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When COVID-19 emerged exactly one year ago, liberal democracy was in crisis. For the first time since 2001, there were more autocracies than the democracies of the world. Right-wing populists were gaining ground.
Furthermore, the standard of universal and inalienable human rights was under pressure from the governments of China, Russia and even the United States under President Donald Trump. the repression of civil society and threats to the rule of law, a free press and human rights continued unabated in many countries. And some democratically elected leaders (such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) had set out to dismantle liberal democracy from within, a trend some have called the third wave of autocratization.
But the anti-democratic wave faced a contrary trend. In 2019, more people in more countries than ever voiced their dissent protesting. The governments of Algeria, Bolivia, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan were forced to resign. In Chile and France, governments were pressured to reverse controversial legislation.
Then the pandemic broke out, engulfing the world in a public health crisis and an unprecedented economic contraction. For a brief period, the protest movements that marked 2019 came to a halt.
But despite how historic and unique its impact on the world has been, for many people the pandemic is just one more crisis among many; with unresolved grievances, dissent soon resumed. Initially, there was an increase in creative ways to protest without having to meet in person. From online hashtag activism to placing shoes in public places To represent the homebound masses, people found ways to express their disagreement without risking spreading the virus.
And then old and new protest movements began to take to the streets again. George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis in May sparked weeks of mass demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism, not just across the United States, but also in more than 60 countries around the world. In Hong Kong, people continue to fight for democracy. Chile held a referendum to adopt a new constitution after months of public protest. Around the world, from Belarus to Thailand to India, peaceful protests continued to erupt in 2020.
With equal determination, governments in many places have sought to suppress dissent, using the pandemic as a pretext to roll back democratic gains, repress critics and opponents, erode human rights norms, and repress civil society. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has counted postponed elections in 69 countriesand the civic freedom tracker COVID-19 records 130 countries have restrictions on the right of assembly, while 50 countries have measures that affect freedom of expression.
Of course, human rights organizations and official organizations recognize that some restrictions on rights and freedoms may be a legitimate government response to a public health crisis. But contact tracing technology or emergency power legislation should have sunset clauses, automatically limiting the time and scope of its validity. And the social distancing measures that limit the right to assembly, whether of protest or worship, must be necessary, temporary and proportionate, as well as non-discriminatory. Governments must recognize the intersection of these rights and make a transparent and good faith effort to strike a well-reasoned balance between them.
However, in many cases, efforts to stop the spread of disinformation (Hungary is a prime example) have also stopped people’s ability to express legitimate criticism of government responses to the health crisis (because they are imprisoned based on emergency legislation related to a pandemic). In 28 countries, websites were blocked or users and platforms were forced to remove content deemed critical or unfavorable. In at least 13 countries, internet and / or phone services have been shut down since January 2020, leaving people largely without access to life-saving services and information during the pandemic.
Where governments seek to use social distancing laws, curfews, and track-and-trace technology to harass, detain or punish activists and critics, we need peaceful protests more than ever. That is why the wave of global protest movements continues to rise, and why these movements, which skew the young, the feminine and the intersectional, are learning, encouraging and mobilizing in solidarity with one another.
Democracy is more than elections and institutions. It is a continuous process of renegotiation of power and its distribution. It also turns out to be the best possible way to achieve a post-pandemic world that is more equitable for all. Today, it is under severe pressure, in part because, for many people, existing liberal democracies have failed to deliver on the promise of guaranteeing the rights to which we are all entitled. But the global protests attest to a fundamental understanding shared by the participants: the best answer to the shortcomings of democracy is to “make” more democracy.
Editor’s Note: Lara Wodtke is Director of the International Democracy Program at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Reporter.
Contributed by Lara wodtke
