Weekly Action - 27 March 2023 - Democracy Summit
Democracy Summit
This week the US will hold the second democracy summit from 28 – 30 March. The event will build on the momentum from the first summit in December 2021. The aim of the summit is to strengthen democracies around the world. Both summits have faced criticism regarding how much they truly represent democratic strengthening as opposed to US foreign interests. Countries like Mexico, Israel and India are very visibly present, despite their governments currently taking significant steps to undermine democracy at home. Nevertheless, the idea of moving towards a stronger, more formal platform for the world’s democracies to come together is a good one, and is one of the key findings in the Arise Manifesto, a major report from Arise (Arise Manifesto, pg 122 – 123).
The Arise Manifesto calls for a new international organisation of democratic nations. Nations should be able to join once they have reached agreed levels of democracy, human rights and good governance. Membership would be seen as a mark of their international respectability, creating an extra pull factor to help speed reform in nations which are not yet there. A growing number of seasoned international relations experts have also be arguing for this, including Jonathan Schell, who in his book The Unconquerable World, calls for “the foundation of a democratic league, designed to foster and build upon the peaceful proclivities already found in the core of the democratic process.” [1]
Reform Movements
Such a league would provide a significant boost to grassroots movements of people putting pressure on their governments to reform in countries all around the world. Where dramatic improvements in democracy, good governance and human rights have occurred, they have overwhelmingly been driven by just such mass peaceful domestic reform movements. This is another key conclusion from the Arise Manifesto report. We see this in the lessons from the Bible (The Arise Manifesto, pg 86 – 88), where prophets like Isaiah challenged the rulers of their day, “stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isa 1: 16 – 17).
We also see it when we look at the lessons from history (The Arise Manifesto, pg 108 – 119). In recent decades peaceful reform movements have had dramatic success in Serbia, Madagascar, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Nepal, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, East Germany, Slovenia, Mali, Bolivia, the Philippines, Zambia, South Korea, Chile, Argentina, Haiti, Brazil, Uruguay, Malawi, Thailand, Bulgaria, Hungary, Nigeria, and many other countries. Of course such movements require great courage and perseverance from those involved. They are not guaranteed to succeed every time. But overwhelmingly the power of ordinary people peacefully refusing to submit is remarkable, and has continually proved the most successful way to improve democracy, human rights and good governance in nations around the world.
Christians at the heart of Reform Movements
Throughout history, Christians and churches have played a hugely important central role in such reform movements (The Arise Manifesto, pg 283 – 303). They have worked well alongside journalists, academics, activists, students, trade unions and others in the movement. Supporting such bottom-up Reform Movements (and the Christians that are so often at the heart of them) is one of three key focus campaigns for Arise.
This week will you take action as part of Arise’s Reform Movements campaign, to support brave democracy and human rights activists in countries all around the world?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Get in touch with your MP, and ask for a meeting with them to discuss the crucial issue of reform movements. (This is totally appropriate, they are used to meeting their constituents on all topics, that is their job!) You can find your MP, and their office contact details here. Ask your MP to:
· Urge the government to scale up support for pro-democracy and human rights reform movements around the world, in the ways that those movements want. This might involve spotlighting and publicly condemning specific incidents, diplomatic pressure, targeted sanctions, recovering and returning stolen national assets, travel bans for regime members, offering asylum for activists who have had to flee, or multiple other actions.
Pray
Pray for protection and peace for those who continue to bravely demand human rights, greater freedom, democracy and change, in countries around the world, day after day. Pray for the Christians amongst them who are playing their part. Pray for change and reform, for governments that are truly democratic and respect all human rights.
Give
Give to Christian organisations like International Justice Mission, and to secular groups like Freedom House, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who are doing crucial work protecting human rights globally.
Practical Action
Get involved in the decision-making by joining a political party, and in due course running for office at local or even national level. Use your position within that party to advocate for support for Reform Movements and other policies that establish social justice, eliminate poverty, restore the environment and build God’s Kingdom.
Ethical Consumption
Try and avoid buying products and services from companies whose operations (inadvertently or not) are helping to prop up unjust regimes. Check out the Ethical Consumer website for guidance on this.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.
Find out more in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.
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[1] Schell, J., The Unconquerable World, (2005), p. 383