Trump’s global hardline choking social justice funding – NGO

SPECTRE: Sonke Gender Justice argues that the US president’s hostility towards human rights, LGBTQIA+ protections and multilateral norms is weakening global support for NGOs…

By Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela

The Sonke Gender Justice – the country’s non-government organisation (NGO) with a continental footprint – is calling on social justice movements and governments of the world to stand up against the tyranny of the US President Donald Trump.

In an interview this week, Sonke executive director the Reverend Bafana Khumalo urged these movements to take a stand against Trump’s belligerence, and his total disregard for the international law designed to protect international principles of territorial integrity.

Additionally, Khumalo described Trump’s negative attitude towards causes of social justice in support of marginalised communities such as the LGBTQIA+, among others, as a great source of concern to social justice movements.

He said these were amplified at the beginning of his first term in 2017, and continue to be the case during his second term by his decision to dismantle progressive US federal policies established to protect vulnerable communities, including LGBTQIA+ members of society.

In this crusade, Trump has been joined elsewhere in the world by the other anti-queer governments and organisations, including right-wing religious institutions, hellbent to target human rights defenders for harassment and intimidation. Some of the countries include, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Russia, among others.  

Donor-funding squeeze

“All of this developing unjust sentiment has not been good news for social justice movements throughout the world, including our own social justice organisations in Southern Africa.

“The end result of this crusade has been the squeezing of donor-funding from governments and organisations, with dire repercussions for our social justice work we do,” Khumalo said.  

He said the world must rise against this trend possibly spreading to other parts of the world, taking a cue from Trump’s playbook, adding that the US president – with his conservative and militaristic bent – is dangerous for the free world that ought not to be restrained by Trump’s political economy belligerence.

“These unfavourable geopolitical expressions have impacted negatively on the social justice work organisations such as Sonke undertake, and this must also be the case for other similar organisations in other parts of the world” Khumalo said. 

Khumalo said the NGO sector was worried “about these developments”, and concerned that there may be many leaders cut in the image of Trump who see social justice movement as a threat to their political survival, and more motivated by political ends, rather than social justice ethos and human rights dictates.

“There are many colleagues near and far, who are really concerned about the attitude of leaders such as Trump. Some jurisdictions, led by rogue leaders, could be rejoicing, and keen to emulate Trump in his hardline stance towards democratic ethos and human rights.

“Trump is setting an example demagogue leadership might want to follow.

The action in Venezuela has emboldened them, and they too may resort to settling issues not through negotiations and dialogue, but through military action and suppression of human rights and democratic values.

“We can only hope that as many countries, South Africa included, will have the courage to stand up against Trump’s belligerence.

“We are troubled that the people of Venezuela have had to deal with Trump’s tyranny.

“For a country as political troubled as Venezuela, the attack by the US military power was not a good sign.

“What we need today are human-rights oriented governments with the courage and conviction to support social justice organisations, serving as a buffer to protect communities against the tyranny of totalitarianism and unjust rule.

“The world today needs to support worthy causes of social justice such as the UN Sustainability Development goals – a universal blueprint committed to a better life for all citizens of the world – goals that are also supported by the African Union Commission under the aegis of the African Union Agenda 2063.

Foreign partnerships

“We need to build a better world, a better Africa capable of encouraging industry and commerce to thrive in order to end poverty and strife in the world and in Africa.

“We certainly do not need leaders who are war-mongering, spoiling for a fight and ready to use military might to achieve their political and economic ends,” Khumalo said.

Asked if he could quantify the amount of funding that the NGO sector could be losing as a result of rogue leadership contributing to the squeezing of donor funding, Khumalo said: “We don’t have the figures. As the NGO we need to develop that capacity of research, but what we can say is that the NGO sector is under a siege, and Trump’s recent military action in Venezuela has increased a decibel of concern.

He added: “We know anecdotally the impact is devastating across the world as several NGOs have had to close their doors and retrench staff. In our case, we had to close the whole programme in Lesotho and let go of 12 staff members.

“As Sonke we continue to strive to escalate our work through alternative means such as social media platforms, publishing case studies on the work we do.

“We are forging partnerships to share our models and explore joint funding opportunities. We are hopeful that new opportunities will arise as we are confident our work speak for itself and is generally recognised globally as a strong brand in the gender transformative work.”

With the unfolding geopolitical terrain being anything but predictable, the cost of political belligerence is unfortunately being paid by the world’s most vulnerable communities.

•     Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela is freelance journalist, a former media trade unionist and an Anglican priest