WASHINGTON – As America braces for what increasingly looks like the era of a strongman under the next term of Donald Trump, a Nobel laureate and defender of the free press made a call to arms against the efforts by authoritarians to curtail free speech.
Maria Ressa, speaking at the 40th anniversary of the International Center for Journalists annual gathering Thursday night in Washington DC, said “Whether we can save democracy – or not – depends on you, what you do today. What we collectively do today matters.”
Ressa, who received the Nobel prize in 2021 for her “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression” in the Philippines and around the world, was speaking directly to a ballroom packed with international journalists and free press advocates still reeling from the election of Trump and the threat his presidency could pose to press freedom.
“We must endure,” she added.
She speaks with the authority of experience, since the Philippines’ history has been defined by elected strongmen. She has studied their efforts to undercut democracy — from Ferdinand Marcos Sr., to more recently, the ex-president Rodrigo Duterte. “I worry about what might be called the Filipinization of American democracy,” said Ressa, who has recently written a book titled How to Stand Up to A Dictator.
“In the Philippines, we went from hell, and we are now in purgatory,” she said, citing some progress but a long way to go. Even today, she said, the Philippines may be witnessing the birth of another leader with strong autocratic tendencies in the form of Raffy Tulfo. His rise is reportedly fueled by his domination of social media and his YouTube channel which has 26 million followers making his show about what he calls “vigilante journalism.” It is one of the most watched programs in the country, a kind of Judge Judy meets Donald Trump approach to controlling the public square.
In 2016, Ressa warned Americans and the West about a rise in authoritarianism, a theme we reported on in our podcast series The Authoritarians’ Playbook.
“Four years ago , I warned again that 2020 was a defining year where democracy survives or falls,” she said, adding that today 71 percent of the world’s population lives under authoritarian rule “and now 2024 will be another defining year for democracy.”
Ressa warned, “Once you elect a strongman leader, institutions crumble quickly. In our case, it was just six months.”
So far, the U.S. has relied on the strength of its institutions to fend off the threat of would-be authoritarians, including Trump himself. But with the Republican party in control of Congress, the Supreme Court and an efficient disinformation machine at its service, we would be naive to dismiss Resa’s warnings. As journalists, our job of telling truth to power will be more difficult, but also more important than ever. The work of local journalists, like the ones we support through our programs, will be key to serve as watchdogs, provide checks and balances and remind people that following the whims of a strongman has real and dire consequences in our everyday lives.