Videos

Leading up to the German Federal Elections last September, many political analysts and media commentators already wrote off the German Social Democrats as the election's biggest losers and pointed to its eventual decline. The opposite happened.

Join us to learn how the SPD changed its political course and turned a predicted decline into a political comeback.

Reflecting on the multiple crises revealed by the COVID 19 we look into strategies in building broad platforms and consolidate social majorities for Alternatives to the Status Quo. We talk with Marc Saxer, Head of the Asia-Pacific Department of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and author of Transformative Realism. We are also joined by prominent panelists such as Liew Chin Tong, Executive Committee Member of the Democratic Action Party; Sabina Dewan, Executive Director and President of the JustJobs Network; and Percival Cendana, National Executive Committee Member of the Akbayan Citizens' Action Party.

Democracies around the world are under pressure. The economic and socio-political performance of democracy has been challenged by right-wing populist movements and the mismanagement of several global crises. The future of social democracy depends in large part on how we can build together resilient, resistant and effective democracies, capable of facing the challenges of the future with our values?

The Progressive Alliance, in collaboration with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and in cooperation with the Network of Social Democracy in Asia (SocDem Asia), addressed this question in this Asian leg of regional level debate with progressive personalities from the region and from various backgrounds, before presenting their results in November 2021 at the Global Progressive Forum conference.

SocDem Asia in partnership with Akbayan Citizens' Action Party Philippines and Fretilin Timor-Leste

1. What are the political challenges faced by the feminist movement today?

2. What characterizes feminist politics and leadership? How does this translate into feminist practice in governance, community development and political participation?

3. How do we make our parties and/or organizations feminist? Are there mechanisms, bottom lines and/or pitfalls to avoid?

This is Democracy Needs Democrats, the second panel discussion on the SocDem Asia - Progressive Alliance Conference held last 18 December 2020. Our resource persons were Äsa Eriksson (Swedish Social Democratic Party), Kunthida Rungruengkiat (Progressive Movement Thailand), Sushmita Dev (All India Mahila Congress), and Giacomo Filibeck (Party of European Socialists).

This is Our Roadmap to A Just Normal, the first panel discussion on the SocDem Asia - Progressive Alliance Conference held last 18 December 2020. Our resource persons were Liew Chin Tong (Democratic Action Party Malaysia), Masaharu Nakagawa (Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan), Elke Ferner (Party of European Socialists-Women), and Undraa Agvaanluvsan (Mongolian People's Party).

The Mongolian People's Party Secretary General Amarbayasgalan Dashzegve invites everyone to attend the online Conference "Roadmap to A Just and Democratic Normal" hosted by the MPP (Монгол ардын нам) and co-organized with the Network of Social Democracy in Asia (SocDem Asia) and the Progressive Alliance (Progressive Alliance).

The conference brings together progressives and social democrats from across the globe to discuss how to consolidate a progressive response to the rising tide of authoritarianism and populism on one hand and the threat of the global pandemic. This conference aims to consolidate progressive global responses and strategies: How do we solidify alternatives to the crisis as a political community? What are key battles we need to win to deter attempts to return to the status quo? It will highlight experiences and policies that shape impactful response that not only provide immediate solutions but strategic pathways with which we will build a better future and new normal than before the crisis.

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You may register for this conference at: https://bit.ly/sda-mpp

We talk with the former members of the Bernie Sanders for President 2020 National Organizing Staff on how progressives and their organizations can maintain their campaigns for social transformation and substantive change. We look at the Bernie campaign's "distributed organizing" model and the need for mobilizing a strong grass-roots volunteer organization to address the present health, economic, political, and social crises and reflect on the recipes for winning power for the people.

In this webinar, we feature prominent political scientist and academic Prof. Thomas Meyer to talk about the foundational principles of Social Democracy and the underpinnings of the modern welfare state. We discuss with Prof. Meyer social democratic ideology and how this progressive ideology has shaped the world and how social democratic policies and programs are being implemented today. We also discuss the multiple crises faced by the world today and how social democracies are providing solutions to such problems, and social democracy’s future place in building a just future.

Thomas Meyer is Professor for political science at the Technical University of Dortmund. He is editor-in-chief of the magazine Neue Gesellschaft / Frankfurter Hefte. He is also a member of the faculty of the Academy for Social Democracy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. He studied Philosophy, Political Science and German Literature at the University of Frankfurt. In 1973 he received his doctorate on Marx's emancipation theory. In 1977 he received his habilitation at the Free University of Berlin. He is the author of "Theory of Social Democracy".

This Webinar is part of The Network for Social Democracy’s (SocDem Asia Political Management Training for Young Progressives (PMT) Cluster on Social Democratic Ideology

The webinar aimed to provide a platform for sharing and taking stock of different approaches employed by countries in Europe and in Asia to combat COVID19 by talking to members of parliament from New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

It mapped out different country responses to the pandemic while highlighting the challenges faced and the early lessons learned.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought tremendous and unprecedented strain on the health systems of the world. Countries from the Global North and the Global South are not spared by the rising tide of infections prompting many governments to impose “lockdowns” or “community quarantines” which are useful to prevent the spread of the virus but also have the effect of slowing down the economies. Hardest hit are minimum wage earners and people in the informal economy. The United States recently recorded 22 Million unemployed, a number unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. A recent study by Oxfam also suggests that an estimated 500 Million people could be pushed to poverty.

With no clear end date to the pandemic, it is imperative for social democrats and progressives to come up with ways moving forward. This is especially needed when there is a lack of leadership from the ranks of political leaders and also a lack of cooperation and international solidarity among the world’s nations. This webinar features key panelists from Europe and Asia to discuss the necessary steps that should be taken to salvage the global economy from a likely recession and in the process, make it more democratic and responsive to the rights of workers, the poor, and marginalized sectors of society.

Guest Speakers:

• Teo Nie Ching (张念群) , International Secretary, Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) and Former Deputy Minister for Education

• Conny Reuter, Global Coordinator, Progressive Alliance

• Dr. Ong Kian Ming - 王建民 , Member of Parliament and Former Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry, Malaysia

• Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Senior Adviser, Khazana Research Institute

• E Hun Tan, Executive Director, REFSA - Research For Social Advancement

Moderated by:

Howard Lee 李存孝, Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth DAPSY Malaysia ; State Assembly Representative for Pasir Pinji, Perak

The World has not seen anything like the COVID-19 Pandemic since 1918. The alarming speed by which the virus has spread to all corners of the world has exposed lack of preparedness of many governments, both democratic and authoritarian, for such a crisis of this scale. This health crisis has undoubtedly also strained the political, economic and social systems that define modern human civilization. For us here in Asia, this pandemic has exposed the weaknesses inherent in our political and economic systems that is prevalent in most countries in the region. The lack of investments in health systems, little social protections for workers and poor, and disjointed plans for rebuilding our economies leaves many citizens with little optimism.

In these times of crisis, democratic and decisive leadership will be needed to boost the morale of citizens and build confidence in a new project to reform and rebuild shattered political, economic and social systems. For progressives, such times warrant a critical push for the change it long advocated to translate into reality post-crisis.

The webinar discussed the structural issues surrounding the pandemic and the entry points for which progressives can take off on the bold project of reshaping societies to not just return to the “normal” status quo.

Guest Speaker: Marc Saxer, Head of Asia-Pacific Department, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Host: Machris Cabreros, Network Coordinator, SocDem Asia