Together for Democracy: How the Czech Republic chose democracy over populism

Note: This newsletter was first published on the hope-based Substack in January 26, 2024. Time-bound announcements were edited with updates or removed.

One year ago, on 28 January 2023, the Czech Republic chose democracy over populist authoritarianism. So today, we are featuring the story of one civil society campaign from that election that aimed to build support for democracy, countering populism without backing a specific candidate.

Because the media loves to focus on elections that populists win, this story did not get enough attention. But its important that we do not let the “rise of populism/ decline of democracy” narrative blind us to moments like this that show the strong desire most people have to live in open, pluralist democratic societies.

Our writer this week is Adam Ludvík , part of the campaign led by Million Moments for Democracy. He talks about how they came up with the wonderful GOTV campaign that shared a powerful new narrative about democracy, using the metaphor of a jigsaw puzzle, which requires all of us to take part in to be complete.

Winning narratives for democracy: Each of us is an important piece of the puzzle

In 2018, supporters of democracy in the Czech Republic had the same kind of nasty shock that befell Americans and British activists in 2016, and in many other countries around the world in recent years. An authoritarian populist candidate, Milos Zeman, unexpectedly won the second round run-off of our Presidential elections, defeating a decent but politically rather uninteresting chemistry professor who failed to generate real excitement around his candidacy.

I imagine this is a familiar story for other countries: populists generate controversy, and traditional or institutional candidates cannot compete for attention.

In January 2023, the Czech Republic had another shot at putting things right and electing a true democrat. A lot was at stake. There were two candidates who represented two completely different approaches to politics. Andrej Babiš, a billionaire and populist with authoritarian tendencies, and Petr Pavel, a retired war hero with a strict moral code - not guaranteed to mobilize voters disappointed to see their preferred candidate lost in the first round.

Eager to learn from 2018, our organization, Million Moments for Democracy, joined with other like-minded people to mobilize people to defend democracy itself, not just one candidate.

The end result was this powerful Together For Democracy campaign: an inspiring, pro-democracy narrative that did not rest on attacking the authoritarian populist candidate, and would not get lost on voters overwhelmed by the disparate messages of multiple pro-democracy candidates competing to get into the second round.

[The video uses several politicians mixed with everyday people coming together from different parts of the country. It ends with the slogan “Together for Democracy”.]

Here is how we did it.

Learning from our mistake - Start your messaging early, and don’t rely on the pro-democracy candidate to make the case for democracy by themselves

Back in 2018, many more votes had gone to pro-democracy candidates in the first round, but not enough turned out in the second round run-off. We only started talking about the need to support a truly democrat candidate after the first round.

This time, we decided to focus on the second round way before it happened. To talk about not getting too hung up on one candidate and rather dream about what most of the candidates can bring as a change.

Million Moments for Democracy is an organization that aims to bring together people who care about democracy. Therefore, we were looking for a way to unite those people who perceive Andrej Babiš as a threat to democracy and inspire them to stand behind the only democratic candidate left in the race - Petr Pavel.

The core of this idea was reflected in the October of 2022 when Million Moments gathered around 50,000 people in Wenceslas Square in Prague to respond to the rising wave of extremism and populism that could have hurt the election.

These people might have different political views and supported different candidates. But we believed we could unite them around the things they agreed on: playing by the rules of democracy and agreed on common decency.

What connects the candidates and even more, the voters. Million Moments also targeted the candidates and encouraged them to lead decent campaigns , so that whichever candidate advanced would do so without collateral damage. And we encouraged them to be ready to express their support towards the winning democratic candidate.

After the first round, Million Moments for Democracy found a way to connect through the right emotions and a symbol that would complete the circle and finish the story of finding the common ground across voters who stand by democratic candidates.

Throughout the autumn, while the many candidates ran their personal campaigns, we held big demonstrations that brought people together to express their support for a bigger set of values: democracy, Europe, togetherness and hope over fear.

This was at a time of great uncertainty in Europe, when we again saw an Eastern European country invaded, and we were all facing the prospect of a very cold winter because of the resulting energy crisis. Naturally the several populists tried to prey on that fear, and we gave people an outlet to reject that fear and show solidarity: with Ukrainians, and with each other. 

Together for democracy

But our biggest moment came in the days before the second and final round of the election. We felt this was a pivotal moment in our country’s history. Would Czechs vote for the candidate leaning towards authoritarian countries, or the candidate who clearly supported European unity? 

Our goal was to bring people together at Prague Castle, the symbol of Czech democracy at the center of our capital city, for one last “moment for democracy”. 

The result was an event where a diverse group of politicians, celebrities, activists and everyday citizens assembled a giant jigsaw puzzle representing democracy itself. The pieces of a huge 6x6 meter jigsaw puzzle would become the symbol of the campaign.

The idea was to tell a story about democracy, with different people literally adding their piece to the overall puzzle symbolic of the way we all need to participate in democracy.

In the video you see an event Million Moments hosted just days before the final vote, bringing together active citizens from various corners of the country at Prague Castle - the seat of the president and the most symbolic political place in the country. The resulting image combined a scene of shaking hands, Prague Castle, photos of citizens from one of the earlier demonstrations against candidate Andrej Babiš, which symbolizes an active civil society, and the inscription "Together for a Democrat".

Among the citizens putting together the puzzle were people from various parts of the country, young and older, public figures, but also candidates eliminated in the first round who unitedly stood for Petr Pavel. They gave their reasons why they will not skip the second round, even though their favored candidate from the first round is no longer in it. The reasons varied. "I want a president who can admit a mistake and apologize." "I would like a president who understands people and will walk among them." Some have added calls for participation. "Be a part of that outcome. That result is hugely important.”

The final product was a compelling video that combines a variety of personalities and their motivations to participate in democratic elections with a get-out-the-vote message calling in viewers to"Invite your friends and family to vote, so that together we can shape the image of the country we want to live in." 

It is the image of a country that has active citizens, the will to cooperate and has dignified representation in the form of a democratic president.

The road to the elections

The “Moment for Democracy” took place exactly one week before the Czech Republic chose a new head of state. The video was published four days before the election and was followed by a series of selected personalities who contributed their appeal or reason for electing Petr Pavel. The videos continued with the symbolism of everyone participating by adding their pieces together.

In the following days, the citizens of the Czech Republic made their choice and the democratic candidate Petr Pavel clearly won over Andrej Babiš. And that was thanks to everyone who supported one of the democratic candidates in the first round and united behind a candidate with whom they share their values in the second round.

Hope-based election strategy

There is a lot we can do to learn from Adam’s case study.

1. Make your own story

It is vital not to build your campaign around countering and reacting to your opponents.

The way to defeat populists is to offer an alternative.

Every time your react to populists, you are part of their story, and you story gets lost.

You can avoid this by putting forward a bold vision that gets people talking.

As Ezra Klein has written, candidates in the age of information overload can “arouse passion through inspiration, as Obama did, or through conflict, as Trump did. What you can’t do is be boring.”

The secret to pushing a strong election narrative is to be the narrative. As Obama told his campaign team, your campaign is the message. Think Beto O’Rourke driving round Texas posting clips films on his phone or Elizabeth Warren calling her $3 donors.

The Czech campaign brought their narrative to life with the jigsaw metaphor.

2. Keep your values salient in the debate, and in society

What is this elections going to be about? What are the stories and issues that will be top of mind? Don’t let opponents decide.

Each time you react to the issues populists talk about, you are letting them set the agenda and denying oxygen for issues you care about, and values that might mobilize your supporters.

Even if the media follow the populist agenda and there are no candidates pushing your values, we have to work hard to make our values present in the debate.

Think about the issues and debates people can have that would center your values, and actions supporters can take that will bring your values to life.

Don’t rely on anyone else to put those issues on the agenda - you have to do it yourself. And you can’t do it if you are reacting to other things. Don’t wait for radical ideas to become more acceptable - move them to the mainstream of political conversation by getting your movement to constantly repeat them.

3. Emotions: Make sure people head to the ballot box hopeful, not afraid

How can we stop a populist dominating the debate, without giving them even more attention?  Elections are a time of change, and that can make people nervous and uncertain. Those are emotions that authoritarian populists thrive in.

The spirit of democracy - the spirit we want around an election - is one of trust and common interest. But fear stokes suspicion and self-interest. 

Think about the emotions and tone you want to see in the election. Do you want people to vote out of fear (which primes self-interest and short-termism) or hope (which primes reflective thinking and openness to change and long-term thinking).

To cultivate hope during elections, make people feel a sense of agency and control over their destiny.

Anat Shenker-Osorio ’s messaging constantly reminds people that “We Make the Future” and “People decide”, even when authoritarian leaders threaten coups and takeovers. Similarly, in 2016, Gambia youth activists and lawyers united to ensure election results were respected by spreading the #Gambiahasdecided message.

hopey, changey stuff

• Words to Win By is back! A series of the best social change podcast out there from the person who inspired the creation of hope-based communications, Anat Shenker-Osorio.
• Norway’s postal service made this lovely video (via Kristin Dannevig ).

• The Revolution of Hope: Wonderful campaign from the Young European Federalists.

Events

Hope and AI? Our reading for the April Activist Book Club. Excitingly, for the first time we were joined by the author, Zara Rahman. We have moved the club to Slack so please comment or get in touch if you want to join.

What’s giving us hope

We are very proud of hope-based expert Valeriia Voshchevska for writing with such passion, vulnerability and openness about disability and the war in Ukraine. Not only does it bring empathy for the issue, but it shows the power of using personal experience to do so. Well worth a read and a share.

Quote of the week

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out….It is hope, above all which gives the strength to live and continually try new things. - Vaclav Havel