Advocates warn in Newsweek that attacks by the Trump administration and their surrogates are the same tactics used by strongman regimes in Hungary, Russia and El Salvador.
President Donald Trump is sending his officials to investigate private nonprofits' internal operations and cutting federal funding for nonprofit organizations for a reason. There is also purpose behind House Republicans passing new taxes on philanthropies that fund nonprofit work.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), meanwhile, is hosting congressional hearings this month accusing non-government organizations (NGOs) of pay to play schemes without merit. The argument: NGOs fund proposals the majority doesn't like, claim Laleh Ispahani, managing Director of Programs at the Open Society Foundations, and Paul Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance.
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“Civil society groups minister to their communities, influence policy, and protect vulnerable groups,” authors say. “They step in when the government cannot or will not act, filling the gaps that enable our communities to survive and thrive. And they help hold governments accountable—by encouraging independent thought, building resistance to unjust actions, and giving millions of Americans a voice.”
“We've seen this playbook before in countries from El Salvador to India to Russia,” they write. “In Viktor Orban's Hungary, the government attacked non-governmental organizations focused on human rights as an ‘enemy within.’ In Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil, the administration weaponized bureaucratic tools to punish adversarial groups and reward aligned ones.”
Authoritarian government leader work to isolate voices of opposition, silence dissent, and sweep away methods of accountability. It's a strategy they say is “designed to make the ruling regime the sole voice of authority and the only institution capable of setting the nation's course.”
And the results, they add, are clear.
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“In countries where autocrats have successfully stifled civil society … NGOs that hold governments accountable are forced to close, and groups that are not sanctioned by the state—whether they are religious groups or not—are barred from doing their work to help people in need,” they say.
This is the time to “show up—with our words and our actions—when non-governmental organizations are under assault,” they argue, “even if the organization is not our community service provider or advocating for our priority.”
“Even when it impacts our safety and security. We must stand firm for the freedom of NGOs to provide services, speak out, and hold the powerful accountable … as the voice of authoritarianism grows louder.”
Read the full Newsweek report here.