Connecting
pro-democracy
civil society
in Europe and the wider region
Our mission is to foster cooperation among democratic activists, share experiences, and support one another in countries facing democratic backsliding or at risk. In a world where nationalistic populism transcends borders, our network seeks to provide global solutions and rapid support to democracy advocates worldwide.
Actions
The network was launched at the European Parliament in Brussels on 11 October 2023, bringing together hundreds of top-decision makers, and civil society leaders from across Europe, Hungary, Poland, Israel and more.
We work across several axes:
Conferences and events
Source of credible information
Connecting between our members
Events
3rd DemoCrisis Summit in partnership with the Israeli Bar Association: Protecting the judiciaries across borders
Across the world, democracies face acute challenges. Institutions once thought resilient are being undermined, and judicial independence is increasingly contested.
About
The DemoCrisis Action Network is a platform of pro-democracy civil society organisations (CSOs) in Europe and its region. Its aim is to bring democratic activists and their organisations to support each other, learn from each other’s experience, and cooperate wherever possible.
The platform is based on the premise that nationalistic populism is a global pandemic, travelling fast across borders; nationalistic leaders who succeed inspire others to follow suit.
The solution must therefore cross borders, ensuring that best practices and even moral support travel fast among freedom fighters across the world. Just like climate change requires urgent cooperation at a global level, democratic backsliding is an urgent wake-call to act together. The DemoCrisis Action Network is connecting global solutions for a global problem.
Watch the following clip from the European Parliament “Vox Box” (the Parliament’s TV studios) moderated by DemoCrisis board member Omri Preiss with Polish MEP Róża Thun and Hungarian MP Tamas Harangozo, on the origins and the urgent need for DemoCrisis’s initiative.
Background
The first decades of the 21st century are seeing a reverse of the democratisation and pacification wave of the end of the 20th century. The 1990s were concluded with euphoria over the Fall of the Berlin wall, the transition of post-soviet countries to the democratic and liberal world (and consequently accession to the EU and NATO), as well as the end of the Balkan wars, the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and even optimism over peace between Israel and the Arab world via the Oslo Accords.
Two decades later, a new wave of nationalism populism is threatening to destabilise the almost every democratic nation. The level of risk varies between countries where new populist parties making new scores in public polls to gaining power and emptying democratic institutions from within, however its impact is visible across the globe, with phenomena, which were unthinkable until they happened, including: Brexit, Trump victory of the US Presidency, democratic backsliding in Poland, Hungary and recently Israel, high scores of populist nationalist xenophobic parties in Spain, France, Germany, Finland, Greece, to name a few.
Is your civil society organisation also fighting for democracy, equality,
rule of law and civic rights?
Do you think you can benefit from working with like minded organisations across Europe and the region or benefit others?
Do you think you can benefit from working with like minded organisations across Europe and the region or benefit others?
DemoCrisis in the media
Opinion Piece
Media Highlights
They endorsed DemoCrisis
Member of the European Parliament Karima Delli (France, the Greens)
Member of the European Parliament Róża Thun (Poland, Renew Europe)
Vice-President of the European Parliament Marc Angel (Luxembourg, Socialists & Democrats).
Member of the European Parliament Sergey Lagodinsky (Germany, The Greens)
Member of the European Parliament Jan-Christoph Oetjen (Germany, Renew Europe)
Member of the European parliament Brando Benifei (Italy, Socialists & Democrats)
Vice-President of the European Parliament Othmar Karas (Austria, European People’s Party)
Board
Dan Sobovitz
Founder and Board Member
Hungarian-Swiss-Israeli citizen. He lives in Brussels with his husband and two children. Founder of spreadable.io, Managing Director of the European Startup Prize for Moblity, Board member of Brussels Secular Jewish Community Center (CCLJ), African Dialogue & Inclusion Centre (ADIC), Cecil n’est pas une crise, and EU Inside & Out. External Senior Adviser at BCW. Former speechwriter and digital strategist of European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič.
Omri Preiss
Board Member
Polish-Israeli citizen. He lives in Brussels. Omri Preiss is the managing director of the non-profit Alliance4Europe, and a founding board member of the DISARM Foundation, which oversees the Disinformation Analysis and Risk Management framework of disinformation and defense tactics. He has worked in EU policy-making, as well as advocacy, and campaigning on issues of democracy and human rights.
Maya Sion
Board Member
Israeli citizen. She lives in Jerusalem.
– Director of the Israel – Europe Relations Program at Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
– Adjunct lecturer at the European Forum at the Hebrew University and at the European Union Studies Program at Tel Aviv University.
– Former Co-President of the European Association for the Study of European Integration.
Twitter @MayaSionT.
Michal Wawrykiewicz
Board Member
Polish citizen. He lives in Warsaw.
– Practicing court lawyer (attorney-at-law), commentator of the legal and political scene in Poland, social activist, specializes in constitutional law, European law and human rights law.
– Co-founder of the #FreeCourts Initiative, one of the most influential Polish civic initiatives of the last years.
– 2022/23 fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy – project: ‘Democratic Backsliding and the Decline of the Rule of Law in Poland: Resilience, Restitution and Prevention’
Tomer Avital
Senior Strategic Advisor
Tomer Avital is an investigative journalist who gave it all up to pursue transparency in the political system. He is also a social entrepreneur, author, and an educator in journalism, media, and critical thinking.
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