Defend Democracy

Defend Democracy is thrilled to join the European Parliament plenary session for the #SakharovPrize award ceremony. This year's award will go to María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, who represent Venezuelans fighting for freedom & democracy. 📺 17 Dec at 12:00 CET https://lnkd.in/eXYHB4Pb

Last week, Defend Democracy's Coalition for Democratic Resilience held a timely conference: 'Preparing & Shielding European Democracy', connecting the dots between two upcoming EU Commission initiatives: the European #DemocracyShield and the #EUpreparedness Union. After a warm welcome by FNF Europe, Ambassador (ret.) Jana Zikmundova cited President Niinisto: “We need to move from reaction to active preparedness.. from a position of strength, together with partners across the globe” — with an empowered civil society at its core. On the first panel, speakers from European External Action Service and Europe Jacques Delors discussed 'How to shield European democracy? Broadening the European Democracy Shield beyond disinformation.' Next, EU Parliamentarian Hannah Neumann, Ukraine Parliament Advisor Maria Golub & NATO Senior Advisor Ruben Diaz-Plaja discussed: 'How to build EU preparedness? President Niinistö’s Preparedness Report & the European Preparedness Union'. It was great to see representatives of EU Parliament, Ukraine Parliament and NATO discuss how to build EU's preparedness against #HybridThreats. This is exactly what the 'Coalition for Democratic Resilience' is for: we can learn from each other! Last but not least, our founder Alice Stollmeyer connected the dots between the European Democracy Shield and the EU preparedness Union. Stay tuned for more events with #DefendDemocracy's Coalition for Democratic Resilience! https://lnkd.in/e5tR_6TU

Thrilled to convene 'Coalition for Democratic Resilience' for a timely conference: 'Preparing & Shielding European Democracy', connecting the dots between two upcoming EU Commission initiatives: * European Democracy Shield * European Preparedness Union https://lnkd.in/eFs6S54Q

Honoured to welcome Signal President Meredith Whittaker, EU Commission Advisor Jim Dratwa & HoU Christian D'Cunha & US Minister Counsellor Gavin Sundwall to our #TransatlanticDemocracyDialogue. Together with allies we talked about tech, democracy & security. https://lnkd.in/eg27F5Ej

“If you want to preserve freedom and democracy, you need to fight for them every day.” On this, #DefendDemocracy fully agrees with incoming EU Council President Antonio Costa. https://lnkd.in/e7PWbWB7

91 years after Stalin's genocidal #Holodomor —a man-made famine that starved millions of Ukrainians to death— the Kremlin is again using #food as a weapon. To learn more, read Anne Applebaum's “Red Famine” or listen to episode 5 of our #RadioResilience: https://lnkd.in/e2PBri7y

Honoured to welcome EU Commission VP Jourova at our #DemocracyDrinks. Coming from a former communist state, “I was grateful to President VonDerLeyen for giving me the [European values] portfolio, because I knew exactly what I *didn’t* want to happen in our EU countries.”

Here is #DefendDemocracy's November newsletter! 📰 Read this edition: https://lnkd.in/eiWNm4VH ✏️ Sign up for future editions: https://lnkd.in/ehJ3JxaC ✅ Join our democracy defenders & stay tuned!

On 19 November, meet EU Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova at our monthly #DemocracyDrinks. At the end of her mandate, this is your chance to ask her a final question about democracy and to say goodbye in person. RSVP: https://lnkd.in/egByFb3h

How democracies quietly transform into oligarchies without anyone noticing. #DefendDemocracy https://lnkd.in/ePktR_AX