In the last episode of the podcast series „Wir kriegen die Krise.“ (only available in German) about resilience and civil society with Anna Stahl-Czechowska (AgitPolska) and Nils-Eyk Zimmermann (civilresilience.net) we talk about how civil society can remain resilient when it comes under pressure and how civic engagement influences society as a whole.
Resilience-Podcast #4
Anna Stahl-Czechowska, a woman who is strongly committed to the political participation of women with a history of migration in Germany, is our guest in this podcast episode. She belongs to the second largest group of migrants in Germany: over two million people living in Germany were born in Poland or are the children of Poles. With the association AgitPolska e.V., Anna ensures the visibility of Polish women in Germany and with the mentoring program PolMotion she supports women with a history of migration in becoming active shapers of democracy. She also has an excellent network of committed women in Poland.
We have already been quiet!
The women's movement in Poland has sent out a clear signal: last fall, it succeeded in bringing about a change of government and rejecting the ultra-conservative anti-women and anti-LGBTIQ policies of the right-wing populist PiS government. The fact that Poland has an active and assertive women's movement is nothing new. Women were already campaigning effectively for equal rights 100 years ago in this country, which is still under the very strong influence of the Catholic Church. The results of the PiS government's restrictive policies against women and LGBTIQ people over the last eight years, which were fueled by the Catholic Church and supported by many citizens, are not easy to reverse. But the women have sent such a clear signal that the new government must follow suit.
Resilient democracy
“The key actors for democratic resilience are conscious, strong, independent organizations that are oriented towards the common good and interested in political impact,” states the second guest of this podcast episode Nils-Eyk Zimmermann on his blog civilresilience.net, in which he takes a close look at the connection between democracy and resilience. The program manager, consultant, author and expert on democratic resilience was also involved in the expert discussion that we held in preparation for the studye „Nicht kleinzukrisen! Was die Zivilgesellschaft resilient macht“. He is very familiar with civil societies that are under pressure, as he has been working for many years on engagement, human rights, democracy education and citizen participation - with a focus on Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. He is passionately interested in how democracies can become resilient to attacks from outside and within.
Nils describes how civil society engagement can develop depending on how supportive or limiting the political system is and whether other social forces have a supporting or hindering effect. However, he also emphasizes that civil society in particular cannot be deterred by crises and can develop enormous strength, especially in situations of strong pressure. This is currently just as evident in the example of Ukrainian civil society in war zones as it is in its diaspora organizations and activities.
How does a resilient civil society affect the resilience of society?
Was Heiner Geißler right and the parliamentary democracy is abolishing itself? And is it civil society that can save the liberal-democratic basic order? The strength of the women's movement in Poland can be seen as confirmation of this thesis. Here it became clear that the pressure exerted by the anti-democratic government was met with strong resistance. This increased the resilience of those campaigning for women's and LGBTIQ rights. The cohesion of civil society forces can therefore contribute to the self-preservation of a democratic society.
The resilience resources described in our study change depending on the crisis in which the entire society and its civil society find themselves. A civil society that has come under pressure can even be strengthened in parts by the crisis and build up new or more resources. The developments in Ukrainian civil society since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression are another example of this. The enormous pressure to act leads to focus and efficiency in planning and action. However, the social upheavals caused by the war have also caused their structures to falter or possibly collapse completely.
In practice, the (impending) loss of democratic processes and structures often demonstrates the potential to mobilize civil society at large and thus strengthen its resilience resources in the long term. However, a resilient civil society is not a sure-fire success. It is therefore important to think about and practice resilience as a civil society superpower, even in more relaxed times. AgitPolska and the educational work of Nils-Eyk Zimmermann make an important contribution to this.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the podcast, please send an e-mail to lab@betterplace-lab.org.
The podcast-season is produced by Tonstudio Sprachraum/Silvan Oschmann.
Thanks to the Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt, which is funding our “Resilient Civil Society” research project.
Photos: Kamila Zimmermann & Kopf und Kragen