 to curb or close such groups represent an assault on democratic rights and freedoms, guaranteed in the International Human Rights * Cofounder and President of the Igarape Institute. This research was initiated at a public policy fellowship at the Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies, of the Institute for Latin American Studies, at Columbia University in the City of New York. The author thanks Debora Leao, Giovanna Kuele, Iain Levine, João Gabriel Santana de Lima, Mariana Belalba, Melina Risso, Paul Lagunes, Renata Giannini, and Robert Muggah for their relevant inputs and critical feedback to the research. 2 THE ‘AGORA’ IS UNDER ATTACK: Assessing the closure of civic space in Brazil and around the world IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 49 | OCTOBER 2020 Charter and national constitutions in several essential, it is challenging in many settings countries, including in Brazil. These actions where governments are violently cracking- can also harm the design and implementation down on the freedoms of expression, of informed, inclusive and plural public policies association and assembly and are undermining and service provision, thus jeopardizing the the separation of powers, essential for the public good. republican checks and balances. Moreover, often when extralegal and illegal measures are This article presents a preliminary conceptual applied, there may be an absence of material framework to describe the closure of civic evidence to build a strong case. space. It combines a review of literature together with key informative interviews The closure of civic space not only threatens with leaders from the public, non-profit and human rights, it undermines democracy, business sectors. It offers a cursory test of the informed public policy, and the ability of framework in the context of Brazil – a country citizens to hold their governments accountable. that exited dictatorship in 1985 but that still While such dangers are present in many exhibits signs of authoritarianism, factors which societies, it is particularly worrisome in less have been aggravated since the election of mature democracies with weaker institutions President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018.13 – press, independent legislative and judiciary powers, and a strong civil society. In such cases, public institutions such as the police, prosecutors, judges may not be operating independently, and laws and decisions are Democratic applied selectively. These countries can have a diminished capacity to enforce the Democratic backsliding Rule of Law, in which laws are created by The closing of civic space is more easily the people and for the people, respecting the described than defined.14 This is not surprising dignity of the human person, and where all since many different types of entities and citizens can actively participate in the country’s 16 individuals are experiencing “closure” in political discussions. different ways. In some cases, they are affected by legal measures intended to It is not surprising, therefore, that, in parallel to constrain, disrupt or eliminate civic action. At the attacks on the civic space, we are seeing a the same time, civic groups can also suffer decline in democracies; in numbers, in integrity extralegal or illegal obstruction, including and also in quality. It is important to remember intimidation, coercion and outright violence. that democracy is not a new idea, dating back Legal, and extralegal or illegal strategies to the Greeks. However, its implementation, corrode the ability of civil society organizations, as we know today, is more recent, since the independent media and other types of 18th century, with the American Constitution associations to exert pressure and keep in 1787 - the first democratic constitution in 17 governments accountable and focused on the the world. In the span of two centuries (19th delivery of the public good.15 and 20th), democracy has spread from one to more than 100 countries. It has also suffered To date, most civic responses to government setbacks along the way and continues to attempts to “close” civic space have been face resistance today. However, it remains informed by human rights law. Lawyers have the best governance system to deliver growth helped civic groups to repeal repressive and enhance the public good in comparison legislation and appeal decisions in the courts. to known alternatives - be it the rule of kings, 18 While the application of human rights law is theocracies, dictatorships, or tribal authority. 3 THE ‘AGORA’ IS UNDER ATTACK: Assessing the closure of civic space in Brazil and around the world IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 49 | OCTOBER 2020 Samuel Huntington popularized the idea that space. The fact is that in Brazil there are democracy developed in different waves and daily attacks on rights and freedoms that are described the three main ones.19 Francis essential for the full exercise of democracy and Fukuyama foresaw in his 1989 article “the that are guaranteed in the Brazilian Federal End of History” the fourth
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