ACTIVIZENSHIP DEMOCRACY3 UNDER STRESS/REBUILDING TRUST/RIGHTS FOR ALL ACTIVIZENSHIP ACTIVIZENSHIP DEMOCRACY3 UNDER STRESS/REBUILDING TRUST/RIGHTS FOR ALL CONTENTS
8 DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY UNDER THREAT CIVIL SOCIETY CHALLENGES AND ACTUAL STRATEGIES IN EASTERN EUROPE
10 UNDERSTANDING CIVIL SOCIETY’S STRUCTURAL CHALLENGES IN THE VISEGRÁD REGION TO BUILD TRUST THE POLISH CASE Filip Pazderski 16 RAISING THE PROFILE OF INDEPENDENT CIVIL SOCIETY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA A COALITION-BUILDING EXPERIENCE Dorota Setniewska 18 FRAGILITY AND RESILIENCE OF CIVIC SECTORS IN TROUBLED WATERS A CZECH REPUBLIC INSIGHT Jolana Turnerova and Ryan Turner 22 BACK TO THE ROOTS TO RESIST BACKSLIDINGS IN DEMOCRACY AND ATTACKS TO CIVIL LIBERTIES A WAKE UP CALL FROM HUNGARY Interview with Veronika Móra 28 THE MOST DREADED NARRATIVE KEEPING CIVIL SOCIETY BUSY A CRITIC-FREE GOVERNMENT IN ROMANIA Andrei Pop 31 UNPACKING THE LIMITS OF THE ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS IN ROMANIA FROM CONTESTATION TO A NEW CONSTELLATION Florin Poenaru 36 FROM “ONE-ISSUE MOVEMENT” TO “HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL” NARRATIVES AND MOBILISATIONS THE CASE OF THE POLISH WOMEN’S STRIKE Interview with Marta Lempart CONTENTS
40 INCREASING PRESSURE VS GROWING RESISTANCE ABOUT SHRINKING AND SHIFTING CIVIC SPACE
42 MAPPING PERCEPTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS IN EUROPE THE CIVIC SPACE IS SHRINKING ALSO IN WESTERN DEMOCRACIES Carlotta Besozzi 46 WHAT LIES BEHIND THE CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY? SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES IN GERMANY AND BEYOND Interview with Rupert Graf Strachwitz 52 SOLIDARITY AS A DUTY, NOT A CRIME IN ITALY, THE BEST ANSWER TO CRIMINALISATION IS TO DISOBEY Interview with Francesco Martone 60 BUILDING TRUST BETWEEN NGOS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES ANTI-FRACKING EXPERIENCE IN LANCASHIRE Interview with Jamie Peters
64 RE-THINKING LEGITIMACY IN TIMES OF TROUBLE FRAMING THE TERMS OF THE DEBATE
66 CIVIL SOCIETY LEGITIMACY IN QUESTION DEFAMATION PATTERNS AND RESPONSE STRATEGIES Saskia Brechenmacher 70 DELEGITIMATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS LESSONS FROM THE GLOBAL SOUTH ON “FOREIGN AGENT” NARRATIVES Jonas Wolff 74 RESPONDING TO THE “FOREIGN AGENT” CHALLENGES IN HUNGARY A STORYTELLING CAMPAIGN Stefánia Kapronczay and Anna Kertész 76 CIVIL SOCIETY ACCOUNTABILITY IN TIMES OF DECLINING TRUST CIVICUS’S JOURNEY Tamryn-Lee Fourie and Merle Rutz
ACTI3VIZENSHIP
Edito by the European Civic Forum team
he present issue of “Activizenship” is democracy and civil liberties” and “shrink- dealing with negative trends inside our ing socio-economic rights”, with people being European societies. treated as slaves of the socio-economic system. Today, many citizens are question- To date, democracy proved to be the “worst Ting the value of Democracy as decision mak- system except for all the others”. Therefore, ing processes do not meet their expectations. its significant failure to deliver more equality Yet, the low electoral turnout in many coun- in access to fundamental rights for many has tries, as well as the downward trend in others, to be answered by more democracy and not had been a recurrent early warning of citizens’ less. In the same way, denying access to rights disaffection with decision-makers over the last to some does not ensure enjoyment of rights decades. by the many. Far right regressive populists and, more re- Now, expecting people to adhere to democra- cently, a radicalising right, have been surfing cy only because they see the dead-end of illib- these negative feelings. They claim that their eral democracy is just insane. There is a need political offers provide “The” answer to a de- for effective policies to reduce inequalities that mocracy that is not delivering. They tend to globalisation has increased. In other terms, combine small social benefits with strong ad- there is a need to demonstrate that democra- verse policies towards migrants and foreign- cy is delivering social cohesion through wealth ers and shrinking spaces for media freedom, sharing, if we want democracy to survive the judiciary independence and civil liberties more present attacks. And it’s not sure that main- generally. stream political parties have so far understood Scholars who study the raise of “illiberal de- the issue at stake, as the historical experience mocracy” have outlined the links between na- shows they are more able to analyse disasters tivist and exclusionary ideology, authoritarian after they happened than anticipating them. politics and capitalist economy. Against this gloomy picture, in this issue of The recent decision of the Hungarian “Activizenship” we present actual elements Government and Parliament to pass a law al- which feed optimism for getting out of the lowing enterprises to impose up to 400 hours downward trends. overtime a year and pay for them in a lag time In many circumstances, civic organisations of three years is a case in point. It illustrates find themselves at the forefront of the resist- the very short distance between “shrinking ance to these measures, as they act towards a Edito by the European Civic Forum team
better functioning of democracy and the de- Furthermore, powerful civic mobilisations are fence of Human rights, and the delivery of ser- gaining successes. Mobilisations for women vices that insure an effective access to those rights, for equality and against violence, have rights for all (housing, education, healthcare, gained pace and are expanding the debate to food…). the need for an inclusive society based on dem- Across Europe governments increasingly di- ocratic processes. The recent demands from vide civil society between “good” and “bad” the far-right Vox in Spain recall to all of us the or distinguish between “political” and “a-po- centrality of this issue, nothing being taken for litical”. In spite of numerous attempts to re- granted. frain citizens from stepping into the realm of Mobilisations for sustainable development topics they consider should be left to political contribute to rethinking production, markets parties and/or technocratic expertise, recent and access to rights in our societies, in oppo- opinion polls show that organised civil society sition to the present model that is feeding fear. benefits of higher level of trust in comparison This is a virtuous circle for the revival of a de- with other actors in most European countries. mocracy that delivers. The successes and fail- Obviously, the landscape is neither homoge- ures of civic mobilisations recall how rights are neous nor static. Civil society’s capacities and interconnected and how each setback or ad- structures are crucially linked to the histori- vancement on one category of rights always cal path each culture and society went through affects their universality. and, even within the same cultural space, civ- We hope reading through this magazine will il society is animated by entities that are sig- bring relevant elements for our readers to en- nificantly different in structures and modus courage, motivate and strengthen their civic operandi. engagement and action! But the basis for a positive turn is there. Civil society is undergoing a transformation glob- ally and new ways for citizens to associate are emerging alongside traditional ones. Civil so- ciety is also expanding its scope, widening its public audience and constituencies, fighting back to reclaim its usual spaces and conquer new ones. 1 DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY UNDER THREAT CIVIL SOCIETY CHALLENGES AND ACTUAL STRATEGIES IN EASTERN EUROPE acing shrinking space for democracy and hateful smear Fcampaigns spreading in a domino effect across Central and Eastern Europe, civil society in the region is confronted with long-standing weaknesses as well as new, emerging challenges for its action. What are the threats faced? What options and 9 strategies are available to fight back? What are the prospects towards an effective democratisation in the region? UNDERSTANDING CIVIL SOCIETY’S STRUCTURAL CHALLENGES IN THE VISEGRÁD REGION TO BUILD TRUST THE POLISH CASE
Filip Pazderski 10
After 1989, civil society sector his situation has to be sorted out, be- cause at this moment really a lot of professionalised in service delivery Tmoney is spent on the functioning of various social organisations or NGOs. and started partnering with public (…) Only that it often turns out that these authorities, but stayed quite weakly are foundations that were subordinated to the politicians of the previous ruling sys- rooted in local communities, which tem” said Polish prime minister, Beata Szydło, in November 20161 makes them now vulnerable to hostile Her statement followed a one-month- campaigns. long smear campaign in public media attacking selected organisations claim- ing they misuse public funds and are al- lies of opposition parties. In this way, organised civil society was undermined and thrown in the middle of heated political disputes. Similar events are known from other countries in Central Eastern Europe.
1 Tygodnik Solidarność.Sytuacja z fundacjami musi zostać uporządkowana. Wywiad z Premier Beatą Szydło. Solidarity Weekly. 2016.
ACTIVIZENSHIP #3 a result, it did not build any models of action, especially the patterns of polit- ical activity. The martial law pronounced in the first half of 1980s brutally stopped this so- called “carnival of Solidarity”. People were discouraged to take part in public life, so they retreated Why did the civil sector, which in prin- into private life ciple was supposed to function outside creating a “socio- party politics, in the area between the logical vacuum”: a Broad segments of the authorities and citizens, find itself in strong identifica- general public had no this situation? What are the causes of tion with primary real grasp of what civil were redirected to such the sector structural weaknesses? And, groups (like family society is about, what political project called is there hope for the civic sector in this and closest friends) ‘civil society’, aiming part of Europe? and the Polish na- are its roles and to establish the civil tion with low or no functions and why society organisations ROOTS OF ORGANISED CIVIL identification with NGOs are important independent and SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IN THE intermediary bod- self-sufficient. REGION ies2. This public atti- for democracy Similar processes While speaking about the beginnings of tude did not change took place in all Visegrád countries with the civil society in the region, we can- with the creation of some local characteristics. However, not avoid mentioning the links with the new state, and when the negotia- differently from Poland, in other coun- the anti-communist opposition. I will tions on the political system change tries, the anti-communist opposition focus on the situation in the country started between representatives of the was mainly led by intellectuals and ex- 11 that I know the best – Poland. Here, the opposition and the ruling communist perts, and they lacked the experience of “Solidarity” mass movement of the ear- party and first (partially) free elections a mass social movement similar to the ly 1980s is often presented as the ideal were organised, the participation was Polish “Solidarity”. emanation of civil society and igniter not as massive as the early “Solidarity” for the events that culminated in the movement. Direct participation was ten STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS OF socio-political transformation that be- times smaller - there were 1 to 1,5 mil- CIVIC SECTOR DEVELOPMENT gan in 1989. However, part of our prob- lion members of Civic Committees that IN 1990S AND 2000S lems right now might be due to the fact were created out of the “Solidarity” at After 1989, the model for the devel- that the experience of early “Solidarity” the very end of 1980s3. opment of the CSO sector was based was not taken as the basis for changes While civil society emerged during the on the Western patterns and came in introduced in Poland in the 1990s. As anti-communist opposition after 1956 a package with “extensive financing and and developed into the “Solidarity” know-how provided by the western, mainly movement of 1980-1981, its final form North American rich foundations, such as was shaped after 1989 by solutions Ford Foundation or Rockefeller Brothers’ brought to Poland from abroad. Funds Foundation”4. The aim was to establish 2 Nowak, Stefan. System wartości civil society organisations profession- społeczeństwa polskiego, Studia Socjologiczne, alised in service delivery and partner 4/1979, pp. 155–173. 3 Pazderski, F. (2018a), “Open society in to public authorities. Creating such in- Poland in the grip of authoritarian populism – termediary entities, acting between the a project under construction?” OSEPI/d|part/ IPA. 4 Makowski G. An ‘empty shell’. The condition of Polish civil society in the light of available research and quantitative analyses”, Warsaw: Instytut Spraw Publicznych, Warsaw [an electronic, unpublished document possessed by the author]. 2012a. p.45.
1. DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY UNDER THREAT authorities and the society, was in line with neo-liberal ideology that under- lined the reforms introduced in Poland since the beginning of 1990s. In this phase of development, the “state would not intervene in the situation of the third sector, leaving it mostly to itself”5. In this analysis, I will not delve into the dilemma of whether this was the only (operating already according to the possible solution considering the so- model adopted to Poland from the cio-economic situation in the region. West). At this stage, until the first half THE AUTHOR However, we may observe that in these of 1990s the number of such civil soci- Filip Pazderski is a countries, there were already some in- ety organisations grew up significantly policy analyst and project itial grass-rooted local civic initiatives in Poland. But after this initial carni- manager in the Civil Society that grew out of the anti-communist val of civic engagement and exercise of and Democracy Program opposition. But often these groups fell freedom, the development of the civ- of the Institute of Public apart at the beginning of the 1990s with ic sector started losing its energy by Affairs. After graduating at the University of Warsaw, the social energy standing behind them. the end of the 1990s, proportionally to he has also obtained a In Poland, we had the so-called “Civic weakening foreign funding. In the same European Master’s Degree Committees”: they were a continuation time, due to some social dynamics (so- Program in Human Rights of the ‘Solidarity’ movement and they ciety focusing extremely on individu- and Democratization in played an important role in the elec- al advancement and market economy), Venice. Currently, he is tions of the 4th of June, 1989. They could CSOs getting more focused on coop- concluding his PhD at the have constituted good background for erating with public authorities and Institute of Sociology and being reshaped into local version of civ- increasing general social discourage- Philosophy of the Polish 12 il society organisations. But it did not ment for politics, those already exist- Academy of Science. He happen6. ing CSOs become estranged from their is one of the co-founders The breakup of the Civic Committees social milieus8. and president of the was connected to the political dis- A new opening for the civil sector came Association for the Podlasie putes that started between former al- with the beginning of the 21st century. Land DRUMLA. lies from the “Solidarity” movement By this point, it became quite clear that as well as to normal processes of an the countries in the region would final- emerging open society, where people ly enter the European Union. As a re- were choosing different career paths sult, American donors were gradually for themselves7. People leaving these stepping back from supporting Central- amount of funding. The EU-accession “Civic Committees” were moving to Eastern Europe financially. While realis- procedures also “forced the decision- national or local politics, or they were ing that, the civil society representatives makers to get acknowledged with the mat- establishing civil society organisations started working out new, more sustain- ter of civil society and the problems of the able means for the financial existence of third sector”9 perceived as a useful part- 5 Gliński P. Sektor obywatelski w słabej the sector. Firstly, hope was put in the ner. In such circumstances, for exam- demokracji. Deniszczuk M., Supińska J. (eds.), Warsaw: Stowarzyszenie Studiów i upcoming European funds, but it soon ple, in April 2003, the new Law on the Inicjatyw Społecznych. 2003. became clear they were not as sizeable Public Benefit Activity and Voluntary 6 Moreover, there was also a significant number of different state-led civil society as American funding. Secondly, there Work was adopted in Poland, becom- organisations, representing various interest were endeavours carried out to estab- ing a milestone regulating the relation- groups, which have flourished under the communist regime. Many of these entities lish stable relationships and coopera- ship between the public administration stayed operating after the socio-political tion with the public sector, perceived as and CSOs, especially at the level of lo- transformation. See: Ekiert and Kubik, J, Civil a reliable partner and a source of a large cal government. The Act also provided Society in Post-communist Europe. Poland in a Comparative Perspective, 2017:1-43, for another important source of CSOs Berghahn Books, New York/Oxford. 8 Juros, Andrzey, et al. From Solidarity to funding – allocation of a part of income 7 Osiatyński, W. Rzeczpospolita obywateli, Subsidiarity: the Nonprofit Sector in Poland. 2004:130-134,Warsaw: Rosner i Wspólnicy. VS Verl. für Sozialwiss. 9 See Makowski G. note 4 above. p. 5.
ACTIVIZENSHIP #3 government significantly decreased public dialogue with CSOs. Some civ- il dialogue bodies were dissolved, and the legislative process rarely included public consultations. At the same time, central authorities carried out various procedural irregularities in the grant- ing of public funds. Several calls were CSOs are primarily seen through the suspended or cancelled without expla- prism of large foundations that con- nation. In a growing number of grant duct large public fundraising campaigns competitions organised by various tax paid by each citizen (the so-called and are the most present in the media. ministries, organi- 1% tax mechanism). This factor creates a mis- sations with little All these may be taken as a sign of pos- leading picture that or no relevant ex- itive change, opening up new possibili- most organisations The EU-accession perience won over ties for the CSOs to flourish. However, are responsible for the also applicants with this model resulted in drawbacks that collection and manage- procedures extensive rele- 14 created the fertile soil for recent events. ment of large sums of “forced the vant experience . Comparative research implemented in money without trans- This negative at- 7 countries of Central-Eastern Europe parent control over their decision-makers titude of the (CEE) under the project „Have our spending12. Moreover, to get acknowledged government to- dreams came true?”10 shows that CSOs some people are reluc- with the matter of civil wards CSOs has are weakly rooted in the local commu- tant to become engaged society and heightened con- nities for whose benefit they are sup- in the CSOs activities due cerns regarding posed to work. This is linked to the to the tight bureaucrat- the problems of future access 13 loss of contact with their social con- ic requirements (as de- the third sector” to public funds stituencies. One reason is the fact that clared 80% of respondents and empha- the CSOs’ leaders admitted that they involved in informal social sised the importance of diversifi- prefer working with the authorities, activities) and burden of the financial cation of sources of funding for CSOs. talking to them about new policies or obligations (declared by 73% of infor- At the end of 2