“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing.”

John Stuart Mill 1867

PREAMBLE

The aftermath of WWII saw an increase in democratic-liberal tendencies. This trend which lasted several decades has now changed course: more and more countries are turning towards authoritarian regimes. Over the last 30 years, this has resulted in 2.8 billion citizens living in countries with more autocratic than democratic governments. Covid 19 and the need for many countries to lock down provided an opportunity for more authoritarian regimes to limit the fundamental rights of their citizens and to suppress criticism.  In effect this more authoritarian leadership has resulted in attacks on democracy with its inherent values of truth, freedom, equality, integrity, and civil rights.   At the same time, those who are alert to these trends towards authoritarianism are putting up a strong fight in favour of retaining those same values inherent to democracy. 

The fundamental institutions and symbols that guarantee democracy are visibly being harmed or manipulated through vandalism and crime; through cynical exploitation of the legitimate channels of democracy; and through sophisticated control over the social network.  Thus, fake news appears in the same form as genuine news, and false narratives and confabulations pervert and distort our sense of reality.  

The attack on democracy inherently represents intolerance towards differences within ‘us’ and in the ‘other’. It attacks the existence of different agencies that balance each other (in the mind of an individual, in the state’s institutions and in society) in favour of a monolithic control enforcing one picture of reality, which inhibits variability in freedom of choice, speech, and way of life.  This generates a split and polarized world in which ‘otherness’ is demonized, and basic rights are denied.      

As humans, we struggle with allaying our anxieties by trying to have our dependency needs met versus shrugging off those residual dependent feelings and searching for the freedoms of more mature autonomy.  In today’s world dominated by worries about the potentially annihilating impact of climate change and war in Europe and the Middle East, anxieties are even higher. This draws many of us into the wish for a strong, containing leadership, that at best allays such anxieties, but at worst, can lead to more autocratic regimes and a reduction of democratic freedom.  

Others, aware through their parents’ experiences of the dangers of populism resulting in fascism, as they experienced it before and during World War II, retain an even stronger drive for the autonomy of maintaining democratic values.  Such citizens will fight for their rights and are prepared to risk their health and lives in their own countries or in undertaking dangerous journeys to live their lives elsewhere, holding in their hearts the ideals of democratic freedom.
The ability to mobilize one’s personal authority, as embodied in the role of the active citizen, is therefore of major importance whichever choices are made.  

Given this context we are holding a working conference on Democracy under Fire, Citizens fighting for their values, in the Tavistock Group Relation tradition.  

The aim of this conference is to provide a space to reflect on the attacks on democracy and the increase in autocratic trends, their sources in the individual and the group, as well as their effect and implications on our lives as citizens.

PCCA, Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities will host this conference.

Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities (PCCA) was founded in 2007. The aim of the organization is to work through the effects of the Holocaust and of past and present national and international conflicts that lead to destructive escalation, in the service of a better understanding among national groups worldwide (see http://p-cca.org/).  

PCCA is the recipient of the 2019 Sigourney Award.

PCCA is a charity registered in Germany, Tax no. 27/675/5426