Co-creating Democracy with Compassion - We Keep Showing Up

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As Pride and Refugee Awareness Month come to a close, we are holding what they have stirred—grief, hope, fury, compassion—always compassion—and anchoring ourselves in the knowledge that these are not just commemorative months; they are part of our DNA at Footage.


Solidarity, advocacy, voice, and the grit and determination to keep showing up are stitched into our daily work and our devotion to those still made most vulnerable by conflict, exile, erasure, and the loss of democratic values.

Indeed, today, in the U.S. and far beyond, we are witnessing democracy itself—democracy built by those who care, by collective voice, by generations of movements, love, and tireless effort on behalf of humanity—bend under the weight of authoritarianism, greed, surveillance, and the calculated silencing of the very people it was meant to include, uplift, center.

Each day, we witness destruction wrought by those who seek power at the expense of those with the least. Those who dare to speak out are silenced. Those fleeing violence and persecution—because of gender identity, political beliefs, or the urgent need to find safety and a better life—are incarcerated in heinous conditions. People sick with worry for their families are denied healthcare. And those living with the daily fear of displacement have no safe escape.

And we are also witnessing something else—something vital, though harder to see amid so much destruction: people are still showing up. Survivors, movement builders, educators, feminist and queer organizations, youth and elders, everyday people—those who refuse to stand by and watch—are showing up.

And today feels like an important day to say to those people:
We are with you. We are you.

We know democracy is not only a matter of voting or political systems—it is the daily practice of voice, of knowing your presence matters, and of insisting that lived experience should drive the policies that shape our lives. We know from over a decade of public diplomacy on the ground, from standing beside those left out, from building with people whose voices are constantly silenced, that democracy must be nourished in everyday ways—through connection, through the conviction that every person is worthy of being seen and heard.

We also know that democracy is access to information you can trust; it is the radical act of staying present to others when the rest of the world looks away—and that democracy is co-created through compassion in action.

And in this profound knowing: we keep showing up.

In fact, today, despite significant funding losses and uncertainty, we are expanding. This summer, we are preparing the launch of FemSMS USA—our expansion into the U.S.. 

FemSMS is our compassionate messaging service, co-created with women in all their diversity, LGBTQIA+ communities, and humanitarians at the start of Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. With our steadfast partners at Project Kesher, our private donors, so many of you reading this—as well as those of you who give monthly—and the trust of those we serve, this service—delivering compassion, connection, and care—has now reached thousands of people in moments of crisis in Ukraine and across Europe.

FemSMS is about democracy—not in the abstract, but in the everyday. In the right to feel seen, informed, and connected. In the belief that each life has value and each voice matters. Democracy is not static. It’s built by people. It lives in our networks of care, in the ways we show up for one another when institutions fail to do so. And that is exactly what we are doing, together.

This summer, we are building the next phase of FemSMS: expanding into the U.S. and launching a new subscription service that invites you to become a Compassion Advocate—offering and receiving messages of care in times of crisis.

Today, we’re simply inviting you to build with us. There’s nothing to give—just a moment to share your number, to say: I’m with you (click here). You’ll receive the first opportunity to help us co-create what’s coming. 

There are six months left in this year. We intend to meet each one with clarity and resolve—and we want you with us. You—who have made this work possible.

We would not be here without you.

With grace and in service,
We are yours,

All of us at Footage

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