Citizens always know better than the government or the market what works for them. The question is whether our political and economic elites are prepared to listen. And all of us in civil society should understand that as well, too.
My most important lessons after a life of activism were learnt from marginalised communities and migrant workers living in the most brutal of conditions in mines and factory hostels. Many were illiterate but from them I learnt to listen, to listen carefully and digest their wisdom, which helped me co-create a vision and strategy that eventually became a mighty movement and the pillar of our fight for freedom in South Africa.
I learnt that those in power only respected us when we had power. And we only had power when we painstakingly organised our communities, workers, women, students and faith-based organisations around their bread-and-butter issues. None of those truths is different today: our role as activists is only catalytic. Success is only possible and sustainable when local leadership arises and people own and lead their own struggles. And every experience, victory or failure, must be seen as a lesson, too. Our role is to hear the voices and struggles of the grassroots we claim to represent, and make them heard on a global platform.
Today, as we stand at the edge of a precipice, we see a growing ferment in the world. It is this alienation and disconnect between leaders and citizens that has led people to taking to the streets; from the historic Arab Spring to fierce student battles for free education in Chile and Quebec, to the anti-corruption battles in India and the deadly struggle for a decent wage of the Marikana mineworkers in South Africa.
The obscene, rising poverty and inequality is fuelling social tensions, and in the absence of credible grassroots structures, violence has become the only language people feel will get their leaders to listen. Today, a new apartheid divides a global rich and predatory minority from the overwhelming majority’s growing poverty, joblessness and social inequality.
The State of Civil Society 2013 affirms that empowered and informed citizens are our strongest battalions in our fight for good governance and social justice. This is a truism that is largely ignored by the bureaucracies, corporations, public sector or even civil society sometimes.
Below are some key trends to consider highlighted in the report:
- A shocking 57% of the world’s population live in countries where basic civil liberties and political freedoms are curtailed.
- In fragile and conflict-ridden states, civil society groups speaking out against entrenched patriarchy and religious fundamentalism are increasingly becoming targets of armed groups.
- Communities that traditionally relied on rivers, forests and communal grazing grounds for their subsistence are faced with being displaced by big corporations – including extractive industries, construction firms and agri-businesses.
- With the lines between business and politics blurring, we are increasingly seeing civil society voices being relegated to the margins in discussions on the post-2015 agenda and other global matters.
Organised civil society needs deep introspection and to realign itself with people’s needs and their voices and to rebuild our legitimacy and trust with our people.
We have to return to the hard, painstaking work of organising our people and creating the tools that they are able to use to strengthen our fight for social justice, social solidarity.
The report reminds us that new approaches to social transformation must harness the reinforcing nature of innovation, social connectedness and positive identities.
In the Millennium Declaration world leaders stated that “men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity, free from hunger and from the fear of violence, oppression or injustice.” We need to hold them to it. We need to focus on the world we want, build our set of demands for an enabling environment for civil society, campaign in a focussed and concerted way by building a broad-based coalition. A key to the “better future” we have promised the generations which follow us rests in our courageous and fearless leadership today.
We dare not fail.
