After 3 1/2 years of war, you might assume everyone in Ukraine right now is demoralized and hunkered down in bunkers, dreading the next drone attack from Russia.

But that is not at all what Ukraine is like right now, according to a Ukrainian student of mine just returned from there.  Over the summer, in fact, some 110,000 Ukrainians turned out for the Atlas Weekend music festival, in the heart of Kyiv, to show the world and themselves that Ukraine’s soul is alive and dancing. The event at the Blockbuster Mall featured over 100 Ukrainian artists across six stages and raged on for three days despite rain and air-raid alerts.

One of the singers, Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox, had just returned from the front lines, where he had been serving in a combat unit of the national police.

“You don’t want to come back to a monastery,” he told a local media outlet. “You want to come back to a home full of life … life without music is not worth fighting for.”

My student, Polina Panasenko, was there. She said the festival felt like a sanctuary of solidarity, unlike any concert she’d ever been to.

“I’ve seen soldiers repeatedly express on social media that they fight for everyone to enjoy life that goes on,” Polina said to me. “This fight is a joint effort, and Ukrainians are very creative in finding ways to involve everyone.”

The parking garage underneath the mall, for instance, became a shelter for 20,000 during an air raid that interrupted the concert on Day One. Merchandise for sale during the festival included weapons, body armor and drones. Medics in the mall taught concertgoers how to apply tourniquets to save lives. Polina tried out a flight simulator to see what it was like for Ukraine’s frontline pilots.

And “festivals like Atlas Weekend raise millions of gryvnyas (Ukrainian currency) to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Polina notes. They also “invite the musicians who currently serve in the army to perform at the festival, and hold auctions with celebrities’ belongings to boost the fundraising.”

I think such festivals, and the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian people, offer some lessons for us here in the U.S. on what a high-functioning civil society really looks like. Sometimes, the most ferocious practitioners of democracy are those who have been denied it.

Looking at our own polarized, shut-down, dysfunctional political climate, I actually envy Ukraine’s civic vitality and vigor.

By civil society, I mean everyday citizens, community organizations, nonprofits, volunteers, and other groups that operate independently of the state and help citizens engage in public life.  

People power

Ukraine’s vibrant and vocal civil society has repeatedly shown its strength during the war. For example, while she was home on summer vacation, Polina took part in mass protests led by young citizens that successfully pushed the government to reverse course on a reform that would have undermined anti-corruption bodies. Polina and her friends showed how ordinary citizens can assert themselves as political actors demanding accountability, transparency and legitimacy.

Ukraine has a long history of such people power. Mass protests like the Orange Revolution (2004), the Euromaidan/Revolution of Dignity (2013–2014), and the recent wartime volunteer mobilization show how citizens themselves are the true heroes of democracy. Civilian volunteer networks sprang into action almost overnight when the war started — supplying humanitarian aid, evacuating displaced people, supporting local defense — but also maintaining vigilance over government decisions and corruption. They demonstrated that bottom-up, decentralized action can sustain democracy even during wartime.

Unity

And then there’s Ukraine’s unity. A “whole-of-society” approach to resilience has  the state, military and civil society all working hand in hand. I envy their cohesion.

According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Russia’s hybrid attacks on civilian areas, which aimed to destabilize Ukraine, have instead strengthened its social cohesion and resolve and made democracy feel like a way of life worth fighting for.

If only we could have the same resolve when it comes to destabilizing attacks on our own democratic cohesion from things like social media and inflammatory political rhetoric.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS2ireXEaFU

Vibrant journalism

And Ukraine’s journalists are teaching the world valuable lessons on how to counter misinformation and other tactics that threaten democracies. Many sites spend most of their days fact checking and debunking the false narratives Russia is putting out on the war, Polina tells me, and then volunteer at night to collect supplies for the army. One striking feature in Ukraine is that, even in wartime, investigative journalists continue to monitor public procurement and demand transparency in reconstruction and defense contracting.

Back home, alas, there is no such cooperation between the military and journalists. Dozens of Pentagon reporters just turned in their badges and left the building rather than sign agreements restricting their work.

Filling in where state can’t

Local civic groups are also stepping in to help where the state is weak, such as providing aid to displaced persons, documenting war crimes, and supporting soldiers. The partnership between government and civil society has deepened during the war, with civic actors influencing governance, anti-corruption reforms and postwar planning.

Meanwhile, many of our U.S. cities are currently at war with the federal government over ICE raids and federal crime crackdowns. Hard to find many signs of civil cooperation in our country.

E-government a lifesaver

Another lesson from Ukraine for emergencies: As local services such as street repair and trash collection have been disrupted by war, digital government innovations have helped maintain public access to essential services in Ukraine. This has demonstrated how technology can help a state remain functional and accountable even in the most difficult circumstances.

Lesson No. 1

The most important lesson I see right now in Ukraine: institutions aren’t everything. Our formal institutions in the U.S. (elections, parties, legislatures) are necessary, of course, but maybe not sufficient: a vibrant, participatory civil society that can mobilize in moments of crisis helps anchor democracy beyond “business as usual.” Ukraine shows that a more grass-roots democracy might work better than an institution-driven one.

There is one powerful way that Ukraine and the U.S. are alike, however: In a government that aspires to be truly of, by and for the people, the heroes both countries need right now are the people themselves.