Liberalism Fights Back

The fight against fascism continued in New York this week, as the hard work of collaboration and building civil society took center stage.

The debate over crowds returning to post-pandemic midtown Manhattan may be over this fall, if this past week is any evidence. Trains were full, streets were crowded, even the remaining restaurants seemed busy. Sure, this may have something to do with the United Nations General Assembly, President Biden and other heads of state, and the resurgent Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting but I also think the Mayor’s recent disparagement of New Yorkers may have thrown down the gauntlet. Imagine declaring that this city of immigrants can be “destroyed” by an influx of asylum seeking refugees?

The strange defeatism wouldn’t play in Ukraine or early round corner men at Madison Square Garden. And it sure didn’t play at the Hilton up on Sixth Avenue, especially among the contingent of Ukrainian stalwarts going toe-to-toe with Vladimir Putin as they lobbied for more and continued support at the Clinton Global Initiative. They know a thing or two about refugees fleeing despotic maniacs, shattered communities and extremist violence. And not giving in.

I spent the early part of this week at CGI, now in the second year of its own comeback story (after doing dark during the Mordorian days of 2016 and its aftermath), and I was impressed yet again with the grit and resilience of the Ukrainian resistance. Against the missiles of Putin, the dragging weight of what will clearly be a long conflict, and indeed, the perfidy of some in our own country who side with the dictator, the civil society portion of Ukraine’s body politic fights on. They were working the main stages and backrooms of the Hilton banquet space hard, looking for support, for financing, for media, for allies. That’s what CGI is all about - creating a platform that can bring people and institutions together to create positive change or resist incredible evil (or both).

There was Pope Francis beaming in from the Vatican in a main stage chat with President Clinton and centering the discussion of refugees and migrants. "You, Mr. President, have listed the many challenges of our time: climate change, humanitarian crises affecting migrants and refugees and child care, and many others…When we talk about migration, let's think about the eyes of the children we've seen in refugee camps."

There was President Clinton extolling the virtues of organizations and people who keep working despite political turmoil and extremism, and noting that CGI has now logged 4,000 commitments (large and small) touching the lives of 500 million people over the years since its launch in 2005. “Steel yourself to keep going, because the future depends on it."

There was actor Liev Schreiber going well beyond the classic Hollywood drive-by and using his own convening power to bring attention to Ukraine and the long war of attrition that still lies ahead, and the desperate needs of both the victims of Putin’s atrocities and the Ukrainian social fabric. In a media roundtable session, Schreiber predicted that Ukraine will win in the end because "the lie is so big, it can't possibly hold. The lie is so big." He spoke eloquently about the need for courage and commitment, and about using his platform. 

And there was the Rev. Dr. William Barber urging the audience of NGO executives, philanthropists, corporate leaders, social entrepreneurs and celebrities to commit to “eternal opposition to injustice” until death.

These were existential terms, to be sure. But I took the call to action as both poetry and prose - there were stirring speeches that demanded action, as well as commitments to funding and partnerships that put ideas into actual programming and policy. That’s the promise of a functioning liberal democracy, and the week of the UN General Assembly in New York was a prequel to next year’s election for the soul of this particular democracy and its leadership role in the world.

At CGI, at the UN, and at conferences around the city, the role of collaboration and partnership - yes, deal making for good - was back in vogue this September week. And that’s an excellent development, one that backs sloganeering with action, rhetoric with resources. Take the new CGI Ukraine Action Network, which  is the result of a collaboration between Hillary Clinton and Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady. 

Secretary Clinton called more than dozen organizations to the stage to show both the unity and breadth of the network - the possibility of what can be done outside of protest and Twitter posts. “These commitments and the incredible leaders implementing them are showing us what we can accomplish together when we dare to wonder what is possible,” she said. “We are in this for the long haul ... Their fight is our fight. “

The new organization mobilizes existing CGI partners, as well as new leaders from around the world, to create and finance new commitments for Ukrainians. As the Associated Press philanthropy writer Glenn Gamboa noted, “for nonprofits working in Ukraine, the spotlight CGI is offering them, 18 months after Russia’s invasion of the country, may be just as important as the monetary commitments.”

The nonprofit Save Ukraine, which has opened community centers across the country to help families and especially children traumatized by the war and works to rescue Ukrainian children who have been detained in Russia, is set to receive commitments of support during CGI that it plans to use to open more centers, said Olga Yerokhina, spokeswoman for the charity.

“We know that we have no choice — we must work hard and we are ready for that,” said Yerokhina, who is based in Kyiv. “But we also have this feeling of, ‘Guys, please don’t leave us because we want to be with you.’ If we are not with you, Russia is going to just erase us from the map of the world.”

Actor Liev Schreiber, co-founder of BlueCheck Ukraine, which vets small Ukrainian nonprofits doing humanitarian work in their communities so that donors can learn about these smaller organizations and feel comfortable funding them, said reminding people about what Ukrainians are still going through may be the most important part of CGI.

“The best possible outcome is keeping people aware that they are still an existential situation,” Schreiber told The Associated Press. “Democracies are designed to push back against impossible odds. And it’s worked. It’s been a miracle in many respects. .. It really is a David and Goliath story. It’s extraordinary. And it’s not just them. It’s us supporting them. How can we give that up now?”

Schreiber spoke on a panel Monday morning about Ukraine’s short-term and long-term needs, along with Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Fran Katsoudas, Cisco’s Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer, and actor Orlando Bloom, who serves as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador. Bloom announced his personal commitment to raise $20 million to provide 50,000 laptops for Ukrainian schoolchildren on Monday.

“I’m super proud of the global community,” Schreiber said. “This is a test for us. Do we really care? I think so far we’ve had remarkable success so far in supporting them. So many countries did something extraordinary to help. That’s significant. We can’t forget that.”

I think over this last decade, a form of crude populism has taken over so much of our discourse and public voice. Yes, it’s fed by rank disinformation, conspiracy theorists, open xenophobia and malign fascists. But we’re not as powerless as we often pretend to be. Outraged tweets won’t defeat authoritarian monsters. Being “non-political” won’t return kidnapped Ukrainian children to their families. Disengagement won’t help a single refugee.

We need to strengthen civil society. Frankly, we need a much stronger inside game. Nonprofit solutions and incrementalism progressivism have gotten a bad name over the last decade - liberalism, that is to say. But when has society ever advanced significantly without broad cooperation, agreement between sectors, and building political will through both movements and organizations? The answer is never.

Being at CGI this week was (in purely technocratic terms) a kick in the ass. 

There is so much to be done, and the broad social sector in the United States can and must be at the center. I’m committed to that.

As President Biden told world world leaders on Wednesday: “Our world stands at an inflection point, and the decisions we make now are going to determine our future for decades to come.”

Just so. This week, you could see an entire generation of civil society actors fighting - as Rev. Barber put it - to the death. Just as you could see an entire society fighting for its survival (and frankly, protecting the flank of the liberal democracies of the west and beyond from this century’s Hitler). But you could also see the skeptical but curious and energetic next generation of leaders coming along. We need to keep fighting to show them.

I had three uncles and a grandfather in American uniforms for the last century’s existential battle against fascism. There were so many echoes of their stories and that history in New York this week. As Bill Clinton said, we just have to keep going.