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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Julian Borger in Belgrade

Europeans on democracy’s frontlines offer advice to Americans: never give up

two raised female hands, the palms painted red
Women raise painted hands symbolising blood during a protest in Novi Sad, Serbia, a day after an assault on students was carried out by thugs with baseball bats on Tuesday. Photograph: Darko Vojinović/AP

Europeans who witnessed democracy crumble before their eyes have some words of advice for Americans now entering the second Trump era and worrying about the durability of their rights and freedoms: stay united, safeguard your civic institutions and never, never give up.

Citizens of central and eastern Europe are long accustomed to receiving counsel from a multitude of well-meaning US organisations on how to protect their fragile democracies following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now, after just 10 days of Donald Trump’s executive orders and civil service purges, the advice is beginning to flow the other way.

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