The Negative Impact of Polarization on Democracy

              This post is a summary of the book with the title above published in 2021 at https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/wien/18175.pdf

               An analysis of the last 30 years of democracy research leads to the conclusion that this period was very turbulent. It began with the triumph of liberal democracy as a form of the government and ended with the widespread thesis of a democratic recession, for which there are many indications: from the unprecedented rise of right-wing populism through the declining confidence of citizens in democratic institutions to the restriction of political and civil rights. What, however, makes the aforementioned dynamics troublesome is the fact that it affects both the "new" the "old" democracies. The political development in them have shown that political polarization, which is defined as the ideological distance between opposing political camps, is a crucial part of this disturbing trend. The technological facilitator of this development is the rise of social media. They have significantly facilitated the interaction between like-minded individuals in a bubble. In this context, however, it must be emphasized that not every form of polarization is harmful to democratic processes. A certain degree of polarization is not only normal, but also desirable, because it offers voters clear programmatic alternatives, which increases the interest in politics. A healthy polarization leads to more political debate and promotes political participation. To put it in simple terms, "democracy requires conflict, but not too much". The danger to democracy derives from a political dynamic in which a healthy polarization is transformed into a toxic one. Jennifer McCoy define this kind of polarization as "a process whereby the normal multiplicity of differences in the society increasingly align along a single dimension, differences become reinforcing, and people perceive and describe politics and society in terms of "us" versus "them". This type of polarization weaken respect for democratic norms, corrodes legislative processes, undermines the nonpartisan stature of the judiciary, fuels public disaffection with political parties, exacerbates intolerance and discrimination, diminishes societal trust, and increases violence throughout society. How the growing salience of identity politics in party competition will affect the democratic system depends on the attitudes and discourse of the leading politicians. The existence of identity issues in party competition does not automatically lead to toxic polarization. This depends on whether the politicians see the identity conflict as an opportunity to promote polarization for their own interests, so they can mobilize their own voters more successfully and weaken their opponents by portraying them as a threat. The key politicians represent different narratives that are mutually exclusive and thus non-negotiable. In this case one can not talk about the usual conflict between different policies, but rather between different world views. Political competition that is characterized by such a cleavage is dominated by a series of zero-sum conflicts, which are regarded as existential and have a winner-take-all logic. Once political elites and their followers no longer believe that opponents are legitimate and deserve equal respect, they become less likely to adhere to democratic rules. A brutalization of words leads to a brutalization of deeds. And once such resentments have been mobilized, they are difficult to control. As for the citizens level, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have argued in their bestselling book, "How Democracies Die", that since 1970s, democracies have rarely disappeared through armed coups, but have eroded more slowly through the subversion of elected officials. It is therefore of enormous importance that citizens curb the authoritarian ambitions of elected politicians. This precondition for the longevity of democracy does not exist in a political system characterized by toxic polarization. What we can observe is that due to tribalism, one characteristic of toxic polarization, a democracy of citizens has been replaced by a democracy of fans, which knows only loyalty and equates critical thinking with betrayal. Milan Svolik's study in which he reviewed several countries such as Turkey, Venezuela, and the USA, found that in such systems voters are prepared to trade off democratic principles for partisan interests. "When punishing a leader's authoritarian tendencies requires voting for a platform, party, or person that his supporters detest, many will find this too high a price to pay. Polarization thus presents aspiring authoritarians with a structural opportunity". Partisanship beats democratic standards. Many of them are dissatisfied with the way democracy is working. The negative consequences of polarization: institutional inefficiency, instability, political stalemate, paralysis, and reform backlog, have contributed that democracy is not capable of solving society's problems. Toxic polarization thus poses a serious threat to democracy. Some issues are more polarizing than others. Some politicians focus more on the common good while others act as political entrepreneurs and prioritize particular interests. But when the political system has fully embraced friend/enemy distinction, new approaches are needed to facilitate cross-party relations. Society, therefore, need new ways to counteract polarization. One solution, is to strengthen the deliberative component of democracy. In this sense, citizens' assemblies would be one option. These are groups of people, who meet over several weeks or months to discuss a specific topic. This participatory variant is being practiced for a long time limited to local and regional projects. Only recently citizens' assemblies have began to discuss issues of national relevance as well: from citizens assemblies in France and U.K. discussing climate change to the Irish assemblies, which generated two referenda, on same-sex marriage and on abortion that for a long time were regarded as too divisive. The experiences of citizens' assemblies that led to success show that 5 methodological criteria must be met for a citizens' assembly to be successful: 1) the deliberative model has to effectively inject into the political project. 2) to avoid the danger of manipulation, impartial actors (e.g. NGOs) should form the organizing committees. 3) Citizens' assemblies should  not be seen as a substitute for politicians, parties or institutions, but complement it. 4) politicians must take citizens' assemblies seriously. 5) the debate in the context of a citizens' assembly should be accompanied by the media and thus be made accessible to many more people than just the participants.  Many democracies around the world have been plagued by toxic polarization, thus increasing the potential danger to democracy. To ensure its longevity, new approaches must be found to minimize the danger. Citizens' assemblies could be one of them.

10th Anniversary of the Protests of June 2013

                                                 This month of June one of the biggest protests in Brazil history completes ten years. The reason why this protest is so much studied with many publications  and others are not, it was its character totally spontaneous, unexpected, democratic and non-partisan. We all in Brazil watched on TV and internet millions went to the streets to protest against corruption, injustice, violence, bad use of public money, etc. Hundreds of protesters wearing Guy Fawkes mask. Thousands of protesters with posters asking for more investment in education, political participation and inclusion, and governmental transparency and accountability. In my opinion, it was one of the most important and meaningful moments of the Brazilian history and a powerful demonstration of solidarity, empathy, independence, and political commitment of its people. Those protests called by some as "June Revolution," and by others as "June Journeys" must be always remembered. And it is good also to remember what the protesters were asking for and what has changed after so many years. If you want to read more about those protests, access the posts of this blog during the month of June, I have been doing summaries about it since 2017. This post is a summary of the introduction of the book, "Media and the Image of the Nation During Brazil's 2013 Protests." published in 2020 at https://download.e-bookshelf.de/download/0013/4112/35/L-G-0013411235-0043015184.pdf

              Nobody saw them coming. In hindsight, many reasons have been given, including the state of the economy, a pursuit of justice, a representational crisis in the national political system and media, the development of new communication technologies, the birth of a different kind of social movements and even a fascist conspiracy. However, in every conversation I have had ever since, those who witnessed the series of protests that stormed Brazil in June 2013 told me that they were surprised. National and foreign news media reported that Brazilians were protesting against the amount of money spent on sporting mega-events, to the detriment  of health, education and public transportation. Some demonstrators carried banners with slogans in English such as 'We don't need the World Cup' or 'We need money for hospitals and education'.  The June 2013 demonstrations amounted to the one of largest unrest in Brazil. 20 June alone saw more than one million people protesting in 353 cities. Local and international academics, journalists and pundits were puzzled by the sheer magnitude and potential implications of the protests. The violence of the military police against protesters and journalists proved to be a turning point. The general public became more supportive of the demonstrations, with a survey published at the time claiming that 55% of São Paulo inhabitants were in favour of the protests. Furthermore, Brazilians newspapers and TV stations, which had originally condemned the protests, became more sympathetic towards them. Simultaneously, in Brasilia, the non-partisan Popular Committee for the World Cup called for a protest outside the national stadium in Brasilia, to coincide with the inaugural match of the Confederations Cup on 15 June. 500 participants took part in that demonstration, but they put into the spotlight the disenchantment of many Brazilians with the astronomic costs of organising sporting mega-events. When on 17 June the protests returned to São Paulo, they were not only about public transportation fares. Participants' demands grew, including, infrastructure costs for the World Cup and Olympic Games, health and education deficiencies, and corruption among the political class. A whole array of non-partisan organisations took part and many demonstrators emphasised that they did not belong to political parties, to the point of expelling those carrying parties' banners or flags. With the intensification of protests in mid-June, authorities all over Brazil agreed to freeze or reduce public transportation fares. As a consequence, on 21 June the MPL (Movimento Passe Livre) stopped calling for more mobilisations. The demonstrations however continued, with polls estimating that eight out of ten Brazilians were in favour, and became practically a daily event, especially in cities hosting the matches of the Confederations Cup, such as BH, Fortaleza, Brasilia and RJ.  Although protests continued throughout the year, they significantly decreased with the end of the Confederations Cup on 30June 2013. By then, more than thirteen hundred people had been arrested, six had died, and hundreds had been injured. The June Journeys are the standard against which subsequent outbreaks of socialm unrest in Brazil have been measured. They have been celebrated as a positively exceptional moment for democracy. Analyses in their aftermath largely looked at them favourably, stressing that the protests had been the manifestation of a politically engaged people standing up to the abuses of the elites. Governments spent hefty sums of money on extravagant events, such as the World Cup and Olympic Games, hoping these events will paint a favourable picture of the nation. A good image is thus seen as a necessity to successfully entice tourists, attract investment, increase exports and consolidate political aspirations. Activists and sometimes journalists contest in turn these portrayals, seeking to convince domestic and distant audiences that the real nation is different from the one depicted by authorities. One of the main arguments of this book is that the disruption caused by the June Journeys to the authorities efforts to construct a specific image of Brazil sheds light on the tensions over the mediated construction and maintenance of the nation. The June Journeys are thus an example of the rapidly shifting nature of nationhood in a digital, transnational and increasingly hard to control media environment. The relative, albeit never completely settled, monopoly enjoyed by states and the national media on communicating the nation as a homogeneous whole has been disrupted. Multinational corporations, ranking agencies, NGOs, social movements and activists, all located both within and outside national boundaries, seek nowadays to push in and through the media the idea of the nation to advance it. At the same time, nations are increasingly communicated as economic units, and even promoted as brands. 

Inclusive Political Participation and Representation

                         Everybody around the world seem to understand that for a better democracy and a more productive and effecient political system, we need more political inclusion. And to achieve this, we need more political activists becoming candidates. We need more candidates with a real chance to win becoming politicians, candidates with a long history of an online and offline activism for democracy, human rights and justice, candidates with a wide coalition of support. Now, more than ever we need candidates speaking about the benefits of political inclusion. More than ever we need politicians and candidates not afraid of competition. More than ever we need to recognize and to respect movements happenning around the world for political inclusion, justice, democracy and human rights.  This post is a summary of the book with the title above published at https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/inclusive-political-participation-and-representation.pdf

                   Participation and representation are two fundamental elements and principles of democracy. They affirm that a democracy is dependent on its citizens and that this ownership is expressed through meaningful participation by and representation of all citizens in democratic institutions and processes. The goal of any undertaking in this field is clear: to assist political institutions to become more responsive, responsible and representative. Responsiveness means that governments are able to react to the demands and needs of society at large, and that they are ready to openly and transparently interact with a variety of actors, including civil society. Responsibility means that governments can be held accountable by citizens. Representativeness means that governments work on institutionalizing political life and public political participation through legitimate institutions. Support participation and representation today, however, remains a challenge. Some citizens, in all countries irrespective of their stage of democratic development, have come to mistrust their institutions. Inequality of opportunity persists worldwide. Democracy is not only about the right to vote, it is also about the right to be elected. In some cases, access to political institutions is not available or even feasible because the frameworks or modalities for inclusive citizen involvement and engagement are not being implemented or are simply not in place. It is in this context that promoting inclusive political representation remains priorities for international organizations. Key provisions have been made in the relevant charters and declarations of regional organizations to protect and promote diversity in the region. In the Pacific, the Declaration of the Pacific Islands Forum, which outlines the guiding principles of good governance and courses of action, commits its member states to: 'belief in the liberty of individuals under the law, in equal rights for all citizens and to upholding democratic processes and institutions which reflect national and local circumstances, including the peaceful transfer of power'. In the article 2 of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation provides that member states shall: 'ensure that disadvantaged and vulnerable persons or groups are included in social development and promote respect and protection of human rights for all, promote the effective exercise of rights, promote social integration and strengthen civil society. The Organization of American States (OAS) is the principal political regional forum for the Americas for facilitating international cooperation among its member states to promote democracy, human rights, and the advancement of sustainable and inclusive development. The OAS should try to strengthen the collaboration between Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the member states. Regional organizations should strive for broad and inclusive participation by CSOs in their meetings to ensure both the availability of technical expertise and comprehensive analysis of the topics at hand. With a database of nearly 5,000 CSOs, divided by thematic area in order to deliver better-targeted message to CSO specialists in the subject matter of a given meeting. An effective communications strategy is an essential part of facilitating inclusive political participation in the policy-making process. Such strategy should be proactive in order to deliver relevant, meaningful information in real time to CSOs. There is a high level of interest among non-governmental actors in assuming a greater and more active role in the policy-making process. The dialogue between OAS member states and civil society helps to build alliances and consensus around common action agendas, which is an essential dimension of democratic governance.  Through greater integration of CSOs in thematic networks and expanded outreach efforts, civil society representatives have developed a greater awareness of political process and the opportunities for their participation. Building on the strong foundation that has been established will require a long-term commitment from all parties involved, and the OAS is dedicated to continuing its efforts to ensure growing political participation and representation in the political processes to the benefit of the peoples of the Americas. This combination of expanded mandates and active demands by citizens is the reason why efforts to support more inclusive political representation are increasingly among the objectives and priorities of regional organizations today. Critically, inclusive political participation and representation by citizens ensures the legitimacy and credibility of member states. The best way to ensure implementation of the mandate is through institutionalization of engagement with civil society and stakeholders. Such institutionalization could involve the establishment of regional mechanisms like the Register of Civil Society Organizations in the OAS. Another way is consultation with CSOs in regular meetings between civil society and regional organizations. Initiatives and policies by regional organizations are evolving to promote inclusive political participation and representation. This dynamic is just one reflection of the importance attached to citizen engagement. It also highlights the growing experience of regional organizations in this area. The Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy endeavours to capture these experiences, build on the lessons learned and facilitate exchange among regional organizations. In so doing, it can help regional organizations in their democracy-building efforts. 

140th Birthday of Jaroslav Hasek - Part II

                            This post is a summary of the dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Harvard University, written by Abigail Weil, published in 2019 at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/42013078/WEIL-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

                              The goal of my project is to offer a critical reading of Hasek's oeuvre that takes seriously the legend as a cultural product, one that he sometimes enacted and sometimes inscribed into his fiction. My reading of Hasek also reconsiders the concepts of authorship and authority and examines the interplay of these two forces. Both become potent only through a dialogic exchange that establishes legitimacy; they have meaning only when perceived as meaningful. Hasek came of age in the late imperial Austro-Hungary, served in the World War I and then in the Russian Civil War, and returned home to the newly-founded democratic Czechoslovak Republic. In each of these regimes, he encountered forms of authority that differed radically, or at least attempted to justify themselves by radically different means. The title of my dissertation, "Man is Indestructible," is taken from Max Brod's review of an early stage adaptation of Osudy. Even in Hasek's lifetime of political pivots and other improvisations, we see the belief that unified his life story and his oeuvre, the individual alone is sacrosanct. Political and religious institutions have the power to shape our lives, they can conscript us, imprison us, beem us enemies and degenerates. But the human spirit is resilient, and in the few, those we call heroes or geniuses, it is unbreakable. There is, however, another dark way to understand the indestructible man: as the pernicious individual whose status within powerful institutions shields him from consequences. This dynamic is at play in both abuses of power, and those expressions of power that oppress, exploit and victimize disenfranchised people and communities, including war, environmental damage, and unfair labor practices. Hasek's embedding of autobiographical stories into his fiction always relies on his reader recognizing them as the stuff of legend. Hasek and his characters treat storytelling as a world apart in which offensive or upsetting ideas can be encoded into a form that defies censorship or punishment. By presenting his ideas in the form of fiction rather than journalism, he evades the responsibilities, but at the same time, he activates his own legend, creating a version of himself as the protagonist, thus reminding the reader of his authority to speak on the topics of Soviet Russia, their civil war, and himself. In The Good Soldier Svejk, Hasek presents the tension between authorship and authority as a problem of self-expression. In terms of actual power, writers can do little to upset the systems of authority put in place by the monarchy and military. But the force of these characters' activities is in their refusal to adhere to those systems. Authorship becomes a defiant act of taking authority on oneself. Two critics who advance theories about Hasek's representation of authority are Lubomir Dolezel and Premysl Blazicek. Dolezel's work from 2008 touches on the line between Hasek's biography and his creative output, and representations of auhtority in his work. According to Dolezel, the characters of The Good Soldier Svejk, are defined by their permissions and obligations, a system Svejk undermines through ludic play. This strategy, Dolezel shows, is not intended to challenge authority, but to expose the characters who represent it. In my own analysis of the novel, I argue that the novel champions characters whose creative activities simultaneously conform to and reveal the oppressive system, thereby defying the authorities that seek to order their lives. Hasek's depiction of the oppressive imperial regime in Prague is an portrait of the imperial administration, a situation where Czech subjects of the crown are denied free and authentic self-expression. The result of this is a stifled society. A world where atypically heroic characters such as Sveijk find non-normative methods for self-expression that do not rely on traditional or conventional journalistic or literary forms. We may refer to Hasek's biography for some explanation, as the narrator once more uses first-person, and the author also spent time in a Ukrainian prison camp. The inclusion of this story gives the narrator's discourse an oral quality, making it at once concrete, relatable, and dynamic. The tone once again becomes conversational. The narrator transgresses his literary boundaries and by doing so, makes the reader an active participant in the discourse. As Hasek infuses his novel with elements of historical discourse in order to reveal the fictive components that underlie it. History's unspoken artifice, Hasek argues, distracts us from questions about the investment in state power. In the world of the novel, storytelling is the narrative from of choice for the powerless. Throughout the novel Hasek experiments with various means of fictionalizing historiography and propose this subversive activity as an empowering creative method of reclaiming critical reasoning for writer and reader alike. Whereas history tends to disempower the reader, the relationship between Hasek and the reader of The Good Soldier Svejk, is mutually constitutive and empowering. Svejk is not a historian, yet his commentary reveals a wealth of historical knowledge. Like Part II of Don Quixote, the epilogue insists on the veracity of the book's contents, claiming that its characters have lives outsides these pages. The preface, quoted here, does the same thing: 'Great times call for great men. There are unknown heroes who are modest, with none of the glory and history of Napoleon. Today you can meet in the streets of Prague a shabbily dressed man who is not even himself aware of his significance in the history of the new era. He goes modestly on his way, without bothering anyone. If you asked him his name, he would answer you simply: I am Svejk. And this quiet, modest, shabbily dressed man is indeed that good old soldier Svejk. He didn't burn down the temple of the goddess in Ephesus, like that dummy Herostratus did, just to get himself into newspaper and historian books. And that's enough.' Hasek makes a claim for Svejk's worthiness for historical record, the author elevates the status of ordinary folk conventionally deemed unworthy of note in history books. Through his irreverent treatment of historical personagens and historiography, Hasek shows that, more often than not, historical discourse is essentially an expression of power. But his project is not to spur historians towards greater critical thinking or self-awareness. He proposes critical and self-aware fiction as a worthy and more honest alternative: a source of information and inspiration whose inventive elements are transparent, though not necessary easy to comprehend. Hasek's ideal reader: skeptical, perceptive and holding nothing so sacred that it can't withstand ridicule.

140th Birthday of Jaroslav Hasek

                   Almost one month ago, precisely on April 30th, the Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek would complete 140 years old. This post is a tribute to him. He wrote about the stupidity and absurd of the war, about injustice and cowardice with ordinary people and the importance of fighting for a fairer and better world. A world where everyone fights against injustice, violence, bullying, war, corruption, slavery, hunger, human rights violations, hypocrisy, oppression, dictatorship, political exclusion, and ignorance. This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at                                 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaroslav_Ha%C5%A1ek. The second was published at   https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Good-Soldier-Schweik-by-Hasek. The third was published at     https://literariness.org/2022/10/12/analysis-of-jaroslav-haseks-the-good-soldier/. The fourth was published at   file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/RoutledgeHandbooks-9781003055495-chapter3-1.pdf                                                                                                                                                                                     

    Jaroslav Hasek (1883-1923) was a Czech writer, humorist, satirist, journalist and anarchist. He is best known for his novel, The Fate of the Good Soldier Svejk during the World War, an unfinished collection of farcical incidents about a soldier in World War I and a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures. The novel has been translated into more than 50 languages, making it the most translated novel in Czech literature. His father, Josef Hasek, a mathematics teacher, died early of alcohol intoxication. Poverty then forced his mother Katerina with three children to move more than 15 times. He graduated from the Czech Business Academy and after graduation, he became an employee of Slavia Bank but soon began to earn his living exclusively in journalism and literature. In 1907, he became editor of the anarchist magazine Komuna,  and was briefly imprisoned for his work. In 1908, he edited the Women's Horizon. In 1909 he had sixty-four published short stories. In February 1915, Hasek was called up to the replacement battalion of the Austro-Hungarian army. He was in July transported to the Eastern front in Ukraine. He served on the front until September when he was captured by the Russians. In 1920, in Irkutsk, Russia, he married a printing worker named Alexandra Lvov and in December in the same year, he returned to independent Czechoslovakia. An disciplined author, Hasek was very productive. From his works it is apparent that he had an humanistic education. Initially Hasek wrote mainly travel stories, features and humoresques, which he published in magazines. His prose was based on his own real experiences. In his life, he wrote about 1,200 short stories. Over the years nearly all the stories have been collected and printed in book's form. His most famous text, the novel The Fate of the Good Soldier Svejk during the World War, at first had few followers. Ivan Olbracht was probably the first to mark it as a major work, "it is one of the best books ever written, and The Fate of Good Soldier Svejk is quite a new type in world literature, equivalent to Don Quixote, Hamlet, Faust, Karamazov," he wrote. Vitezslav Nezval connected Hasek work with Dadaism. The philosopher Karel Kosik saw the novel as "an expression of the absurdity of the alienated world", he described Svejk as the "tragic bard of European nihilism." Jan Grossman associated Svejk with existentialism.                                                                                                                                                                                              The novel  The Fate of the Good Soldier Svejk during the World War, reflected the pacifist and antimilitary sentiments of post-World War I in Europe. The title character is classified as naive, instinctively honest and guileless, Schweik is forever colliding with the clumsy, dehumanized military bureaucracy. Schweik's naivete serves as a contrast to the self-importance and conniving natures of his superior officers and is the main vehicle for Hasek's mockery of authority.                                                                                          The book The Fate of the Good Soldier Svejk during the World War, is usually accompanied by Josef Lada's illustrations, which help the reader to see Schweik as an amiable and simpleminded hero. However, such an analysis ignores Schweik's clever attempts to avoid active war's duty and his keen insight into the army's operations. Hasek's novel can be read as a surrealist text through its conflation of life and art. Trivial anecdotes are given great prominence by Schweik, who has two or more such stories or explanations for every occassion and situation. Although Hasek was not part of the surrealist movement, he frustrates readers' expectations by not describing a single battle in his war novel. This, combined with his emphasis on everyday people, makes his work similar to such surrealist texts as Andre Breton's Nadja.                                                                                                                                  Jaroslav Hasek wrote only one novel, The Good Soldier Svejk  which itself remained unfinished as he intended to write six parts, but only completed three before he died. Although his genius occasionally glimmers in his other works, none of them matches the brilliance of this novel. In 1917, he published the novel in Kiev as part of a legionnaire series. The theme of the ordinary man in the turmoil of history had a strong tradition in literary history, especially in the picaresque novels of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Svejk's most direct ancestor is Simplicius, the hero of Hans Jakob Christoffel, who lived through the horrors of the Thirty Years' War in Germany. Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk is a war novel in which not a single gunshot is fired, and war is not actually portrayed. The basic source of humour for Svejk is that the world itself has become topsy-turvy, absurd and unnatural. The absurdity of the world becomes visible in statements like the following: 'Sentencing an innocent man to five years, that is something I've heard of, but ten, that's too much', 'There is a freedom in the psychiatric asylum (prison) which not even socialists have ever dreamed of ', and finally, 'There have to be crooks in this world too...If everyone were honest with each other, they'd soon start punching each other noses'.The novel deviates from traditional psychological-social novels by not offering character portrayals. Svejk, then, has an aversion to all ideologies: 'It's bad... when a chap suddenly starts to get caught up in philosophizing. That always stinks of delirium tremens.                                

World Press Freedom Day 2023 - Part II

              This week we have the second part on World Press Freedom Day. This very important human right is essential to the truth, democracy, justice, and development. We all have the duty to defend those who work to bring us the truth about what is happening around the world, mainly those who try to bring us about dangerous issues related to justice, democracy and human rights. This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published at   https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/03/media-freedom-in-dire-state-in-record-number-of-countries-report-finds. The second was published at https://rsf.org/en/classement/2023/americas

              Media freedom is in dire health in a record number of countries, according to the last annual snapshot, which warns that disinformation, propaganda and artificial intelligence pose mounting threats to journalism. The World Press Freedom Index -  https://rsf.org/en/index - revealed a shocking slide, with an unprecedented 31 countries deemed to be in a "very serious situation", the lowest ranking in the report, up from 21 just two years ago. Increased aggressiveness from autocratic governments, and some that are considered democratic, coupled with "massive disinformation or propaganda campaigns" has caused the situation to go from bad to worse, according to the list, released by the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). "Authoritarian leaders become increasingly bold in their attempts to silence the press", the secretary of RSF told the Guardian. "The international community needs to wake up to reality, and act together, decisively and fast, to reverse this dangerous trend." The survey assesses the state of the media in 180 countries, looking at the ability of journalists to publish news in the public interest without interference and without threats to their own safety. It shows rapid technological advances are allowing governments and political actors to distort reality, and fake content is easier to publish than ever before. "The difference is being blurred between true and false, real and artificial, facts and artifices, jeopardising the right to information," the report said. Russia, which already plummeted in the ranking last year, dropped another nine places, as state media slavishly parrots the Kremlin line while opposition outlets are driven into exile. Meanwhile, three countries: Tajikistan, India and Turkey, dropped from being ina "problematic situation" into the lowest category. India has been in a particularly sharp decline, sinking 11 places to 161 after media takeovers by oligarchs close to Narendra Modi. The Indian press used to be seen as fairly progressive, but things changed after the Hindu nationalist prime minister took over. In Turkey, the administration of the hardline president, Erdogan, had stepped up its persecution of journalists in the run-up to elections scheduled for 14 May. Turkey jails more journalists than any other democracy. Some of the index's biggest falls were in Africa. Senegal fell 31 places. Tunisia fell 27 places as a result of President growing authoritarianism. The Middle East is the world's most dangerous region for journalists. "We are witnessing worrying trends, but the big question is if these trends are hipcup or a sign of world going backwards," said Guilherme Canela, from UNESCO. "Physical attacks, digital attacks, the economic situation, and regulatory tightening: we are facing a perfect storm," he adds. A Unesco report released on Wednesday said healthy freedom of expression helped many other fundamental rights to flourish.                                                                                                                                                                                 Political transitions have oainly benefitted journalists from two countries in the Americas. In the south, in Brazil (92nd), the departure of President Jair Bolsonaro, who systematically attacked journalists and the media, has revived hopes of a return to normalcy in relations between the government and the press. The country moved up 18 places in the Index, a record for the continent. In the north, in the U.S. (down3 at 45), the Biden administration has also shown a better disposition towards the media than the previous administration. Nonetheless, the country's slight decline in the 2023 Index was due to the continuing economic difficulties of the media, the murders of two journalists (Jeff German and Dylan Lyons), and the end of efforts to support freedom of the press at the legislative level(the Press Act). Elsewhere on the continent, the polarisation and institutional instability that characterise several countries in the region have fostered hostility and distrust of the media. In Peru (down 33 at 110th), the successive political transitions of the past six years have fuelled a general distrust towards both the country's institutions and the media. In Ecuador (down 12 at 80th), the destabilisation of the country, due to the growing influence of criminal organisations, has also caused a significant deterioration of journalists's working conditions. In Mexico (down 1 at 128th), the extreme violence of the cartels and their frequent collusion with local officials and politicians, has continued journalism's destruction. The use of disinformation and propaganda, often associated with online verbal violence against journalists and the media, is being normalised and becoming part of political leaders' strategy in seeking greater control over the public narrative. Although historically well placed in the Index, Costa Rica (down 15 at 23rd), Uruguay (down 8 at 52nd) and Guyana (down 26 at 60th) have also seen an increase in online harassment. Among the worst ranked countries, references to stability and national security continue to be used by authoritarian governments to justify all sorts of abuses against the media. In Nicaragua (up 2 at 158th) independent journalism has been forced underground or into exile. In Cuba (up 1 at 172nd) a new penal code has allowed the government to legally continue to intimidate and persecute journalists critical of the regime.

World Press Freedom Day 2023

                           Last Wednesday 3rd of May, all over the world was celebrated the importance of one of the most important human rights, the freedom of expression, besides the importance of a free, independent, and courageous news media. And like many other have done this week, this post is a tribute to all journalist, human rights defender, and anyone else that are helping us to know what is really happenning around the world. I have been doing summaries about this important day since 2013. This year the theme is about the importance of freedom of expression for all journalists, human rights defender, activists and anyone else who wants to defend the human rights anytime or anywhere. We can not tolerate the violation of any essential human rights, such as right to privacy or the right to monetization of social media, or political rights, they are the pillars of democracy and justice. And justice in these cases mean above all, compensation for the victims, since it is hard to identify the responsible for the violations that generally involve many persons from internet supplier  companies to governments officials.  This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at   https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/world-press-freedom-day-2023. The second was published at   https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/higher-levels-freedom-expression-have-strong-relationship-protection-other-human-rights-unesco. The third was published at   https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/03/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-occasion-of-world-press-freedom-day-2023/. The fourth was published at https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/world-press-freedom-day-1525264271-1

                   On World Press Freedom Day 2023, UNESCO will organize a special event at U.N. in New York, marking the 30 years since the U.N. General Assembly's decision proclaiming an international day for press freedom. Celebrated every 3rd of May, this year's theme for the Day will be "Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as a driver for all other human rights", Signifying the enabling element of freedom of expression to enjoy and protect all other human rights. World Press Freedom Day 2023 will also be the occasion to award the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, which recognizes and honours the contribution of journalists, particularly those who risk their lives to provide information to the public.                                                                                     The 10 countries with the highest levels of Freedom of Expression, according to V-Dem data, also enjoy a significantly higher level of rpotection of civil, political, economic and social rights, such as access to justice, a near absence of political killings and very low levels of exclusion across gender, socio-economic, political and social group indicators. At the same time, the 10 countries with the lowest level of freedom of expression are associated with higher levels of exclusion and higher levels of exclusion by political groups. The data also show that in countries where freedom of expression is higher, less exclusion from public goods and services is experienced. This analysis shows that higher levels of freedom of expression are good indicators that we will also find higher levels of protection for other human rights. So, when working towards more human rights, the fight for freedom of expression is key.                                        Journalism is fundamental to a free society, Today, as we mark the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, we honor all the jornalists, reporters and media workers who bravely pursue the truth. And we renew our pledge to hold to account all those that seek to silence these voices essential to transparent and trustworthy governance. A free press is a pillar of democracy. It educates, illuminates, exposes, and uncovers. It serves as a guardian of truth. No journalist should have to risk their lives and livehoods in pursuit of that truth. In many places around the world, autocrats and their enablers continue to repress a free and independent media, through censorship, retribution, threats, lawsuits, harassment, disinformation, detention and physical attacks. Courageous journalists around the world have shown that they will not be silenced or intimidated. Today and every day we must all stand with journalists around the world. We must all speak out against those who wish to silence them. And we must all continue to support a free press that is essential to democracies everywhere.                                                                                                                           World Press Freedom Day is observed on May 3rd to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, and defend the media from attacks on their independence. AT U.N. in New York a conference will focus on the digital era' impact on freedom of expression, access to information and privacy, safety of journalists, etc. To address these challenges, some concrete recommendations will also be developed. It is fundamental to spread awareness about the importance to awaken the government of its duty to uphold and respect the right to freedom of expression. The theme for 2023 is "Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as a Driver for All other Human Rights."