Hello, how you doing? Hope you're doing well.

My name is Mrs. Tomassi, and I'm gonna be working through a review on your citizenship lesson today.

Hopefully you're all settled, you've got everything you need for the lesson, and you are ready to go, then we'll make a start.

The title of today's lesson is, "How does citizens take action in democratic and non-democratic societies?" This forms part of the unit on how do democratic systems work around the world.

Hopefully by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to explain some differences between taking action in democratic and non-democratic governments.

In the lesson today, there'll be two keywords.

You'll see them in both throughout, and can refer back to them here if you need to.

The first is action.

Now, action is the practical steps designed to try to raise awareness or influence key decision-makers.

The second keyword is civil disobedience.

Now this is the peaceful and deliberate breaking of certain laws, rules, or policies to protest against something considered unjust, or just to highlight an issue and push for change.

There are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one is, how can citizens make change in a democracy? So start thinking about that question.

What is a democracy? What does it look like? Now, did you know that in democratic countries, citizens have the right to take action? This is because it's part of the laws in the democracy and also part of several international treaties.

To give you an example is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UDHR.

You might have heard of this before, if you've ever done anything to do with human rights.

Do you know what this involves? Part of the Article 21 states that we have the right to take part in our country's political affairs, have the right to freely choose politician to represent us, can belong to the government ourselves, should be able to vote for governments regularly, and should be able to vote in secret.

And because of this, this is why citizens in democratic countries have the right to vote.

So they have the right, but how can they actually take part in making that change? Have you got some ideas? Have you ever taken part in some form of action yourself? Or maybe you've seen it somewhere on the news or in the media.

There are so many different ways in democratic countries that citizens can become active citizens.

For example, voting, having a say in the elections, petitioning, signing to give views.

Did you think of some of these? You might have thought of some others.

We've got also social media posting, demonstrating, so campaigning on the streets, boycotting, and now this one is like, when people refuse to buy a certain product or maybe to use a company because of something that they are doing.

And they'll use this to demonstrate what they are campaigning or looking to change.

And then lobbying.

So this one is about influencing those in power.

It's usually about meeting with MPs to try and persuade them on your campaign or issue.

Can you match the campaign methods with the definitions? So we've got the social media posting, lobbying, boycotting, voting, petitioning, and demonstrating.

And then the other side, you've got having your say in elections, sign in to give your view, influencing those in power, campaigning on the streets, refusing to buy or do something, getting wide audience and reach online.

See if you can work them out.

You might need to, 'cause there's a quite a few there, if you wanna pause, you can unpause when you've got them.

Did you manage to get them all? So that first one, social media posting, is getting the wide audience.

Lobbying is influencing those in power.

Boycotting is the refusing to buy or do something.

Voting, having your say in elections.

Petitioning, signing to give your view.

And then demonstrating is the campaigning on the streets.

Shows us the different campaign methods, and hopefully you've got a better understanding what each of them are, 'cause we're gonna have a look in a bit more detail now.

So Lucas says, "Does taking part in action ever actually lead to real change in democratic countries?" Well, what do you think? Have you ever seen any of those methods happen and actual change happen with it? See if you can think of some scenarios.

See if you could think of some case studies.

So in democratic countries, citizens have the right to take part in the decision-making process.

And when that action is effective, real change can and does happen.

We will look at some examples.

So in 2018, after a tragic school shooting in Florida, student, Emma Gonzalez, helped to start the March for Our Lives campaign.

You might have heard of this one, if you haven't, we'll talk through it now.

So what this involved was a lot of peaceful protests across the US and she spoke out on different media outlets, started a petition, met with some politicians.

So there's a few different ways and methods that you might notice there.

Which ones is she using? So she's done the petitioning, she's using social media, she's doing a bit of lobbying, and there's the demonstrations, which was the main part of the campaign, which was probably the most televised and known about part of the campaign.

Now what this led to was stronger gun laws were passed through Congress, and new gun safety laws were introduced in several states in the US.

So these included stronger background checks for gun buyers and raising legal age to buy certain guns.

So this here is an example of how somebody has had something, they've decided what they would like to achieve, and they've gone through all different methods and action for change to actually then happen.

So how did citizens make change in the March for Our Lives campaign? A, they boycotted companies.

B, they met with politicians.

C, they organised peaceful protests.

D, they spoke on social media.

We spoke about this one.

So did you manage to get that there are three correct answers here.

So there's B, C, and D.

Now, next, we'll have a look at another example.

So in 2019 to 2020, Hong Kong was classified as a flawed democracy.

Now what this means is that it is classed as a democratic country at that time, but there are some weaknesses in how that democracy runs.

What happened was, there was a proposed law that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial.

And what a lot of people in Hong Kong thought was that, that undermine Hong Kong's autonomy and their independence that they have.

So what it ended up is through the use of social media, through the use of raising awareness, millions of people ended up protesting against this.

Social media was key in this because it helped them to organise the protest.

It spread awareness which ended up with millions of people getting involved.

It helped apply international pressure as well.

And as a result, the Hong Kong government withdrew the bill.

So this shows you again how change can happen.

So in this case, through the use of social media and through the use of demonstrations, the action was effective because the bill was then withdrawn.

So what impact did the 2019 to 2020 Hong Kong protests have on the Hong Kong government? A, they delayed the proposed bill, B, they passed the bill, or C, they withdrew the bill.

They did withdraw the bill.

Now this is important because it does show how citizens can make change in a democracy.

Now what happened then after these events has led to, in 2025, Hong Kong is actually seen as now a hybrid regime.

So it no longer fully democratic.

And that is because when the Hong Kong government withdrew the bill, the Chinese government opposed the decision and sought to maintain tighter control over Hong Kong.

And what this led to was something called the National Security Law.

It granted authorities greater power to punish acts of protests or political opposition.

So since then, free speech, the right to protest, and press freedom have been heavily restricted, which has resulted in a lot of activists being arrested.

So when we said, in democratic countries, citizens have the right to promote change, is that what's happening here? This isn't the case anymore.

And this is what's led to Hong Kong no longer being seen as a democracy, and it is now seen as a hybrid regime because some of those rights are now being restricted.

True or false? Citizens in Hong Kong can participate in the same level of protest as they did before the National Security Law.

That is false.

Why is it false? Since the National Security Law has been introduced, the right to protest has been restricted.

Some activists have been arrested.

This was seen Hong Kong reclassified as a hybrid regime.

So it does show you, when we're talking about countries and we're talking about situations, democracy is constantly evolving.

This means countries can become more democratic and they can become less democratic, depending on what is going on in that country at that time.

So moving on to the first task now.

We've got Billy here who says, "I recently visited Texas, and some citizens there want to see greater action on reducing plastic pollution." Can you create a campaign plan for how citizens can take action to address this issue? Your plan should include what specific change you want to bring about, so the goal.

Who your target audience is, the action the citizens will take and why, and the resources needed.

So if you've got someone there, you could always have a discussion about what you think would be the best course of action for this.

You could reflect on some of the examples we've seen in the lesson and think about what made them successful.

And then once you've decided what action you're gonna take and how you're gonna do it, if you create your plan.

And then when you're ready, unpause, and we can have a look through some feedback together.

Good luck and I hope you come up with some interesting campaign ideas.

How did you get on? This just gives you an idea of the plan.

Of course, you might have picked any of those forms of methods when we were looking things up.

Petitioning, lobbying, demonstration, social media.

You could have picked a different one to what is here.

This is just to give you an idea of what the kind of detail you're looking for in your plan and how to go about it.

I mean, as well, you might have designed something rather than written it for your plan, and that would be brilliant as well.

So let's have a look at this one.

So your answer could include, the goal of the campaign is to reduce plastic pollution across Texas.

In order to achieve this, the campaign can lobby for a nationwide ban on single-use plastics such as plastic bags, straws, and bottles.

This would help decrease the amount of plastic waste in landfills and oceans, protecting the environment and wildlife.

The audience is lawmakers, as they will be the ones to implement the ban.

Citizens can start a petition to gather support from people across the country and organise a peaceful protest to raise awareness.

The campaign will not need many resources, but will need volunteers to help support the protests and to put pressure on the government to pass legislation.

Hopefully, you can use that to have a look at how your plan was and just to give you an idea of the kind of thing that you are looking for.

Now we're gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

So this is how can change happen in non-democratic countries.

So Lucas says, "Do citizens have the right to take action in non-democratic countries?" Thinking about some of the stuff we saw in that first learning cycle, what do you think about this? Is that the case? So actually, in non-democratic countries, action can look very different.

This is because citizens may not have the same freedom or rights.

So they may not be able to express their opinions or take part in political actions.

To demand change in non-democratic countries, citizens may resort to civil disobedience or resistance.

We are gonna go through these terms and their differences as we go through.

So don't worry if you haven't heard of them just yet.

And they might rely on international support.

We're gonna have a look at how.

So in non-democratic countries, the government might restrict freedoms and control the media, which restricts access to information, making it hard to organise movements or speak out.

To give you an example, in 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in what you call a coup.

And what that did was it removed the elected leaders that were in and the military became the government.

It led to citizens organising peaceful protests to demand the restoration of democracy.

However, the military actually responded with extreme violence, internet blackouts, and mass arrests.

Citizens were then organising secretly or online using encrypted apps to stay safe.

Now as of May 2025, the military still run the government in Myanmar.

So again, this shows how change then might take a lot longer time when a country is non-democratic.

Then we've got these two terms that were mentioned earlier.

So civil disobedience and resistance.

So in non-democratic countries, citizens often have to resort to this to demand change, which could risk punishment or consequences.

Now, civil disobedience is this idea of peaceful, deliberate breaking of certain laws, rules, or policies.

It's about protesting against something that's considered unjust or to highlight an issue and push for change.

Now what this means, an example could be things like refusing to follow dress code or holding silent protests or sit-ins.

The main idea of it being civil disobedience is it is peaceful, but you are deliberately breaking some form of law, rule, or policy to make your point.

Then resistance, it can be similar because it can include civil disobedience in it, but may also look for more hidden or dangerous actions, which we'll look at as we go through.

If we have a look at the example now, in 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in hospital in Iran after she was detained by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating the country's strict hijab laws.

Now her death led to widespread protests, and you might have heard of it, it was known as the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, which happened across Iran during 2022 to '23.

Now this involved lots of little acts of civil disobedience.

So for example, female protestors removed their hijab in public, female protestors cutting their hair and burning their hijabs, and chanting slogans against the government.

Now the reaction to this was that the Iranian government responded with severe crackdown on the use of violence, internet blackouts, and arrests of minors and activists.

Now in these cases, some individuals were executed in connection with the protests as well.

So this shows the severe punishment side that can happen when activists are trying to promote change in non-democratic countries.

Now if we look at the difference in terms of resistance.

So acts of resistance were seen in Sudan in 2023 during the civil war groups known as Resistance Committees.

Now what the resistance included was mass protests and strikes, humanitarian aid efforts to delivering food and medical supplies.

And in this case, it's not so much an act of defiance, but it's supporting those that are part of those protests and strikes as well.

Another thing they did was reclaimed a local hospital that had been repurposed by the military, so they could get it back to use as a hospital.

With this also came documenting of human rights abuses and sharing that with international organisations.

Why might it be important to share with international organisations? What do you think? Again, we'll look at this one in more detail, but think about that idea of getting maybe some of those other countries who have those laws in place to support the cause and to put pressure on governments.

So can you decide if the following are examples of civil disobedience or resistance? You've got taking part in silent protest, publicly sharing banned government information anonymously online, or organising an underground movement.

Remember, civil disobedience is those peaceful acts of defiance, whereas the resistance might be more hidden or prolonged.

So that first one, the silent protest, that's civil disobedience.

The second is resistance.

And then the third one is also a form of resistance.

So in non-democratic countries, citizens may rely more on support from international organisations.

This is what we were getting to think about earlier.

Because the global pressure might help to bring about change.

Do you know any of these organisations that support globally? Can you think of some examples? So we're talking about organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, the International Federation for Human Rights, Reporters without Borders, and the UN.

Do you know what any of these organisations do to support with change in non-democratic countries? If not, we're gonna have a look at a few.

So in Belarus, after the 2020 presidential election, there were protests by citizens believing the results were rigged.

Now the Belarusian government responded with violence, arresting thousands and implemented an internet blackout.

However, the European Union imposed sanctions on 40 Belarusian officials involved in repression and intimidation against peaceful demonstrators, and they called for a new election.

You then had Amnesty International who worked to support by document in the police brutality.

They launched global petition, highlighted the arbitrary arrests, and demanded accountability for human rights violations.

Like international organisations can't always just go in and straight away demand action or change, but they can highlight and they can continue to put pressure in the case of the EU by imposing sanctions.

That means that that could limit the trade and what they are able to do.

And in the case of Amnesty International, you are raising that awareness of what is going on in that area.

So true or false? International organisations cannot support change and action in non-democratic countries.

That's false.

Why? International organisations can support in different ways such as raising awareness of issues and imposing sanctions.

For example, Amnesty International demanded accountability for human rights violations following events in Belarus in 2020.

Now we're gonna move on to the final task.

So can you discuss the reasons why some people might choose to take personal risks such as facing punishment or harm in order to stand up for what they believe in.

what might encourage or discourage someone from doing this? So if you are with others, you might want to have a discussion between you.

You could take sides.

So you could have a look at both sides of this argument and think about.

So you're thinking about what might encourage or discourage someone from doing this.

If you're on your own, then you can think about both sides yourself and try to critically evaluate this question.

But take some time, pause now, and when you're ready to unpause, we're gonna have a look through at some ideas together.

So you could have said something like, in non-democratic countries, action and civil disobedience that risk harm can be a powerful form of resistance.

In Myanmar 2021, peaceful protests against the military coup continued despite violence and arrest, demanding a return to democracy.

In Iran, protests about Mahsa Amini's death saw women defy government rules, drawing global attention.

Such acts highlight injustice and can mobilise international support for change.

However, we could have looked at something like this.

The risks involved can be extremely high, as seen in Iran and Myanmar.

Citizens face violence, arrest, or even death.

In Myanmar, protestors had to organise in secret due to internet blackouts, highlighting how restricted freedoms can make resistance even harder and more dangerous.

Additionally, in countries like Belarus, international organisations such as the European Union and Amnesty International have been crucial in applying pressure on the regime.

This shows that sometimes relying on international support might be a safer and more effective strategy as governments may be less likely to repress peaceful global interventions.

Now that brings us to the end.

We're just gonna summarise before we finish.

So action looks different in democratic and non-democratic countries.

In democratic countries, action is protected through laws and rights.

In non-democratic countries, actions often restricted and citizens can face consequences.

Civil disobedience and resistance are therefore common, with citizens risking their lives to demand change.

International support and pressure often play a key role in helping bring about change in non-democratic countries.

I think the main point to take out is that action looks different depending on whether a country is democratic or non-democratic.

And that, in the example of Hong Kong, it can change over time as the country evolve as well.

So thank you for working through with me today, and hopefully you've taken some recap of the lesson on taking action in democratic and non-democratic societies.

Enjoy the rest of your day.