Why are autocrats popular? - Assault on democracy | DW Documentary
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Published 2021-11-06
The resurgence of authoritarianism is impacting countries across the globe, no matter what their form of government. "In the Crosshairs of the State" documents this worldwide phenomenon using the examples of India, Russia, and Poland and shows how civil society is being repressed, and what impact this can have on the future of democracy.
When populists and autocrats wield power, the first victims are civil liberties. However, regimes aren’t stopping at attacking and imprisoning activists - they go as far as criminalizing entire groups and freezing their funds. These governments are increasingly targeting NGOs and other players in civil society that demand democracy and assert human rights or protest about social grievances and environmental destruction. The methods of choice are defamation campaigns, repression, and criminalization.
In the past few years, certain countries have passed over 60 laws specifically aiming to systematically impede NGOs’ work or completely put an end to it. The root causes are wide-ranging, but it all boils down to rulers’ desire to remain in power and protect their economic interests. Beyond authoritarian wielders of power, democratic governments are increasingly clamping down on independent and critical players, too.
Are we experiencing a full-on global assault on civil society? What happens when the driving force of democracy - the people themselves - is silenced? How can we counter this development? Film director Sebastian Weis investigates these question, relating the situations in India, Russia, and Poland chapter by chapter, with each country representing an overarching issue. India faces environmental destruction, Russians are seeing human rights be eroded, and in Poland women’s rights are under attack.
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All Comments (21)
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I wouldn't say democracy is under attack so much as it is rotting, decaying, and falling apart. through this crumbling, these entities rise.
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Those who tell the stories, rules society. - Plato
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“If you conquer a city accustomed to self-government and opt not to destroy it you can expect it to destroy you. Rebelling, its people will always rally to the cry of freedom and the inspiration of their old institutions. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been occupied or how benevolent the occupation, these things will never be forgotten.” — Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
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As a Somali, i am still wondering what Democracy is about.😂😂
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You should also talk about how both the US and the UK have made new laws punishing and limiting the right to protest and the US's assaults on Julian Assange and other whistleblowers. Plus the US is currently exercising widespread voter suppression as has the UK made attempts recently. Why only cover countries that we expect this from? Did someone tell you not to cover the others?
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I wish DW covered the authoritarian regimes in UAE and Qatar as well
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Frontline Polish feminists speak Polish which is not understood by 95% of Poles. Their slogans are very primitive and vulgar. Most of monet they got come from the West
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Democracy does not always work. You might think that giving one person one vote to elect a leader is a good idea, but most of the times, voters choose based on emotion, and not knowledge, and would usually lead them to choose someone who promise them the moon and the stars while having no idea about proper governing.
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Civil society : free Assange. Free Snowden.
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It is because the world has rewarded autocratic countries like China with more investment and increased wealth. Democracy is hard.
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When people realize "live and let live", everything is solvable.
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Some notable autocrats like to trumpet "Freedom" (whatever that means) but when people are expressing that same freedom to call out wrongdoing, those at the top are ruthlessly clamping down on their freedom. Putting it simply, they're hypocrites
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Well. Governments or politicians never actually ruled the nation. It was always the rich business tycoons who rule the nations behind the curtains
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As a British citizen, I'm somewhat blown away by the quality of DW. It strikes me that the BBC genuinely has been cowed and gerrymandered from producing content of this type and quality.
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How democratic is the EU council? What a joke
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People used to say India is the biggest democratic country in the world. How it become the biggest autocratic country in the world overnight?
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I watched the video till the end bacause i thought it will clearly answer its title question. But the presentation was so muddled with conflated terms that it instead raised more questions.
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10 minutes into this and the central question has not been addressed. What is the cause of the rise in autocratic rule? Failures within democracies are a separate topic.
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Democracy isn't a good given right, you must be vigilant and always be willing to fight for it give your life if necessary.
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We really got a man named Stalin talking about the threat of those with dictatorial tendencies to civil society... And making good points lol
