Panel at Europe@DJHT 2025 in Leipzig
How does youth work manage to deal with changing and shrinking civil society spaces and social and political polarisation? This was the topic of a fishbowl during the 18th DJHT at Europe@DJHT on 14 May 2025, once again addressing the questions raised in 2024 with the Critical Youth Work conference.
Lukas Zorad (Partners for Democratic Change, Slovakia), Barbara Santibanez (European Institute of Education and Social Policy, France) and Georg Pirker (AdB) discussed together with Ajsa Hadzibegovic (Youth For Europe) how youth work can support effective political participation of young people in this context: How does youth work navigate through changing and shrinking civic spaces as a field of work and advocacy for young people? How does youth work develop in societies with authoritarian dynamics?
In his opening statement, Georg Pirker explained that young people are one of the main population groups affected when it comes to the restriction of civil society spaces, freedoms and fundamental rights. The restrictions often take place in policy areas that at first glance have little to do with youth work, which makes it all the more complex for the fields of work to react. It can also be observed that it is precisely the younger generations that have been favoured by politicians in the past when it comes to democratic transformations (Arab Spring, student protests, etc.). Against this backdrop, the action taken against the democratic rebellion and commitment of young people should also be seen as a double U-turn.
Lukas Zorad used various examples to illustrate the challenges faced by civil society organisations in Central and Eastern Europe: The tightening of NGO laws, as is currently the case in Slovakia and Hungary, and the legislation against the LGBTQI+* community show, on the one hand, that it is a matter of legislative packages that are constantly being tightened because they are not legally enforceable. Even if the laws are not ratified, the constant political agitation is creating a social climate of insecurity, rejection and questioning of diversity that is spreading throughout society – a ‘new normality’ in which the seeds are sown in the rejection of pluralism, diversity and human rights – supposedly ‘Western’ values. This is no coincidence, but is subtly supported by external influence and unfortunately also in the interests of right-wing political actors within the EU.
Barbara Santibanez pointed out that it is no longer just a fight about legal issues, but that representatives of various social groups are exposed to violence throughout Europe and that the climate is changing towards a constant fear of attacks. This aspect of using physical violence against others is a development that goes far beyond the restriction of spaces and requires all the more attention and resistance. How is extracurricular political education organised in this context? It is extremely important to fight together for open spaces, dialogue and access, because young people need these more than ever before. Youth work and non-formal approaches to civic education should constantly remind themselves of this, but also critically question whether and to what extent they have done this sufficiently in the past.
Where is there hope? Looking at the young people in Serbia, who take the protests against a thoroughly corrupt and nepotistic regime to the streets every day and experience overwhelming social solidarity, one can certainly see what impressive organisation the young generation is capable of even after years of repression – without any educational support.