We Say ‘Big Tent’ - Now It’s Time to Build It
Civic space isn’t just shrinking – it’s being actively closed. Efforts to restrict civic organizing, criminalize dissent, and limit public participation are accelerating. If the pro-democracy movement is going to be successful, we need to shift our strategies, and that means putting aside our egos, learning to collaborate, and actually building the big tent we claim to have.
As Rachel Kleinfeld warns in her recent piece, Closing Civic Space in the United States: Connecting the Dots, Changing the Trajectory, we don’t need to wait to reach the final line of Niemöller’s famous poem, "First they came…” We know how it ends. We know enough to act now.
Here are three key shifts we need to make, along with practical actions and questions to move from ideas to strategy:
1. Complicate the Narrative: Narratives shape how people see their role in democracy, and authoritarianism wins by controlling that story, dividing the opposition, exploiting mistrust, and making people believe they don’t have a stake in the fight. If we assume the battle lines are already drawn, we risk reinforcing that exclusion and alienating those who could still be mobilized.
📌 Action Item: Assess how you or your organization frames the fight for democracy. Are you unintentionally reinforcing divisions? Find one way to broaden your messaging to bring in people who might not yet see themselves in the movement.
💬 Question to Consider: Who is missing from the pro-democracy conversation, and what would it take to bring them in?
2. Leverage Cross-Sector Resistance: Authoritarian tactics don’t just target advocacy groups, they chip away at democratic norms across civil society, businesses, the media, and institutions. Building alliances beyond traditional pro-democracy spaces makes it harder for repression to succeed and expands the base of those defending civic space.
📌 Action Item: Identify one sector (business, media, faith communities, etc.) you or your organization haven’t engaged with. How could you start that conversation?
💬 Question to Consider: What untapped alliances could strengthen the defense of civic space? Where is cross-sector collaboration already working?
3. Coalitions, Not Silos: Too often, groups compete rather than collaborate, making it easier for governments to shrink civic space. But coalition-building isn’t just about working together, it’s about confronting real differences, past harm, and tensions within movements and choosing to move forward anyway. That takes both strategy and courage – aligning efforts, addressing internal fractures, and acting collectively, especially in times of crisis. A fragmented movement is easy to dismiss; a united one is far harder to silence.
📌 Action Item: Identify one organization, leader, or group within your movement or sector that you’ve been hesitant to engage with due to differences. What conversation needs to happen to move forward?
💬 Question to Consider: What past tensions or divisions have weakened your movement, and what would it take to prioritize shared goals over ideological purity?
These shifts won’t happen overnight – but they need to happen sooner rather than later. Authoritarianism thrives on sowing confusion, division, and inaction. When we fail to break down silos, confront hard truths, challenge rigid narratives, and expand our alliances, we’re not just limiting our effectiveness, we’re making it easier for those who seek to undermine democracy.
If we truly believe in the power of a big tent, we need to start acting like it. So we have a choice: double down on division or do the hard work of building a movement that can actually win. The playbook for shrinking civic space is well-documented – so is the playbook for pushing back.
