This has been the subject of great debate with people around here from different parts of the world who disagree with covid handling by governments. There is clearly a looming danger of the surveillance state, and yes, arguably that is also part of authoritarianism, more on a continuum like @Wojt says.
Yes! and this is so worth struggling for! While many of us are trying to make a small contribution to this, the tension I think comes in at the personal level: when you’re deciding how much you are going to be in the very system that is so faulty, and what you can do about it.
To give you an example, I’ve started a local business to bring the world a more sustainable local protein food, building partnerships with local coops and so on… but I still have to run my project in a capitalist world, and a liberal democracy, and make it sustainable financially to be able to build a family and pay bills. I sometimes also get subsidies to develop a new product - which means I have to thank a government for that, like it or not. I will participate in society as a citizen with the rights that I have - voting, right to assembly, right to protest if I see a cause worth going in the streets for, and a lot of sympathy for radical alternatives in which I may or may not be able to be involved. I’ll probably also raise my children to be as civically involved as possible in the very societies in which they will choose to live.
So yes, taking responsibility is very important, but in the end the level playing field remains the same, and most of us have to partake at some level, and play nice or censor ourselves or be loud when needed. Maybe it sounds cynical, I don’t know. The rest of it, for me at least, is just individual grids that help us make decisions in a complex world - like living in a country that’s higher or lower in the HDI ranking, or choosing a profession that is more or against feeding a status quo, and so on.
By the way Sonia, you might like this approach elsewhere on Edgeryders, that @Matthias set up: for taking on more autonomous lives Autarky Lab - Edgeryders