Civil Society Will Save Us

It will be civil society that saves us.¹ Not elected representatives, not corporate leaders, not those in so-called positions of power. Civil society organizations represent the two things most lacking in the leadership of the opposition: community and courage.²

Civil society organizations can do what corporations cannot and what government officials will not. Law firms and universities are money making ventures first and foremost. Companies owe a duty to their shareholders. (I’m not saying this is the ideal social structure, but it is the one we live under.) Business leaders are competitively complicit when their finances are at stake (Bezos, Altman, Cook), if not actively leading the dismantling of our way of life (Musk). Government officials are failing spectacularly, either because of crippling weakness or outright surrender. There’s no use in waiting for “leaders” to step up.

Before the US election last fall, I wrote about the Democratic party’s failure to see Americans’ growing desire for authoritarianism. Now, the data is out confirming that fascism is exactly what half of Americans want:

John Burn-Murdoch from the Financial Times looked at data from the most recent World Values Survey and found that Republican voters in America have changed their outlook in recent years. They no longer want their country to be liberal. They want it to be illiberal:

Usually, analysis is done at national level, but by drilling down to different political parties in the latest raw data, I find that on everything from attitudes towards international co-operation, to appetite for an autocratic leadership style, through to trust in institutions and inward- vs outward-looking mindset, Trump’s America is a stark outlier from western Europe and the rest of the Anglosphere. In many cases, the Maga mindset is much closer to that of Vladimir Putin’s Russia or Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey.

Terrifying. But, more importantly: what now?! How to convince people that what they want isn't what they need? How to combat the desire for authoritarianism? And, more baldly, how does a democratic society negate the (misguided) will of half its people in order for the whole of democratic society to remain intact?

This is what civil society can do. Not the government, not business leaders, but the individuals and organizations that protect us when the ones ostensibly in charge can’t or won’t. The people you know and trust and who speak to you directly from within your own trusted circle. Civil society can work to convince the half of Americans that need convincing to want something besides authoritarianism, even those who think, mistakenly, they will be protected by this government.

Recently I spent time with a small group from an international human rights organization to hear about their project funding grassroots organizations in Syria at a crucial moment, namely, the end of the 14 year civil war that destroyed the country while the world focused on other things. (This war, as you know, began as part of the Arab Spring, and Bashir al-Assad, with the support of Putin and the inaction of the US, brutally suppressed his people’s peaceful protests and calls for freedom, dropping barrel bombs and chemical weapons on civilians, among other horrors.) The group I met with has worked with Syrian grassroots organizations throughout the war, when all such organizations were banned and participation risked death — an inspiring testament to what people can do in the worst possible circumstances. Now, at the war’s end, there is a small window of opportunity to strengthen civil society, to build peace, to rebuild a country.

Hearing about the courage and persistence of Syrian civil society brought home to me (at a time when it’s easy to forget) that individual action makes real change. When no one is coming to save you, it is in fact the only way to keep moving forward. Regular people, not the most powerful people, will put themselves on the line in the face of real danger to themselves and their families. Others, hearing these stories, become inspired and motivated to support those at risk, unified and dedicated to do more, simply because it is right, not because they will personally benefit. In other words: a community.

This is what’s keeping me going. It is a concrete path forward. No matter how chaotic and threatening things seem, there are steps to take and people to hold hope in. Assad’s once seeming invincibility and current exile also reminds me that no one is in power forever, no matter how powerful they seem right now.

Authoritarianism is not a new problem, even though it feels new to Americans.³ It is a problem with a solution, albeit a difficult, winding and sometimes dangerous one. The people who take on this problem are not necessarily the “leaders;” they are you, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, your in-laws, your teachers. Civil society. We can do this.

1. “Civil society is the collection of social organizations, formed voluntarily by citizens to advance shared goals or interests. This includes independent public policy research organizations, advocacy organizations, organizations that defend human rights and promote democracy, humanitarian organizations, private foundations and funds, charitable trusts, societies, associations and non-profit corporations. It does not include political parties.” (See the State Department website.)

2. Note to Chuck Schumer: I’m referring to the basic dictionary definition — mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger, or hardship, courage implies firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty.

3. Here is a constructive blueprint for civil society organizations to stand strong when democracy erodes around them from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.