“Last year we were saddened by the need for a 15th edition of our campaign. This year we are angry because democracy is not only under pressure – it’s under direct attack from authoritarian regimes. Democracy under Pressure is not just a campaign, but a commitment. Year after year for as long as needed, JEF will speak for those who are silenced, as we have been since 2006” says Christelle Savall, Vice President of JEF Europe.
Every year, the Democracy under Pressure campaign calls on citizens to raise public awareness of current threats to rule of law and democracy, denounce all forms of authoritarianism, and show solidarity with those at the frontlines of the fight for freedom.
Over the past weeks, we joined forces with organisations and activists from across the political spectrum to denounce the increasingly violent authoritarian regimes in Russia and Belarus and their aggression on Ukraine. This year again we have been joined by the Council of European Municipalities. Together with EURACTIV we are organising a Twitter chat on Democracy under Pressure and Europe’s role in the world. In a series of online talks, our members and partners are discussing democratic challenges in Hungary, Ukraine and Belarus. Now with the Action Week the campaign culminates, but our fight for democracy is tireless.
The campaign started in 2006 as the “Free Belarus” action to raise awareness about the Lukashenka regime, often considered “the last dictatorship in Europe”. However, in the last decade, European values have been increasingly compromised by illiberalism, populism and xenophobia across governments and societies in Europe. As we believe an attack on the Rule of Law in one country is an attack on our own, the action was rebranded in 2014 as the campaign that we are promoting today. This year, we are reminded of the consequences of authoritarian regimes: the attack on Ukraine is an attack on all European democracies.
