What would the world look like today without the social justice movements that have shaped our history? From civil rights to women’s suffrage, apartheid resistance to disability rights, these passionate, people-led campaigns have inspired us, challenged us, and shown us the greatest potential of our humanity.
As these movements spread around the world, they shared one defining factor: They were all made possible because of access to civic space, one of the most crucial components of a functioning democratic society. Civic space is the place, either physical or digital, where people can come together to exercise their fundamental freedoms and voice their needs. It’s where people protest against unjust policies in their governments, rally for issues they support, spread the social media campaigns that call out inequality, and more. Without access to civic space, people who live on the margins are systematically excluded from the decisions that affect them most…