Images and words always have the potential to topple even dictators: Joshua Wong , the freedom fighter in Hong Kong, also wants to "never remain silent" and is making a lasting impression on the regime in Beijing. Like David against Goliath, Wong in Hong Kong and the "Susamam" rappers in Turkey are defending democratic freedoms at home and for the world. must never remain silent. The more often Erdogan's seizure of power is reported on and the more critical Xi Jinping is in the morocco rcs data democratic press, the more difficult it is for Merkel, Macron and Parmelin to propagate the sell-out of democracy in these countries as "business as usual".
This is what real quality journalism looks like: It enables democratic decision-making. Instead of cultivating the mainstream of disgust through outraged tweets, those who will never be silent again should have their say. These are the truly democratic voices and the opposite of institutional, algorithmic and instrumental Twitter and government power, which only seek the evil of banality. Because democracies are not saved by common market opinions, but by counter-publics, insistence on the rule of law and support for critical freedom of expression worldwide.
It is nice that in Turkey and Hong Kong the risks of public opinion, truth-telling and democracy are so realistic that they have the potential to change the whole world.