Unless studied closely, the past 20 years of Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies blur together, with each being more restrictive than the last. Yet at the end of 2023, the Russian Supreme Court reached a new low when it ruled that the “international LGBTQ+ movement” is an “extremist organization.” Though there is no entity with that name, the intentionally broad label could be applied to any and all queer persons and those suspected of supporting them. In a closed-door hearing with no defendant, the Court determined that this “movement” was “inciting social and religious discord.” Punishment for supporting an “extremist organization” can be up to 12 years in prison, frozen bank accounts, and disqualification from running for public office. Simply displaying the “symbols” of an extremist organization (such as a rainbow) can have a penalty of up to 4 years in prison. The court ruling is a setback for LGBTQ+ rights and exemplifies how authoritarians attempt to hold on to power, sow disinformation, and silence opposition.

Escalating Restrictions and Authoritarian Creep

The new ruling is only the latest in a steady escalation of Russian anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policy. While ostensibly framed as a return to some mythical “traditional values,” the scapegoating of the queer community has coincided with Vladimir Putin’s efforts to maintain his hold on power.

Between 2006 and 2013, various Russian mayors attempted regional bans on LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” The bans marked a turning point in Putin’s regime by bringing a crackdown on civil liberties and freedoms that continues to escalate to this day. Also around this time, Putin’s public addresses and speeches began to focus on the theme of family and “traditional values” as a distinguishing feature between the Russian Federation and “the liberal West.”

In 2013, Russia outlawed the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors. Any media materials showing queer relationships in a positive light had to be sealed with an “18+” label, as if they were pornography. This led to a documented rise in hate crimes, which doubled between 2013 and 2015. In response to global criticism against this new law, the government emphasized that the law was only “about protecting children” and “not about imposing any kind of sanctions against homosexuality.” In 2013, Putin claimed, “[sexual minorities] are full-fledged members of our society and are not being discriminated against in any way.” The coming years made clear that these repressive laws had nothing to do with the interests of Russian families. Rather, exemplifying a common pattern of authoritarian creep, they were just the beginning of a more expansive wave of repression.

‍“Traditional Values” in Putin’s War of Misinformation

By 2022, Russia had banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among people of all ages, a culmination of antigay rhetoric that had been worsening year by year. An outsider may wonder, Why had the LGBTQ+ community in particular become the target of government-sanctioned hate? Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made clear the true objective of this campaign.

Putin actively uses anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric as part of his misinformation campaign to justify the Ukraine war. Talk of defeating “Nazis” in Ukraine has been replaced by calls to defend the Russian family, and the war is positioned as an existential battle against the immoral West. According to one Russian lawmaker, “we are fighting so that in Russia instead of mom and dad there isn’t ‘parent No. 1,’ ‘parent No. 2,’ ‘parent No. 3.’ ”

In July 2023, the Kremlin used the war with Ukraine to justify bans on transgender healthcare and legal gender change. Abortion access is also under threat. All are framed as a threat to Russia’s “traditional values” and way of life, but the focus on abortion is particularly ironic because in 1920 the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to legalize abortion.

‍Sending a Message to the Opposition

The Russian Supreme Court’s latest “extremism” ruling only went into effect in January 2024. Police raids on LGBTQ+ clubs began almost immediately. Though more repression is inevitably coming, it remains unclear exactly how the new ruling will be implemented. The uncertainty has caused panic, and many individuals have made urgent arrangements to leave the country. In response, Russian LGBTQ+ movement leaders are working to bring international political attention to their situation in Russia in hopes of building greater support for their community and to condemn the persecution of peaceful human-rights activists.

The broader lesson is that Putin now has another tool for targeting his political opposition and those who dare to oppose his bloody war in Ukraine. Activists beyond the LGBTQ+ community are rightfully concerned that similar laws can be used to target them in the future.  

‍Modeling Repression

Russia models its anti-LGBTQ+ policies worldwide and is setting a dangerous example globally. The draconian laws provide a chilling example of how targeting minority groups can have widespread repercussions while serving as an easy political tool. Creating internal enemies stokes fear and consolidates power. In 2021, Hungary enacted a law that replicated the Russian antipropaganda law. More recently, Uganda passed a cruel antihomosexuality bill. Russia considers scapegoating the LGBTQ+ community such an effective tool that it tried to share its strategies with Sudan in 2019 while advising the Sudanese government on how to quell pro-democracy protests. Each repressive action against a minority group can bring grave consequences that include increased nonstate violence, financial restrictions, and justification for the state targeting of individuals.

Russia’s escalation in repressions serves as a stark warning for those witnessing a resurgence of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in their own countries. Targeting the queer community serves as a political tool to suppress opposition, activists, and dissenting voices.

We must remain vigilant against the extremist laws being used to silence political opponents. And we must remember that the fight for LGBTQ+ rights is inseparable from the broader struggle for human rights and democratic values worldwide.

Originally published by the Kettering Foundation. From Many, We is a Kettering Foundation blog series that highlights the insights of thought leaders dedicated to the idea of inclusive democracy.

Now is the time of year when we often hear the phrase “home for the holidays.” But what exactly is “home” for those like my house guests, who have left and can never go back? What does it mean when your home exists but is unrecognizable?

I left my native Belarus in 1994 and have never returned since. My own story mirrors the millions living in a perpetual state of exile, compelled to leave their birthplace due to conflict, political upheaval, religious persecution or the impact of climate change.

At the end of 2022, some 71.1 million people remained displaced within the borders of their own country, with an estimated 36.4 million refugees and 6.1 million asylum seekers worldwide. Moreover, according to the World Bank’s worst-case figures, as water becomes more scarce and agricultural livelihoods are threatened, some 216 million people could move internally by 2050.

Each of these experiences will be unique, but the plight of leaving our birthplaces and redefining what home means — both in the present and for our futures — is one that’s shared.

So, what exactly is a home, and can we have more than one?

We recently asked this question of a group of exiled journalists from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Russia. And their answers varied widely.

“Home is where other people speak my language;” “home is a place with familiar smells;” “home is where my childhood memories live.”

These responses echo my own perceptions of home. That much of what defines home is intangible, that it is a feeling, a sense, a collection of memories.

I have lived in the United States for almost 30 years now — more than twice as long as I lived in my native Belarus. But I hadn’t felt a connection to my “new” home until the Tree of Life massacre — the 2018 synagogue shooting — in my American city of Pittsburgh. As my adopted hometown grieved, I grieved with it. Having walked the intersection where the synagogue sits hundreds of times, I didn’t feel like an exile or a transplant then. And my adolescent memories entangled with the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh.

Yet, when Belarus later experienced a pro-democracy uprising in 2020, after its dictator Alexander Lukashenko — already in power for 26 years — attempted to falsify the results of another election, it was as if I was transported to the city of my birth. Glued to social media, fully absorbed in the events taking place there, I acutely felt that this was also happening at home.

Then, when the uprising was violently crushed a few months later, thousands of Belarusians joined me in exile.

A home doesn’t need to be perfect — it often isn’t. They are places we want to improve, challenge and make better for our own generation and the next.

Exiled journalists shoulder much of this responsibility, publishing stories and investigations deemed too perilous for their counterparts back home. They exemplify a new approach to championing human rights, emphasizing the need for a solidarity that extends beyond borders and a more unified fight for justice. They inform, investigate and weave together stories that create a sense of shared community and responsibility. And thanks to the fluidity of today’s technology, enabling collaboration and connection across borders, they are transcending geographic limitations and redefining their roles.

In authoritarian countries like Belarus, internal exile is becoming the norm for such free-thinking citizens, as those who disagree with the dictatorial regime must keep their opinions to themselves, lest they risk prison or worse.

Others leave for a new place, but ties to the old remain. And this enduring connection is especially pronounced among those same journalists and activists committed to bettering their homeland, resisting rights abuses, and challenging the regressive policies that ultimately compelled them to choose exile.

We see this, for example, with Russian independent media, as almost all were forced to leave after the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But even while entire newsrooms were relocating, they didn’t skip a beat, relentlessly reporting on President Vladimir Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and the escalating repression in Russia.

In an effort to undermine this work and erase dissent, authoritarians often brand such exiles as out of touch. And those who subscribe to this perspective inadvertently prop up strongmen leaders.

So, with half the world preparing for major elections in 2024, now is the time to support these critical voices so essential in shining a light on the truth. We must help fund them, platform their perspectives in Western media, and offer a supportive space to share their ideas and continue their work. Such amplification is essential for a more nuanced and inclusive discourse. And without it, authoritarianism will flourish.

The concept of “home” for the exiled is a complex tapestry woven with threads of memory, resilience and pain. And as we witness the growing numbers of displaced individuals globally, our understanding of belonging must evolve. In this age of exile, let us embrace a broader definition of home — one that extends beyond geographical confines and recognizes the power of shared ideals to unite us all.

Originally published by Politico Europe.

I felt transported back to September 11, 2001, in New York City: first was the shock and pain of loss, and then the immediate anger and disbelief as collective grief was used to justify not only wars abroad but also domestic crackdowns on civil liberties in the US. This ambiguous “war on terror” included increased surveillance codified into law by the Patriot Act; the overpolicing of Muslim communities; and the horrific kidnapping, detention, and torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other secret facilities globally. Over 20 years later, many of these wrongs have not been righted and have become an accepted part of the American political landscape.

Authoritarian-leaning governments deploy numerous strategies to shut down dissent and consolidate power domestically: co-opting independent media, increasing citizen surveillance, restricting internet freedom, limiting the right to protest, and so on. Usually, would-be authoritarians make an initial effort to justify these policies by vilifying their opposition and scapegoating minority populations in the name of “national security.”  

War makes the job easier: It’s the ultimate opportunity to diminish civil liberties in the name of “patriotism” and the war effort.

Precedents Set in the Russia-Ukraine War

Vladimir Putin has made full use of war as a tool of domestic repression since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. An already repressive state was made even more so after a March 2022 law amending the criminal code to include “public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” In practice, this law has been used to silence protests and crack down on all remaining independent media. Journalists committed to continued reporting of the truth were forced to flee the country and set up as media in exile simply for calling the conflict a war rather than a special military operation. Thousands of people have been detained and hundreds face criminal charges and prison sentences for speaking out against the war, posting about it on social media, or even holding a blank piece of paper. Teachers have lost their jobs and students have been arrested.  

And wartime restrictions are not limited to Russia in this conflict: Ukraine’s government has also been putting limits on its citizens in the name of war. Wartime media restrictions were compounded by the December 2022 legislation that drastically increased the role of the government’s media regulator and the monopoly of state-run media. These restrictions were justified as resistance to Russian disinformation. As a result, independent journalists report increased self-censorship and compounded challenges when reporting on controversial issues such as government corruption. To be sure, there is no need for false equivalencies: Ukraine is fighting a war for its survival and one of Russia’s potent weapons has been its well-financed and sophisticated propaganda machine. But at a time when Ukrainian civil society has resumed its steadfast work of holding its government to account, it is important that critical local voices are able to have broad reach in the name of a more pluralistic and democratic Ukraine.  

Silencing Dissent in Israel  

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has also been cracking down on freedom of speech and the right to protest. Police have arrested protestors—including former members of Knesset, Israel’s parliament—and Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a police ban on antiwar protests. Emergency regulations have extended the maximum time for detention without a lawyer. On November 8, the Knesset amended the Counter-Terrorism Law to criminalize “the consumption of terrorist materials,” including online content. As a result, Israeli citizens’ social media posts are leading to police questioning, detention, and arrest for alleged “support for the enemy.” Even messages of unity are being silenced. Peace activists were detained for publicly displaying a simple message: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together.”  

Autocratic Hamas has engaged in years of brutal repressions and restrictions of Palestinians’ freedom of expression in Gaza. But Hamas’ actions do not excuse Israel from adhering to democratic norms and respecting the rights of its citizens. If national trauma is used to secure unchecked power, Israel further diminishes its claims to being a functioning democracy.

It is important to remember that right up to October 7, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets weekly to oppose proposed judicial reforms that would curtail the power of their supreme court. Israelis saw these reforms as a way for Prime Minister Netanyahu to evade his corruption trial and impose authoritarian rule. This protest movement, the largest in the country’s history, warned that their far-right government’s actions were making the country more vulnerable to attack; tragically, they were right. If current protests against Netanyahu grow, it would not be surprising for the government to justify more direct repression to resist the increasingly loud calls for his removal.

A Call to Action for the United States

Even the most unpopular leaders can instrumentalize war to secure unchecked power for themselves and their allies. Would-be authoritarians watch each other and learn from each other’s examples. All of the US presidential candidates for 2024 are noting how war can make domestic policy changes possible.

As a Jewish American immigrant from Ukraine, I am keenly aware that history repeats itself unless citizens pay attention and deliberately push back. I am deeply inspired by the journalists, legal advocates, and ordinary citizens who are standing up for justice and actively resisting the dismantling of democratic norms in times of a national emergency. Prodemocracy leaders within the US can and should learn valuable lessons from the work of these activists.

In Israel, legal advocacy organizations like Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel are working to protect freedom of speech and the right to protest. The prodemocracy protest movement has reoriented to direct mutual aid work and is providing essential services to the families of hostages in the stark absence of government support. Peace activists like Peace Now and Standing Together remain committed to Israeli-Palestinian solidarity, even in wartime, and are holding the government to account for its domestic repressions.

Russian independent media like Bumaga, Dozhd, and Proekt have relocated abroad to continue reporting for Russian audiences. Organizations like OVD Info are defending the right to freedom of assembly inside of Russia. In Ukraine, the Institute of Mass Information works to maintain journalistic standards and freedom of speech. Ukrainian independent media like Slidstvo are reporting on the war but also holding their government to account, while legal advocacy groups like the Kharkiv Human Rights Group are documenting Russian war crimes and also defending the rights of Ukrainian citizens, including those held in prisons and police detention.

Now is the time to support these civil liberties champions; direct financial support from the international community strengthens their ability to stand up to authoritarian measures. It is also the time for US civil society organizations to build meaningful relationships with international movement leaders who have direct experience with wartime repression. Examples of effective antiauthoritarian resistance provide valuable lessons to other democracies at risk, and we urgently need these lessons to build our own preparedness.

Originally published by the Kettering Foundation. From Many, We is a Kettering Foundation blog series that highlights the insights of thought leaders dedicated to the idea of inclusive democracy.

This is not a description of the expulsion last month of two Black Democratic Tennessee lawmakers, Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, after they stood with protesters advocating for gun control. Instead, it is an account of an eerily similar event in 2012 when the pro-Kremlin majority in the State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house, voted to expel a dissident lawmaker, Gennady Gudkov, for joining anti-Putin protests.

The lawmaker’s expulsion set a dangerous precedent for the suppression of dissent in Russia. Similar tactics are now showing up in the United States, including in the Tennessee case and then a few weeks later in Montana, when Republican state legislators barred Rep. Zooey Zephyr from the House floor for speaking out against a bill banning gender-affirming care for youth.

All of this is straight out of the authoritarian playbook, a set of strategies used by corrupt political leaders to seize and maintain power, consolidate wealth, and repress dissent.

We were both born under the former Soviet Union’s repressive regime. As rights and justice grant makers, we have successfully supported activists in the most challenging and restrictive countries in the Eurasia region, including Russia — first with the Open Society Foundations and now as co-founders of Stroika, where we fund and connect resistance movements around the globe.

We know all too well that authoritarianism doesn’t take hold overnight. The first time something as egregious as expelling democratically elected leaders happens, it seems shocking and unprecedented. The next time, however, it no longer seems quite so horrific. Authoritarians will continue to push the line, further and further.

To be sure, the United States is not Russia. Borrowing lessons from the civil-rights movement, expelled Tennessee lawmakers Jones and Pearson showed what it looks like to fight back and quickly regain their seats. The authoritarian playbook works only when the tactics elicit fear and keep people in line.

Change begins with those who resist. We have witnessed firsthand how supporting passionate and pragmatic advocates — whether they work in organizations, informal movements, or on their own — can thwart authoritarianism and alter history. In this fraught and fragile moment for U.S. democracy, there is much philanthropy can learn from Russian activists about how to help build a stronger antiauthoritarian movement in this country. Here’s what our grant making in Russia and other countries battling autocracy has taught us:

‍Learn from those who have lived through rising authoritarianism. Campaigns to attack social-change advocates of all stripes — Indigenous climate activists, feminists, independent journalists, and more — are increasingly coordinated, resourced, and connected throughout the world. They are designed to keep movements in a reactive mode, forcing advocates to fight local struggles on their own rather than joining larger efforts to stop authoritarianism.

At the same time, social-change movement leaders are hungry to learn from each other and to work together across issue areas and geographical boundaries. They already see the intersections in their work — whether they focus on reproductive or racial justice, climate or voter protection, labor or trans rights. Jones and Pearson, for example, knew their expulsion was mostly about racism and the stifling of dissenting voices, not guns.

Most progressive donors, however, lack an interdisciplinary approach to funding, keeping movements separate and limiting true collaboration. In the face of encroaching authoritarianism, that must change.

Grant makers can start by taking the simple but critical step of supporting in-person and online gatherings where individuals who are under attack can connect, strategize, and learn from those living through rising authoritarianism. They should then provide generous and flexible funding for activists to experiment and test out the new tactics they’ve learned together.Our organization, for instance, is bringing together 30 intersectional feminist and LGBTQ+ activists from around the world this summer to develop strategies to fight back against political leaders pushing a “traditional values” playbook used by authoritarians from Moscow to Texas to create fear and draw attention away from real problems. We hope to raise another $120,000 for the event so that all participants will leave with seed grants for their work.

‍Counter misinformation with accurate and hopeful stories. Authoritarians attempt to manipulate public opinion through rapid, continuous, and repetitive lies — or what scholars Christopher Paul and Mariam Matthews call “the firehose of falsehoods.” Getting in front of misinformation or propaganda, instead of refuting falsehoods, is the most effective response. That means priming the public with the correct information and hope-based alternatives to fearmongering — before the lies start escalating.

Jones and Pearson were strategic in calling out the authoritarian tactics that their expulsion represented. They took advantage of this critical moment to draw attention to a frightening shift in U.S. politics, while continuing to speak out for their constituents’ concerns and energize their supporters.

The events in Tennessee have created a valuable opening for broadening the national conversation, not just about authoritarian tactics, but also about the hopeful possibilities for resistance. Philanthropy must ensure that journalists and storytellers are resourced and well trained in how to explain these dangerous trends.

This involves more than investing in a professional cadre of so-called narrative-change consultants. Donors should help build strategic communications skills within progressive movements by investing directly in content creating organizations such as TransLash Media and Scalawag Magazine, political commentators like the abolitionist lawyer Olayemi Olurin, and socially engaged artists. Their voices serve as a powerful antidote to hate and fear.

‍Fund local movements. States and municipalities have become laboratories for authoritarian tactics. The far right has spent the past decades investing in a big tent of white nationalist and antidemocratic allies at the local level to complement a network of neutral-sounding national and global think tanks and professional groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, CitizenGo, World Congress of Families, and the American College of Pediatricians, all of which push a far-right agenda.

Major liberal donors, after spending years focusing their funding on large international and national organizations, must now play catch-up. Local pushback is critical — and where philanthropic resources are urgently needed today.

‍Prepare for worst-case scenarios. Anti-nonprofit rhetoric took off during the Trump administration, including questioning sources of nonprofit funding to delegitimize activist movements. This was straight out of the authoritarian playbooks of Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Both men have first vilified donor-funded nonprofits and then used the banking and legal systems to criminalize the nonprofits’ activities and prevent them from receiving financial support.

Donors shouldn’t wait until these tactics arrive in the United States to act. They should immediately start funding and expanding digital, physical, and financial security measures, and emergency plans for organizers and their families. This includes funding security audits and building flexible financial reserves into grantee budgets for emergency use, such as covering legal fees, crisis communications support, and even relocation costs.

Records between donors and grantees that reveal personal information or internal strategic documents should also be secured. Stroika advises donors on how to meet their compliance requirements while minimizing grantee risks in case of a data breach.

‍Don’t recede into cynicism. Grant makers should be clear-eyed about the similarities between the United States and its more authoritarian counterparts, but also recognize the differences. This country is not living under Putin-like rule. We still have wide space for dissent, a vibrant civil society, and clear pathways to political change, despite deliberate attempts to restrict democratic practice. Enough Tennesseans recognized the unacceptable actions of Republican legislators to reinstate Jones and Pearson to their rightful positions as their representatives.

Ample opportunities remain to act and change America’s authoritarian trajectory before it becomes status quo. This is the moment for donors of progressive movements to let go of American exceptionalism, deepen their understanding of authoritarian tactics, and build forward-looking strategies to prevent further democratic backsliding.

Originally published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Working through a daze of shock and grief, we started a small grassroots fund to raise money for Ukrainian groups we knew and respected, who were not getting adequate support from international aid efforts. We set out to raise $100,000.

The STROIKA Ukraine Fund has exceeded all of our expectations: we have now raised over half a million dollars for the Ukrainian grassroots. By the end of 2022, we will have disbursed over $420,000 to seven local organizations working in public health, human rights, and environmental protection. An additional $100,000 will be going out in January to five feminist organizations, and we continue to fundraise. These funds come at a critical time for the groups, as this brutal war grinds on and a long cold winter with frequent power outages has set in.

Having seen that war is the ultimate tool in the authoritarian toolbox, STROIKA’s mission is all the more urgent: to reverse the tide of rising authoritarianism globally by building, resourcing, and connecting resistance movements around the globe.  

In 2023, we will continue to provide networking and fundraising support for exiled journalists who have fled their politically oppressive countries. We will bring together for joint strategizing abortion rights activists working across borders (US/Mexico & Poland/Ukraine), and will pilot strategic communications work to challenge “traditional values” and “anti-gender” narratives in authoritarian contexts. And we are most excited to launch a globally-focused STROIKA Anti-Authoritarian Fund, building on the Ukraine Fund’s success. We look forward to sharing more information with you soon.

We are also continuing to provide consulting support to private philanthropies and international NGOs, both large and small. Maximizing the impact of the ‘social good’ sector is a critical part of our mission, because even the best-intentioned organizations fall short of their purpose when they don’t properly attend to critical internal issues. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to learn more about how we can help.

As this intense year winds down, we offer a very heartfelt thank you for your support. You were with us from our earliest days, and it has meant the world to us.

We wish you and your loved ones a restful holiday season. We hope that the new year is a healthier and more peaceful one for us all.

With deep gratitude,
Yelena & Tatyana
STROIKA, Inc.