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Defending Democracies Across the World

From the 27th of February to the 3rd of March 2017, thanks to the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, I was given the opportunity to participate in a study tour on political communications and campaign strategies in the US. The study tour, which took place in Washington DC, gathered participants from nearly a dozen countries around the world to listen to and engage with political operators and campaign professionals from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Suffice to say that it was a very eye-opening and enlightening experience as much of the discussion revolved around one of the biggest electoral upsets in US Presidential election history: the election of Donald J Trump as the 45th President of the USA. 

From what went right and wrong with the Trump/Clinton campaigns, to the workings of the Republican and Democratic parties, to the realities of a US riven by post-truth/alt-right/Resist movement ideas, to the impact of the Trump presidency on the US's relationship with democracies on the other side of the Atlantic and the world over, there was much food for thought and also a sense of solidarity between the participants who are also preparing for their own upcoming political campaigns. Participants were also given an opportunity to engage with Facebook's Washington DC office, and some of us - myself included - were invited to speak on a panel entitled "Threats to Democratic Elections Around the World".

This study tour has given me not only the time and space to evaluate what has happened (and continues to happen) in the United States, but also insights into the problems, challenges, and opportunities for democratic movements across the globe confronting regimes that are doing everything they can to cling on to power.

Fahmi Fadzil

Communications Director

People’s Justice Party

Malaysia