Amid the coronavirus pandemic, a rogues’ gallery of emboldened authoritarians and tin-pot populists have used newly granted emergency powers to consolidate control, undermine human rights, and crack down on civil society. But could this insidious assault on fundamental freedoms backfire?
Activists and scholars have warned for years that civic space – the environment that enables citizens to organise, participate, and communicate openly – is under attack. And now, the coronavirus has unleashed “a parallel epidemic of authoritarian and repressive measures”, according to Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights.
However, in some countries where civic space is under attack civil society remains vibrant and activism is flourishing as frontline, grassroots activists and local leaders adapt to the crisis.
