"Over the past two decades, we have seen increasing mistrust and polarisation in our societies," stated Bernd Vöhringer, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, in a video message to the International Mayors' Summit on "Living Together", held in Izmir on 10 December 2021. He highlighted several aggravating factors such as the gap between the rich and the poor, the contrast between rural and urban areas, the challenge to acquired rights, for example of women and LGBTI people, and the rise of far-right parties and anti-refugee rhetoric.
"It is our responsibility as mayors to counter this phenomenon," Vöhringer stressed, calling for the fight against two strong trends: firstly, fake news and disinformation which "in one tweet" contribute to polarising society and fuelling mistrust between citizens against a backdrop of conspiracy theories; secondly, xenophobic hate speech and anti-migrant rhetoric which constitute a threat to social cohesion.
Among the ways of opposing these trends which undermine democracy, Congress Vice-President insisted on the role of the local media, the work with young people and the necessity of more research work on this phenomenon. In this context, the Congress has embarked on a joint project with academics and experts from university institutions in Ludwigsburg, Budapest, Bucharest, Kosice and Vienna. Based on the analysis of local authorities' experiences, the project will result in a study to be presented to the Congress Session in March 2022.
Furthermore, against the rise of populist policies, rejection of migrant and refugee communities, and radicalisation, Congress Vice-President called for the implementation of early integration policies and the strengthening of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. This is the aim of the toolkit developed by the Congress to help cities and regions bring different communities together and exchange good practices in this field.
