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

In parts of Africa and Asia, Gen-Z protestors are taking to the streets to demonstrate their defiance, as I write in Project Syndicate: https://lnkd.in/dh_Am3sN. This fearless and determined new generation wants to sweep away the old, outdated orders that have created the unfair world they will inherit and replace them with political systems that will deliver real change in real-time. There are crucial differences between what's happening in Bangladesh, Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. But there are also striking similarities. These are overwhelmingly young countries, with at least a third of people aged between 15 and 34. There are high levels of youth unemployment and heavy burdens of debt. And these are among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. There is an impatience with the status quo, but realizing these hopes won't be easy.

For 15 years, Africa is a Country has countered cliched Western characterizations of Africa by pioneering fresh writing from across the continent. Chief Editor William Shoki spoke with us about expanding regional coverage and engaging new audiences:

Artificial intelligence (AI) affects everything from health, policing, social security, the environment, and beyond. That’s why Marina Walker Guevara of our grantee the Pulitzer Center says that journalists on every beat—not just those covering tech—need to be extra alert about AI’s opportunities and challenges. AI coverage tends to suffer from a mix of misreporting and underreporting with misleading headlines either exaggerating AI’s benefits or creating unnecessary alarm. With Open Society support, the Pulitzer Center is helping journalists on two fronts: First, its AI Accountability Network equips journalists with the knowledge and tools to keep AI companies to account for their abuses. For example, fellows in its network documented how AI companies are exploiting workers in the Global South by paying pennies for data labeling and content classifying jobs, which helps build technology used against dissidents in Russia and China. Second, the Pulitzer Center teaches journalists how to use AI effectively in covering stories, especially in big, data-driven investigations. AI makes reporting possible that previously wouldn’t have been possible or would take a lot of time. For example, fellows from the Rainforest Investigations Network used machine learning and high-resolution and historical satellite images to map for the first time the true scope of gold mining and illegal airstrips in the Amazon rainforest. Like any technology, AI can be used for good or bad. The same tech exploited by autocrats to surveil and suppress their citizens can be used by media and civil society to bring these autocrats to justice. The Pulitzer Center gives journalists the know-how to do so. Share and read more from our Q&A with Marina Walker Guevara: https://osf.to/4dxTQRk An aerial view of an illegal gold mining area in Peru's southeastern Amazon region, on June 1, 2024. © Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty #OpenSociety #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Journalism #IndependentJournalism

Following Alexis de Tocqueville’s path in the U.S., sociologist Linsey McGoey explores voters’ disillusionment, and law professor Stephen Holmes questions the relevance of Alexandre Lefebvre’s “Liberalism as a Way of Life” amid the challenges faced by contemporary liberal democracies in the latest edition of the Ideas Letter, published by our Ideas Workshop: https://osf.to/4cH3GyW

Double standards mar international criminal justice, as seen in the search for accountability in the Ukraine and Israel/Palestine conflicts. Our James Goldston gives concrete measures to minimize double standards for the sake of victims of grave crimes and for the sake of the international justice project itself: https://osf.to/3Xaprmd

What is the long-term impact of AI on our information ecosystem? Our new report reviews a series of scenarios that seek to broaden and deepen the conversation about AI’s potential impact on journalism and civic information around the world.

Three years after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the world continues to look away from their stripping of the rights of women and girls, writes Open Society President Binaifer Nowrojee: https://lnkd.in/gCcgvhPc   Just as they blotted out images of women on billboards and murals, so too are the Taliban erasing the futures of Afghanistan’s women and girls. Girls cannot go to high school, women are officially banned from working in most jobs, movement outside the home is heavily restricted and often punished. Women are being tortured, detained, flogged, and stoned as a matter of policy.    Despite this, the international courts can hold the Taliban to account for these crimes. The International Criminal Court can investigate this persecution as a crime against humanity. The World Court could also make the Taliban answer to violations against the main global treaty protecting women’s rights.    These can apply more pressure and effect change instead of the failed approach pursued until now—which have only served to plunge Afghanistan’s people deep into a humanitarian crisis.

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