Open Society Foundations

Big news: We’re committing $400 million over eight years to develop green industrial policies that contribute to economic growth in the Global South and address the climate emergency. This is a significant increase in our support for economic development. This is the first major new program to be announced following a two-year organizational transformation at Open Society and builds on our long history of supporting economic and social rights in addition to civil and political rights. “The current economic system is failing developing countries. It stops them from being able to grow economically and fight climate change at the same time. We need new ideas to create fairer, more just societies. That's why Open Society is committing $400 million to help achieve this goal,” says Open Society President Binaifer Nowrojee. Our new Economic and Climate Prosperity program will fund efforts in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa region, and Southeast Asia that support green and equitable economic agendas that create jobs, reduce inequalities, and explore the impact of international taxation and financing on developing countries’ investment in green initiatives. We will support civil society organizations and independent economic think tanks working on policy issues in countries including Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Senegal, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Share if you think it’s time to build economic and climate prosperity in the Global South and read more: https://osf.to/3zGYtcT. #OpenSociety #ClimateResilience #ClimateChange #EconomicDevelopment #EconomicProsperity #ClimateEmergency

Global calls for reparative justice are rising, addressing the injustices of slavery and colonialism. We support the movement, including by unifying its key voices, promoting academic partnerships, and enhancing legal frameworks. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ecypMN27 #OpenSociety #Reparations #RacialJustice #SocialJustice #SocialChange

Forced relocations and evictions. Longstanding neighborhoods torn apart. What happens when government-sanctioned racial discrimination comes for your home? That’s what is happening now in communities across Denmark under the country’s so-called Ghetto Laws. Passed in 2018, these laws aimed to “eradicate ghettos”: residential areas with the hallmark feature that most of their residents are classed as being of “non-Western” background. This classification is not in fact based on geography: it applies to Danish citizens and those born and raised in the country. The government justified the laws as efforts to “eliminate parallel societies,” which they said were caused by “religious and other values” that are “different from” the (white and Christian) Danish “majority.” But the neighborhoods are fighting back. With the help of the Open Society Justice Initiative, residents of one of the affected neighborhoods—Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen— have brought cases against the Danish state charging that the “Ghetto Laws” violate European Union protections against racial discrimination. The cases surround the government-approved sale of 200 family homes that would evict all residents in them. Most residents have experienced great distress, and for some who are former refugees, re-traumatization. For all these residents, nothing will ever be the same. As Europe continues to swing closer to the far right, it’s crucial that the EU fulfills its promises and that no member state is permitted to discriminate by hiding behind proxy wording for ethnic origin. Or using integration as a guise for treating racialized groups as second-class citizens. Share if you agree that “Ghetto Laws” have no place in an open society and read more about the case and hear from the residents: https://osf.to/4fqYAJ1 #OpenSociety #GhettoLaws #Denmark #RacialDiscrimination #ForcedEvictions

This year’s Nobel-winning economists Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and Jim Robinson have overlooked the role of colonial exploitation in Western prosperity and dismisses successful alternative governance models in delivering economic growth, like China’s, argues Yuen Yuen Ang in the latest Ideas Letter, published by our Ideas Workshop: https://osf.to/3NM7rt7 Plus: Voting is a sacred and significant act in any democracy. Can elections in the U.S. truly honor voters’ commitment, especially amid the transactional, power-driven nature of electoral politics? Nanjala Nyabola in the Ideas Letter: https://osf.to/4hFsv2a

It's great to be back in South Africa, where the work of the Open Society Foundations began, in 1979, with scholarships for Black students attending the University of Cape Town. Today, we remain committed to a vision of society where all people live as equals, with guaranteed rights and freedoms - and not privileges because of their race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and other identities. Nearly three decades after South Africa adopted a constitution to "lay the foundations for a democratic and open society," there are key challenges that have to be met. The legacy of apartheid and the failures of our current economic system have created the most unequal country in the world. To build a fairer society, we are working in South Africa on new economic models that will allow the economy to grow in sustainable, more equitable ways while tackling the ravages of climate change. Earlier this year, Open Society announced an investment of $400 million that will advance economic justice through green industrial policy. South Africa, one of our countries of focus, needs a just energy transition. At the moment, it has an overdependence on coal and land use while failing to meet the country's energy needs. To support South Africa's industrial and consumption demands, the transition needs to secure diversified, green, sustainable energy sources. It was a pleasure to speak with Iman Rappetti and Newzroom Africa on Open Society Foundations' new programs, our enduring commitment to South Africa and the continent, the challenges and opportunities in the country, and the role South Africa can play in shaping a new, just and equitable order at home, regionally and globally.

Congratulations to the 2024 Soros Equality Fellows! These 11 fellows are pursuing projects that advance justice, equity, and human dignity across the United States. The fellows include documentary filmmakers, writers, digital specialists, organizers, researchers, and artists. The Soros Equality Fellowship supports innovators and risk takers striving to create and develop new ways of tackling the systemic causes and symptoms of racial disparity and discrimination. The 2024 Fellows: Allen Kwabena Frimpong will executive produce “The Remedy is Solidarity,” a multimedia anthology to educate and build public will for the demand for reparations across the Black diaspora. Aldita Amaru Gallardo seeks to meet the new moment in philanthropy by mobilizing funds to BIPOC trans movement-building and intersectional racial and gender justice, while training trans leaders to better navigate philanthropy. Esther Armah will create a multimedia digital village where Black and Latino men explore masculinity through power, vulnerability, accountability, loss, and empathy. The project aims to create a healing practice of Emotional Justice. Dania Rajendra will lead a project focused on research, writing, and convening, aimed at expanding the ideas and practices of participatory multiracial democracy within and among diasporic communities. Sandeep Ravindranath will work on a project focused on strengthening democracy and constitutional frameworks within the Indian diaspora. Kevin Powell will produce a documentary film exploring the age-old question, "What is a man?" through the perspectives of Black males ranging from youth to those in their 90s. Jungwon Kim will create a cross-cultural event series and related toolkit focused on transmuting "han," a Korean word for unresolved historical grief and rage, through ritual practices of joyful catharsis and healing. Cori Thomas and Rahsaan Thomas will curate a film festival inside San Quentin State Prison by BIPOC and system impacted people featuring short films made by both currently and formerly incarcerated people. Joseph Phelan will research and develop effective strategies for promoting racial justice narratives through internet technologies and influencer networks. Pushkar Sharma will advance the work of the South Asian Coalition to Renew Democracy (SACRED) to build a just and inclusive democracy, countering the enduring alliance of white supremacist and South Asian supremacist movements that promote racial and caste superiority. Learn more: https://osf.to/4fpAu1d #OpenSociety #EqualityFellows #SorosEqualityFellows #SocialChange #EconomicJustice #SocialJustice #RacialJustice #Fellowships

2024 has been a year when 4 billion people—more than ever—have been going to the polls, but is this a sign that democracy is strong and resilient? What are democracy’s strengths and vulnerabilities? Ben Ansell, a professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at the University of Oxford, and a variety of experts—from Senegal to Malaysia to South Africa to Ukraine to Lebanon to the United States—explore these questions and more in the “What’s Wrong With Democracy?”, a special, 20-part podcast series produced by Tortoise Media and supported by us. Ansell is a democracy optimist but sees that rising authoritarianism, voting restrictions, misinformation, and other ills are threatening democracy worldwide. This is not just in new and emerging democracies, but also in long-established ones like the U.S and UK. Read more in our Q&A with Ansell: https://osf.to/4fejKd4 Listen to the “What’s Wrong With Democracy?” podcast series: https://lnk.to/WWWDep20 #OpenSociety #Democracy #Elections #VotingRights #Podcasts

U.S. drug overdose deaths have fallen for the first time since 2020. Our grantees have been on the frontlines of bringing these numbers down. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting a 10.6% decline in overdose deaths. While it’s not possible to conclusively determine the combination of factors that led to this significant drop, experts agree that the expanded availability of naloxone has played a major role. Naloxone is a medication that reverses most opioid overdoses. We have long supported the use of naloxone, even when others haven’t. Our grantee, Remedy Alliance helped publish a seminal paper on the need to do more to reach naloxone saturation; they then acted as consultants to the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to help states understand how to make naloxone “saturation plans.” Remedy Alliance’s work to fill the gaps with tiered-pricing naloxone for grassroots groups has been pivotal in ensuring that even the most marginalized drug users have access to this lifesaving resource. Through the Collaboration on Overdose in America, we have also supported organizations in select states to advocate for evidence-based drug policies and programs, including through smart allocation of opioid settlement dollars. Of the states that report up-to-date overdose statistics, we see some of the largest reductions in deaths in states where our Collaboration on Overdose in America is engaged. Compared to the national average decline of 10.6%, in Maine overdoses are down 17% from last year; in North Carolina and Ohio they are down 31%; and in Kentucky they’re down 34%. Kasia Malinowska, our director of the Drug Policy Reform Opportunity, said: “Even with this major reduction, the death toll from overdose in the US is still shockingly high – hovering near 100,000 – and disproportionately impacting Black and Indigenous communities. There remains a need to continue advocacy for adequate funding for evidence-based approaches to see sustained drops in mortality, and the opioid settlement funds offer a unique opportunity.” Share this news and read more: https://osf.to/488Yi72 Photo: Volunteers distribute the opioid overdose-reversing medication naloxone in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 18, 2023. Erik S. Lesser/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock #OpenSociety #DrugPolicy #EndOverdose #HarmReduction #Naloxone

Can you build social democracy without workers? Social democratic parties—like the Democratic Party in the U.S., Labour in the UK, and the Left Party in Germany—have increasingly moved away from their traditional working-class roots as economic changes and political shifts have accelerated over the past few decades, argues Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin Magazine, in the latest edition of the Ideas Letter, published by our Ideas Workshop. More and more, social democratic parties have taken the side of capitalist interests and represented professional classes, leaving workers politically unmoored and increasingly moving to right-wing parties. Sunkara says that the future of social democracy relies on left-wing parties reconnecting with workers and their interests and concerns. Read the full piece and subscribe to the Ideas Letter via email:

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Our grantee IllumiNative Org asks what this day, celebrated today in the United States, means to you. Share your thoughts!