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

Today, August 12, our founder George Soros turns 94 years old. Born in Hungary in 1930, Soros survived under Nazi occupation and Communist repression—experiences that shaped his decision to dedicate his life’s work to helping others, especially those who face discrimination purely for who they are. After immigrating to the United States in the 1950s and becoming one of the most successful investors in the world, Soros began his philanthropy in 1979 by awarding scholarships to Black South Africans under apartheid. In the 1980s, he played a pivotal role in promoting the open exchange of ideas in Communist Hungary, funding academic visits to the West and supporting emerging independent cultural groups. Today the Open Society Foundations have grown into the world’s largest private funder of human rights. Our name reflects the influence of Karl Popper’s philosophy on Soros—that no ideology holds the ultimate truth, and that societies thrive under democratic governance, free expression, and respect for individual rights. These principles continue to guide our work. Happy Birthday, Mr. Soros! Learn more about his remarkable life and work: https://osf.to/4cma2Uu Photo: A young George Soros sits on a swing, circa 1934. #OpenSociety #GeorgeSoros #Soros #HappyBirthday

Today is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous people represent 6% of the world’s population and have an outsize influence on protecting the environment: knowledge cultivated in Indigenous culture is critical to our planet’s survival. Cannupa Hanska Luger, a 2023 Soros Arts Fellow, centers Indigenous knowledge and survival practices related to land, climate, and the environment. Indigenous technologies are vital in sustaining life and humanity worldwide in the face of the climate emergency, and his work imagines a future rooted in these technologies. Based in New Mexico, Luger is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold and is of Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Lakota heritage. #OpenSociety #WeAreIndigenous #IndigenousDay #IndigenousPeoplesDay #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

“If economic ‘resilience’ is to be more than a polite talking point, policy makers should act when prices and profits in essentials explode.” Economist Isabella Weber argues that profits should be regulated, especially in critical industries like shipping, to promote economic resilience and counter “disaster capitalism” during global crises. Plus, the great Catharine Stimpson looks back at her life refracted through America’s, reflecting on what it means to be a patriot. These and more in the latest edition of The Ideas Letter published by our Ideas Workshop:

In an open society, the truth matters. But what happens when citizens cannot agree on what is true? Disinformation has played a major role in this. It has increased as the way people consume information has changed and trust in institutions has fallen, says Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, an open source investigative collaborative. Countering disinformation has become harder. Sure, you can teach someone a headline is fake, Higgins says, but the truth in a TikTok can be harder to parse. Bellingcat’s investigations aim to use open source evidence that’s verified to bring justice and accountability to disinformation, human rights abuses, and atrocities. It has detailed the murky funding of far-right disinformation websites in India and detailed Russian military intelligence’s role in poisoning opposition figures. Bellingcat is also developing a process to use open source evidence in international court cases that seek justice for atrocities and other human rights abuses, like those dealing with the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before the International Criminal Court. We spoke to Higgins about the collective’s work and how it strengthens human rights and democracy: https://osf.to/3VZa7XQ Listen to more from Eliot Higgins on What's Wrong with Democracy?, a podcast produced by Tortoise Media and supported by us: https://lnk.to/WWWD7 #OpenSociety #Democracy #OpenSource #IndependentJournalism #Investigations #InternationalJustice #Disinformation

Repressive governments claim their so-called “foreign agents” laws encourage transparency. In reality, they are stifling civil society. Worryingly, these laws are spreading. In May, amid massive street protests, the Georgian parliament passed legislation requiring civil society groups and media outlets receiving more than 20% of their income from foreign sources to publicly register as “organizations serving the interests of foreign power.” This includes burdensome and potentially sensitive reporting and disclosure requirements, with heavy fines for non-compliance. Critics claim the law is similar to one used by Russia to stamp out dissent. As well as Russia, similar laws have been passed in India, Nicaragua, and Kyrgyzstan with chilling effects on civil society. Organizations and independent media outlets have been forced to close, move operations abroad or greatly curtail their valuable work. By stigmatizing non-governmental organizations as “foreign agents” and forcing them to submit to excessive surveillance, governments are weaponizing the law against critical voices. By restricting the role of NGOs, these laws suppress society’s freedom of expression and ability to receive key services. To justify their actions, many of the governments passing these laws point to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) passed by the U.S. Congress in 1938. But the U.S. law largely relates to lobbying organizations and does not specifically restrict NGOs and mass media. Share if you think these laws are a growing threat to civil society and read more about them: https://osf.to/46y4Njh Photo: ©️ AFP/Getty #OpenSociety #Georgia #Russia #India #Nicaragua #Kyrgyzstan #ForeignAgentsLaws #ForeignAgents

AI represents one of the greatest opportunities for journalism innovation, but also its greatest threat. The same tech exploited by autocrats to surveil and suppress their citizens can be used by media and civil society to bring them to justice. Marina Walker Guevara of our grantee the Pulitzer Center spoke with us about how newsrooms are harnessing the tech to launch groundbreaking cross-border investigations and how journalists are keeping AI companies to account.

Two decades ago, ethnic cleansing in Darfur in Sudan sparked international outrage and a high-profile anti-genocide campaign. Now, Sudan is mired in conflict with looting, rape, displacement, and ethnic cleansing. Yet, global attention is sorely lacking. Nesrine Malik asks where Sudan’s saviors are now in our Ideas Letter: