Shrinking civil society space for young people

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Dariusz:
Welcome to Under 30, the podcast series by the Youth Partnership that brings the research results, explores trends in young people's lives and themes relevant for youth policy and practice.

Dariusz:
Youth organisations experience the shrinking space for civil society in a variety of ways and on many different levels. Space can start to shrink when governments see civil society as a threat. As a result, they employ tactics to discredit and weaken them, thereby shrinking the space in which they can work. In this episode, we are discussing how the space for civil society is changing, and particularly for young people. We also reflect on the most recent developments impacting this change. For example, digitalisation or COVID-19, and how young people are engaging with these changes. We are also discussing what can be done on different levels to address this trend. My name is Dariusz Grzemny and together with Lana Pasic from the Youth Partnership, we are talking about all that with Andreas Hirsch and Leonie Martin. Enjoy listening.

Dariusz:
Ok, so today we are talking about shrinking space for civil society organisations, especially for youth organisations or youth movements. Shrinking spaces, so-called shrinking spaces, because there are a lot of different terms to describe this phenomenon is actually very, it's a very complex thing. It takes different forms in different places, not only in Europe but also in the world. The impact is also different on young people, on youth organisations. How is this space actually changing, especially for youth organisations or youth movements nowadays in Europe?

Andreas:
Yeah, it is interesting. We are talking about closing spaces for civil society. At the same time, we can observe that these spaces are changing. They are certainly contested. There is a struggle going on to maintain the space, to expand the space, but also there is a natural change, the society change, as the dynamics of the space are changing. In general, we can still say that it holds true that youth civil society and youth civil society organisations, they are laboratories for democracy as it is often being called, and that remains a very important function of those. Yet, of course, the restrictions that they sometimes get that are being imposed on them makes it really difficult for young people to develop a democratic awareness and become democratically active. So we see across Europe that there are certain countries where there are restrictions that are increasing for civil society in general, for young people in particular. And it's not only so that it is in countries where maybe there is a strong populist movement happening, that there is more of backlashing against democracy. But also in countries where we have very well-established, long histories of democracy, we see that there are threats. I'm from Germany and even here in our country with what you may not expect, there are certain initiatives by right wing extreme parties to really undermine the work of youth organisations and the work of civil society by questioning them. In general, we can say that there are sometimes changes in the legal status for civil society organisations.

Andreas:
Funding is being curbed. They are being placed with inappropriate reporting mechanism or bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for them to act freely. And the recent European Youth Forum study has shown that one fifth of youth organisations in Europe believe that we have a limited space to civil society as young people, which is, in my perspective, quite shocking and quite alarming. And at the same time, we see that there are new spaces opening up for civil society. In general, the way that young people are engaging is changing. They are organising themselves differently. It's more of an informal movement nowadays. It's more short-term and of course, a lot of shifting into the digital space, which has opened up a lot of new avenues and new topics and possibilities for young people. So, it's not just that it's closing, it's also changing and it remains contested.

Dariusz:
So, maybe we should call it changing spaces, although this probably would not really describe the situation, especially of the organisations that are living under kind of oppressive governments, I would call it like this.

Dariusz:
I personally come from Poland and I can really observe every day that the spaces are really shrinking for youth organisations, especially minority youth organisations and namely LGBT organisations, which are, I think, the most affected. On the other hand, what I can observe, what you actually said Andreas is that there is this raise in informal youth movements, which are organising themselves using social media sometimes, but sometimes not. Sometimes, just addressing their friends, their colleagues, and they go on the streets. And there's this demonstrations every day nowadays in Poland when it comes to women's rights, for example. So, yeah, this is a very dynamic situation. Leonie, what do you think about? How this space is shrinking or changing for youth organisations?

Leonie:
What I can tell is that it is shrinking in very different ways. And this is why it's also so difficult to talk about it. What we've now seen in our work in the Advisory Council on Youth is that there is not enough data on this. There's not enough research about this just because there is no bigger understanding of this being a bigger trend that is happening throughout Europe. I'm talking now specifically about shrinking civic space for youth. We are aware of shrinking civic space in general for civil society and what it might entail. But I can see that in the past few years there's a bit more attention being paid to what it means for youth organisations, youth movements, as there are more vulnerable, as Andreas have already explained. And it's so difficult to target it essentially because it's still very individually, it has different ways of talking about it. People have issues to open up about it and not see that that is part of something bigger. So it can be that they are part of smear campaigns, for instance. It can be something easy as bureaucratic hurdles in financing. It can be that the association law suddenly changed and you don't know what to do. Suddenly you want to lead something easy but essentially what you want to do is you want to organise some activities. You don't want to deal with more bureaucracy as such. Financing might be difficult, then your organisation suddenly is too political, for instance, to rent a space. But what I can see in certain countries right now is that it's becoming harder and harder for young people with vulnerable backgrounds to become active. Just because being active is putting yourself out there. It means putting yourself, your family out there. It means that your career option, for instance, they diminish. I see people having to take decisions on, can I allow myself to do that? Am I financially independent enough to do that? Is my family OK with our name being out there? It's just very dangerous.

Dariusz:
I was thinking about it and when I come back in my memories into the seminar on Shrinking Space for Civil Society that was organised by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, where we actually had a lot of guests from different institutions and organisations as well. There were some points that were very interesting. One of the point I remember that was very interesting was that, of course, we're talking about shrinking spaces of the actions or inaction by the government. So this is how the spaces are shrinking. Sometimes the government acts by making sure that some organisations do not have access to financing or that there is an oppressive legislations that they put forward.

Dariusz:
On the other hand, I remember some of the guests of the seminar said that when they were analysing why it happened was that, one of the points was very interesting, was that in the recent years, organisations, especially youth organisations, have become more political than they used to be before, because until then, civil society organisations were very much seen as charity organisations. So, as organisations that kind of organised leisure time activities for young people, making sure that young people have something to do. And then another thing that I remember that was mentioned was the question why actually it happened, taking aside all the actions or inactions by the government. And one of the points that was mentioned was that it somehow was allowed by the society. So, the society didn't show support to civil society organisations. And the reason why it didn't show support was actually that the civil society organisations were not really good in communicating to society what they are doing and why they are doing this. And this was an interesting point, which I recall from the seminar. I don't know if there's anything you would like to say about it.

Lana:
I think maybe I will just jump in as well to link to that and then kind of lead that to the question in terms of how are young people engaging with these changes? Because recently also we were at Offenburg talks and this question of kind of political youth engagement versus the non-political one and how certain young people or initiatives or youth civil society can be kind of sometimes viewed or divided by governments into this good civil society which provides services versus that civil society in the sense of those that are challenging the systems, the ones that are rocking the boat, and that they're sometimes asking for changes within the system while those ones that are keeping the system going and providing the services are rewarded by the government through the financial support. So I guess for us, it would be the question as well in terms of how are young people engaging with these different ways and kind of the changes towards the political civil society.

Dariusz:
Leonie, you would like to start?

Leonie:
Yes, I can start. I think it's an interesting question because I would contest some things about that. What we've heard in the discussion years beforehand is that youth is not becoming political enough. And now what I can hear through it is that youth is becoming too political. So, I think there's a paradox that just needs to be addressed about what is right and what is wrong with that. I, well, how youth is engaging with this, shrinking civic space? I think on one hand we need to acknowledge that there are people who don't have the resources or don't have the mental resources as well to cope with these challenges and are becoming less active. At the same time, there are some that put these issues on the agenda, for instance. So what we've seen in the European youth sector essentially, is that this topic was put on the agenda. It was mentioned in the European Youth Forum, which is the biggest, globally biggest youth platform of civil society representing national youth councils, representing youth organisations. And this has led to the Advisory Council of Youth putting it on the agenda, leading on to currently a draft process to have a recommendation on the topic.

Leonie:
So it is on the political agenda. What we now need to make sure is that there are enough resources. I can also see that there are some funding programs now opening up to build more resilience on this. So, these are the few things where I can feel that now youth gathering some energy to kind of get back to that space that has been taken away from them or the generations before had. I think one crucial thing that we also have to keep in mind for shrinking civic space for youth is that the youth sector in general always has to deal with a high turnover of members. So, the challenges that might have happened four years ago or so might not have, you know, might not be in the knowledge of the people who are currently active. They don't see like the entire progress as such, but they just see what's currently on the face there. And I also see that more organisations are collecting more and more of their own stories going back the past 10 years essentially, reflecting on what has happened in different countries to them.

Andreas:
I think continuing on what has been said before and also the example that you Darek had given before in Poland with a situation of minority rights. And I think that is one example where a big minority group has been really discriminated against and this has affected a lot of young people in particular that also have spoken out quite vocally about it. And what you can see in terms of communication, I'm also not quite sure you had said that the youth organisations are youth civil society organisations are not so well organised and communicating about the causes they're fighting for. Again, I would not maybe 100 percent agree to that because I think we see nowadays so much of global events and European developments entering each one of our screen at home. And you really get to hear what is happening in other parts of the world. And I think there's also a lot of solidarity that is happening and increasing within civil society as a united force in Europe, I would say, or globally on the political level. I think there is, as Leonie also has mentioned, that there is developments, there is also a willingness in the Council conclusions on fostering young people's democratic engagement and the awareness that were just presented yesterday at the Youth Ministers Conference. Again, the importance of the civil space has been emphasised and the strength of youth organisations has been emphasised. So there is political willingness, I think. But then again, it has to come back to the action level and it has to be implemented both in the very big structural way, looking at European structures and of course, specifically in the member states.

Dariusz:
Thank you. I was not suggesting that youth organisations are badly organised.

Dariusz:
What I was trying to say when talking about communicating the work to the wider audience, this is actually about telling other people and make them understand what the organisations are for and what they are doing and what impact they have. Just simple as that. And I think that was the point that was discussed. But thank you. Lana, you wanted to add something.

Lana:
Yeah, just to go back to the point raised by both Leonie and Andreas - yes we are seeing at the political level, maybe at the European level, a greater recognition for the need to invest into the space for civil society. But then Leonie also mentioned this point of the exclusivity and the young active people for being involved in certain political processes and considering all the challenges that young people are facing today in terms of both the economy and the society, but also dealing with life and trying to navigate the way through it ,my question would be, is the participation within these the spaces a privilege and we discussed how certain groups of young people are being excluded from it. So who engages and to what extent do young people actually feel that this shrinking space is their space for activism?

Andreas:
Yes, the question of participation is very important. And indeed it is a privilege. It has been a privilege and it remains a privilege for those who are better educated, for those who have better access and with better structural conditions for participation. And again, quoting the study from the European Youth Forum, saying that one fourth of youth organisations are not fully capable of engaging in advocacy action because they are afraid of retribution. And that just shows that it is not, it is not a grant that exists for anybody to participate actively. And there are mechanisms also, of course, that are being tried to be implemented on the European level. We have the EU Youth Dialogue, for example. But these are, again, measures that really only very few young people get in contact with and get access to and strengthen youth participation, as we all know, mostly needs to happen on the local level or is most effective if it starts from the local level. And this is, of course, again, where it's up to the municipal level or state level to initiate those participation activities that are especially inviting for those who have difficult access. So, this is something that should increase and needs to increase.Of course, the question is how will it in certain countries.

Dariusz:
We were trying to sketch the picture of what the shrinking spaces are and what is actually happening in the youth field and what, let's say, proposals put forward in order to tackle that?

Dariusz:
I was thinking maybe to move a little bit to the times that we are now, living now where the world has changed in the past couple of months for all of us and for young people, I would say, it changed dramatically. They don't go to school anymore. They go to the computer and this is their school that, I would say, the the social contacts are also very limited.

Dariusz:
And we also know from emerging studies on the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of young people, that youth work was also very heavily affected by COVID-19. You also mentioned that the media, digital media was used a lot in order to go against a little bit shrinking space or to expand the spaces.

Dariusz:
And... So, there's a lot of things happening to society at large, but to civil society as well, of course.

Dariusz:
So how do you see this changes? How do these changes actually affect the shrinking space for civil society organisations, in particular for young people's movements or youth organisations?

Leonie:
I think we all know the concrete answer to this only in full retrospective. However, from what I can see right now, is that there are different ways. I think the first wave was similar to the pandemic, the first wave in the youth sector was - all right, let's do that, we can handle this, no problem. Then a second wave of fatigue because everyone realised that online meetings might be very tough. But also not everyone has the same preconditions to participate right now. Not everyone has to specifically one laptop, for instance, to engage in an online meeting that might just be, if at all, one computer for a family. The online connections might not be good. Simple things, in quotation marks, that already directly exclude you from something. You might not have a room by yourself, for instance, to to take a bit of time to engage. I can see that we're in third phase or third wave already where people are adapting, where they realise, OK, perhaps not a weekend seminar, perhaps just a few hours there, few hours here. I think it's, I think those that have already been well organised beforehand and less challenged, they will survive. I'm worried for those that are already challenged before the pandemic and whose structures are a bit looser, let's say. What I'm not worried for is basically social media activism. I think we've seen that there is room for this. I'm looking at the Black Lives Matter, how it has moved over in Europe. I'm looking at the general solidarity that I see for abortion law matters in Poland, for instance. I see things happening across Europe for that. The thing that we have to keep in mind there is the level of disinformation, for instance, where do people get information from? How is their media literacy when it comes to those things?

Dariusz:
Thank you. Thank you, Leonie. Andreas, would you like to add something?

Andreas:
Sure. I think Leonie really put it well. There are certain things to be taken into consideration. Of course, digitally, a lot of activism is still happening. And since the physical space has been so restricted and a lot has been shifted to the digital space, what we can still see is that it leads to also more polarisation of society. So, things get more heated up and young people being confined more to digital spaces, they are more vulnerable to fake news, to wrong information, to disinformation, to extremist groups. Even now, we're even talking about a new form of extremism, as in those people who are completely disengaging with the corona discussion. And so I think this is quite critical. I think another point is that young people in this time, they should be more active in youth organisations, should be more proactive in changing the public perception of young people in the pandemic, because I think that is also a very important point, that you youth have been really blamed a lot for some of the spikes in the corona spreading of the pandemic that we have seen. And whereas research shows us that young people are not necessarily so much, let's say, worse in their behaviour than other age groups, and they're just trying to lead a normal life. And yet young people have really been stigmatised during this pandemic as being irresponsible, which is not really the case. And as Leonie said, a lot of young people have engaged in solidarity action, like 30 percent of young people across Europe have become voluntarily active in the crisis. So I think there's also a role for civil society and for young people to put these things higher on the agenda and change the image of young people that are currently being discussed.

Lana:
You both discussed kind of these new ways and trends of young people's engagement. And we have talked about the impact of COVID and how on, not only the shrinking space, but also on young people, but also the new trend towards the use of digital tools for engagement. But we have seen this year also that young people are maybe engaging in different topics a bit more than previously. So while last year when we had our symposium on political participation, a lot of attention was placed on climate movement. For example, this year we're seeing the youth engagement and kind of solidarity action much more than we did before. So maybe if you would like to comment, what are some of the new topics or new thematic areas in which young people are becoming more active now than they were in the previous years?

Andreas:
Yes, I think it's interesting and it connects to what I've been saying before, that I think there was a much more a global spread of topics and issues that is happening. And to me, what really sticks out is the Black Lives Matter discourse and the whole decolonisation narratives that are so important and that I see a lot of activism of young people, of individuals using a lot of social media to bring those topics to the light and to discuss them more broadly. And that's to be wished for that this stays and that it is taken into the real space also more literally, and that's being followed by political action. So to me, the decolonisation and the post-colonial narratives are quite essential at the moment. And still, I think, fair enough, young people are still with the climate and sustainability topic because they have to, and in connection with COVID I think it gains another relevance.

Leonie:
If I can just add up what I noticed as well as a bigger understanding of the intersectionality of climate. So people are talking more about how does the climate crisis actually affect vulnerable groups, for instance. And in that regard this intersectionality, I think explains this embracement of intersectional approach for me at least, explains a bit why Black Lives Matter was so popular, because we were able to engage a bit or analyses of what is currently going on our continent in that regard.

Dariusz:
I still have one more question, actually. It's probably the most difficult question, but I think we have to put it on the table because we all agreed that the situation is quite serious for some organisations in some countries. Then, what can we do? What can the youth organisations do? What can young people do? We probably cannot say what we can do about what to start with>

Leonie:
I think easiest thing to do is to connect with others, to tell them your story, to ask them about their stories, to realise it's part of a bigger trend, because that way it helps a lot of activists as well to deal with the issue, to make it less mentally challenging for them, as well as part of something bigger - it is not the activists themselves to connect. Then I think it's a lot of investing in own resources. I know that sometimes we have project that says this and they focus on the amazing projects that are coming up.

Leonie:
But we also need to invest in our own people and make sure that the structures while working, that there is not just one person fighting for the organisation, but that there's a group that works together in solidarity, that perhaps there's also a crisis plan that you have discussed beforehand of, OK, who do I contact? How does it work to get, to be mentally prepared for those things. And then to connect again, to connect not just with civil society, but connect with wider civil society to see if are civil society platform in your country or perhaps on European level, to make sure that these stories are shared and these concerns are also heard where your contributions, as you said Darek, where people can also hear what the organisation is special for and why this work needs to be protected the way that we need us. So this is the one thing that I would encourage. And then the other thing is also, if we want people to act up for something, to act for something and to ask for change, people need to understand what the direct consequences is for their own personal life. And someone who is not engaged or active in civil society might not see it directly. Also, given the fact that shrinking civic space is something very bread and it's not telling you precisely what it is. So, we need to be able to break it down to explain to our grandma essentially on Christmas, perhaps on the phone, unfortunately, what this now means concretely and learn from other movements, right? Black Lives Matter profit a lot from the Instagram stories, explaining precisely what are concepts and what are feelings. And I think this is what we need to gear ourselves up to.

Andreas:
Thank you. Yeah, I would like to connect with what Leonie said using her own term, and I very much agree to what she said.

Andreas:
I think for all of us as working in the youth field, be it as educators, as youth leaders, as officers at the national agency, whatever our role is, I think really important is to encourage that criticalness of young people and to encourage spaces where they can also raise controversial issues. And I think everyone has a role to play in nurturing, nurturing that democratic and critical alertness of young people and strengthen their agency and also expressing what they are being concerned about. We may not always be able to change the systematic conditions that we are under, but we can continue to make noise and we can continue to be loud and vocal about the issues that we are concerned about and the young people are concerned about. And I think it is this mutual support that is very much needed. And that very often, I think, means for a lot of us working in this field to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and to listen to critical and controversial voices and on big systemic questions, on the questions that we need to raise and ask and discuss more provocatively. And so I think that is important. And as we know, the role of youth work has been defined in creating spaces and building bridges. So, yes, creating a space is one thing, but then I think it is important to build a bridge also to the policy level. Darek, you had mentioned before, maybe that's not the point we have to start, but it is still a point where to bring it to and to bridge it ultimately, because I think that is equally important.

Dariusz:
Thank you all for a very interesting talk. We can say that shrinking youth civic space is a worrying trend which is not limited to the authoritarian or dictatorial regimes. And the COVID-19 pandemic made it even worse in some places around Europe. There is definitely a need for specific policy mechanisms and instruments to address it, as well as solidarity and support to those youth organisations and movements that are affected by this phenomenon. And some of those remedies have been already mentioned by our guests and they have been implemented. Thank you all for listening and hopefully you will listen to our next episode already next year. So happy New Year from the whole partnership team.

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