(Ottawa) A Montreal organization for promoting democracy and digital rights uses a display panel on the emblematic Times Square in New York to urge Americans to resist cuts in their country’s foreign aid.
“A withdrawal from the United States would mean that the weight would lean in favor of digital authoritarianism, to the detriment of Canadian fundamental values,” said Alex Dalessio, CEO of Equalitie.
The organization works to promote digital security for civil society and the media around the world, allowing citizens of the oppressive states to circumvent censorship and surveillance and to communicate safely.
Mr. Dalessio’s group has teamed up with the American Branch of Transparency International to broadcast a 10 -second message urging Americans to “support foreign aid” on a video bill in the heart of Manhattan for 90 days.
“Instability abroad endangers the jobs and the safety of the Americans,” said the message displayed on the panel, adding that foreign aid helps to build “a stronger America”. The message will be displayed more than 11,000 times.
Dalessio said the campaign was not targeting the administration of US President Donald Trump and stressed that European countries also reduced their foreign aid.
Its organization says it is politically neutral, but hopes that Americans are thinking about the consequences of the removal of the United States from foreign aid after decades of financing development actions that have contributed to disseminating democratic values in the world.
“Whatever the author of these changes in foreign aid, we would have transmitted this message,” said Dalessio. The role of foreign aid in the development of tools supporting informed and educated democracies around the world cannot be overestimated. »»
President Trump instructed the billionaire Elon Musk to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year, reducing its workforce and eliminating 83 % of its programs.
These budget cuts led to the brutal stop of medical trials, famine in refugee camps and restrictions in access to treatment against HIV and contraceptives in the poorest countries.
Dalessio said that the impact of these budget cuts on the fight against political repression abroad was not yet clear. Washington then restored the financing of some of the programs he had deleted, while others made that Dalessio described as “important” layoffs.
“We had the impression that many articles were talking about this subject, but that few measures were taken,” he said.
Digital surveillance
Transparency International fights against corruption abroad by assessing governance in different countries, while Equalitie strives to give the means to act to those who try to build strong civil societies.
Their work consists in training local populations in the use of technologies to request accounts from their governments and fight against repression.
Dalessio said that repressive states used technologies to monitor their citizens and block their access to external information “as an extension of the power of the state (…) to manage dissent, influence the results of the elections or influence the population as a whole”.
“It certainly normalizes,” he added. We see it on all continents. »»
Dalessio said that the United States will cancel the budget cuts and that Canada will join its peers to “mobilize and support some of these programs”.
He argued that foreign aid expenses could even be counted with the objective of NATO military spending on defense infrastructure, as instability leads to expensive conflicts.
NATO itself said that hostile states actively undermine democracies and neighboring states.
“What is happening in the United States will have repercussions on democracy worldwide,” said Dalessio.
