We know how to safeguard democracy. But why aren't we doing it more effectively?

“. . . wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government”, Thomas Jefferson (Paris Jan. 8. 1789)

“Neighboring” is a new verb Thomas Friedman recently discussed in a New York Times op ed. Friedman had just visited his home town Minneapolis and reported on how the community had stood together to confront ICE raids on their immigrant and even American-born neighbors.

Minnesotans were taking kids to school or shopping for total strangers who were too scared to leave the house because of their immigration status. Friedman is quoting former city councilman Don Samuels: “This was Minnesota standing up — not being just ‘nice’ but being good and courageous and unified, . . . Something was born in this crisis that could never have been born on a good day. Otherness has been replaced with kinship between brown, Black and white Minneapolitans.”

Friedman describes citizen participation or lived democracy, a community coming together to protect their most vulnerable members. But why does it take an outside threat, such as masked ICE agents or possibly a war, to bring a diverse and demographically evolving citizenry together? What if the threat were diffuse and not so “in-your-face”?

There are plenty of threats to democratic systems from within. Extremists on the right and the left openly challenge our democratic forms of government. Europe-wide and in the U.S. we are witnessing a surge to the right socially and politically. Easy answers are offered in the face of global economic, environmental and social challenges. A vague yearning for a mythical “better past” fuels anti-feminist and anti-foreigner sentiments. The price of voting these extreme voices into power is a dismantling of the law-based guardrails of our democracies such as a free press and independent branches of government. Just look at what is happening in the U.S.

How do we motivate ourselves and fellow citizens to stand up before it is too late and confront everyday racism and injustice no matter what political angle it feeds on?

Civic education is key ― but it is not enough

Germany has received praise for its memory culture. Numerous programs have been highlighting the horrors of the Nazi past and the effects of authoritarian government on society. Civic education is mandatory in all 16 state curricula with the goal to provide students with the knowledge and tools to become active, informed citizens.

Schools and universities are supported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Established as the Federal Agency for Homeland Services in 1952 with branches in all federal states and renamed in 1963, the agency`s goal has been to strengthen the then still young German democracy with non-partisan, research-based, independent programs and publications made available at no costs to Germans of all ages. Since then, many generations have grown up with the brief, but excellent brochures “Informationen zur politischen Bildung” (Information on Civic Education) covering everything from how a parliamentary democracy works to the European unification process and foreign policy issues. But worthy and essential as all these federal and state-based efforts are, they don’t seem to be enough.

One challenge might be that how we talk about democracy and democratic values is too abstract. We need to acknowledge that democracy in action can be a tedious process and change too slow in a fast moving world. And yet, as Winston Churchill said: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” (Winston Churchill, 11 November 1947).

Listening to the young and filling democracy with life

Filling democratic ideals with life needs to start with the young, but it is a lifelong commitment for all of us. Education is a human right and the best tool to lift people out of poverty. Autocratic forces fear educated citizens who know the principles of citizenship, ethics and democratic participation.

An openness to right wing extremism is on the rise among all generations, from 21.8 percent in 2021 to 29.6 percent in 2025 (MOTRA study), but increasingly among young people.

The annual school survey by the Bosch Foundation (Das deutsche Schulbarometer) adds an interesting perspective: three quarters of students age 11 to 17 would like to be able to influence topics discussed in schools, but 80 percent don’t feel like they are being “heard.” In other words, while civic education still has its place, civic participation doesn’t take place to a large part during these formative years. Add to that the impact of the Covid years, climate change and an increasing threat of armed conflict around the world, and the yearning for easy answers might provide a fertile ground for attracting the young to extremist ideologies.

Civic education shouldn’t be left to the schools alone. Educators and civil society need to work together inter-generationally to engage the young in community activities by giving them a voice. What we all need is the ability and willingness of citizens to think critically and question answers which are suspiciously easy for complex issues, based on a range of reliable facts. We need to learn what it is we are losing concretely when these rights are challenged. And we need to review projects and initiatives to support civic participation and honestly ask: Is this enough to equip our citizens to understand and practice democracy in its concrete form? How do we keep citizens engaged beyond commemorative events and elections?

Here is a concrete example that offers the potential for long-term civic engagement. This year for the first time, March 18 commemorated a country-wide “Day of the History of Democracy” under the patronage of Germany’s Federal President Steinmeier. A foundation funded by the Federal Government has been working with civil society to involve all age groups in exploring the history of democratic movements from the long forgotten declaration of the Mainz Republic in 1793, the revolution in 1848 to the first free elections in the former GDR on the very same day in 1990. The holiday frames a positive story by highlighting democratic traditions in Germany often overshadowed by the story of the authoritarian Nazi regime and dictatorship in the former GDR. March 18 as a holiday will complement the discussion of another fateful day in Germany: November 9 which marks the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, Hitler’s attempt to overthrow the young Weimar Democracy in Munich in 1923 (the Beer Hall Putsch), the horrible Reichspogromnacht (November Progroms) in 1938 and finally the joyfully celebrated fall of the Wall in 1989.

The “Day of the History of Democracy”: it’s just another educational project, you might say. Educational, yes, because it is essential to know your history, the good parts and the bad ones. But the concept for March 18 involves activities highlighting that we are standing on the shoulders of those generations that have paved the way for a strong democratic state after World War II. It encourages us to become more active by reminding us that it is now our turn to safeguard democracy.

One of the activities in the March 18 program was taking place in Mühlhausen in Thuringia, a German state where the right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has reached 37 percent approval ratings. Fifteen-year old high school students worked with local artist Anne Zimmermann in their local library to create a graphic novel on the theme of democracy. Anne Zimmermann is helping student to move beyond the abstract and make democracy a personal experience: “They ask themselves specifically, what does this mean for me? Not what democracy means in general. But, where can I find it in my life? Where does it manifest itself? And then I can tell a story about it.”

One of the students, Helene Aldehon, is exploring women’s political rights: “I wanted to depict a polling station where women were given the right to vote for the first time.”

Frieda Strude, another student, reveals her thinking about the project: “I simply think it’s important. Without justice or a sense of justice among the population, you can’t achieve anything, I would say. And without civic courage and solidarity, certainly nothing.”

Pretty impressive, these fifteen-year olds! Both students are connecting an abstract concept with the personal. They are discovering what the Minnesotans felt when they were protecting their neighbors from ICE raids: Civic participation needs to be built on empathy. It is empathy that fills democracy with life.

The students in Mühlhausen will share their work with the wider community ― which is key. They are motivated because their engagement is not restricted to the classroom or purely academic. It has a purpose.

What we can do

Strategically and purposefully strengthening our communities is the basis for safety and prosperity and takes the oxygen out of extremism. It requires an effort. But the effort will be necessary and worth it to rebuild trust in our democratic societies from the ground up.

Creative potential is all around us. We need to join forces across generations, on the local level, in our neighborhoods and tap into the talent that is there, like artist Anne Zimmermann who is sharing her skills with local students. Sports and the arts are crucial in that process because they bring people together in person in joint activities.

Established institutions such as libraries, community centers and organizations ranging from sports clubs to voluntary firefighter organizations need to take a hard look at their structures and outreach programs. Can we do things differently to attract younger participants? How do we make use of social media as a tool for outreach, yet create space for physical interaction? How do we include ideas of the young and allow them to shape programs and activities? Even giving young people a political voice is easier that one might think. Establishing youth councils, for example, on the local level can help shape city politics, strengthen communities and fill democratic participation with life.

So let’s do a little “neighboring.”

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Notes

https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/118

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/opinion/columnists/minneapolis-ice-trump-neighbor.html

https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government

https://www.unesco.org/en/right-education/need-know?hub=70224

https://www.bpb.de/die-bpb/ueber-uns/federal-agency-for-civic-education

https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/service/archive/archive/9-november-a-historically-signficant-date-479436

Referencing the MOTRA study in https://www.praeventionstag.de/nano.cms/news/details/10668