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Countering the demagogues
From the shock of Brexit in the UK to the surprise election of President Trump in the US and the ensuing massive global mobilization of women’s marches in early 2017, populist movements are achieving unexpected …
Messages that work
‘He expanded the definition of “us” and shrank the definition of “them”.’ This was the core of Bill Clinton’s eulogy at the funeral of Martin McGuinness, the former IRA leader turned peacemaker in Northern Ireland. …
Philanthropic solidarity: now more than ever
The last year has seen a rising wave of threats to democracy, to our environment, and to marginalized communities around the world. Here in the US, an electoral shift has given rise to a threatening …
The power of open dialogue: how to keep Europe talking
Fill a room with European policymakers and ask them about European values. You will quickly become aware of how inflammatory the topic of solidarity has become at EU level. In a continent that is divided, …
Refugees welcome: Germany can do it!
Summer 2015: 200,000…800,000…1,000,000… official estimates of the number of displaced people arriving in Germany continually lagged behind the facts. Germans worried about how their country could deal with such an influx of people. Yet at …
The story of Ghayat and Biggi… and all the others
Everything is different for Ghayat Svied now that he knows Biggi Marburger. Gayat Svied is 42 years old, has a degree in biology and worked for 17 years in environmental protection in Syria. For the …
Keeping the ‘open society’ open
In recent years, populism and solidarity have been the focus of public debate. Both issues are very much interlinked: if one wants to avoid radical populists gaining the upper hand, solidarity with those who feel …
Unaccompanied, but not alone
In addition to a moral duty to provide protection to refugees, it is in Europe’s self-interest to recognize the opportunity inherent in every individual, particularly those migrant children and youth who are in Europe unaccompanied …
‘With’, not ‘to’: the meaning of solidarity in an age of austerity
Solidarity provides philanthropy with the opportunity to move beyond benevolence to identifying with the experience of those who need our support as they face many and varied challenges. Whether you are committed to providing a …
The sharing economy can build new forms of solidarity
When I began writing about the sharing economy in 2009, the eclectic array of struggling, communitarian-minded tech start-ups in San Francisco was just one small part of a vast number of sharing innovations that made …