Embark with us on a train ride with Ivan Krastev and enjoy his sober analysis of the facts to consider when acting for change.

“There is a beautiful joke, very popular in my country: Three young men, dressed as Japanese Samurais walk on the street and a stranger stops them and asks, ‘Who are you? What are you doing here?’ They say, ‘We are the Seven Samurais, the ones from the film. And we are here to make this country a better place.’ ‘But why are you only three?’ ‘The other four are working abroad.’ I do believe that the story of the Samurais captures best what is the major challenge for reforms and activism these days. We live in a world, in which if you want to change your life, quite often it makes much more sense to change the country than to try to change the government. But if there is a civic activism that really matters, if there are people who really succeed in changing not only their own lives, but also the lives of other people, these are the people who have decided to stay.”

This text and video is published under the Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. The name of the author/rights holder should be mentioned as followed. Author: Jovana Trifunovic and Igor Bararon / tippingpoint.net. Cover picture: Ivan Krastev, film still. Photo: Igor Bararon / tippingpoint.net

Back on Track

As our world is facing major geopolitical shifts and challenges, from the rise of nationalism to increased demands for privacy, from balancing growing human needs with environmental limits, there is undoubtedly space for major improvements. We see civil society as the key driving force in this process and have therefore launched the video series Back on Track about social engagement and activism as a clear sign of support to the dedicated change makers in our societies.

The Video Take action! Don’t leave. Stay and fight! is the last episode of the six-part video series.