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All Eyes on Minneapolis: Lessons on Resisting Authoritarianism

Inform Your Resistance Season 4: Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode, PRA researchers discuss the deadly ICE crackdown in Minneapolis and the powerful resistance we’ve seen on the streets. ICE continues to kidnap thousands with impunity, and the brutal murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti show the naked brutality of this authoritarian administration. But everyday people continue to defend their neighbors and communities: by organizing in neighborhoods, on street corners, at airports, and at City Hall; and by grinding business as usual to a halt and showing the entire country, and the world, what it takes to stand up in this moment. 

To make sense of the moment, PRA’s Ben Lorber talks to fellow Senior Research Analysts Annie Wilkinson and Ethan Fauré, as well as Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner. They discuss the decades-long advance of today’s A term used to describe organizations, movements, ideas, and policies that oppose immigrants and immigration. Learn more movement from the margins to the Short for Make America Great Again, the slogan of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Learn more mainstream; the strategies of lawfare, Repression occurs when public or private institutions—such as law enforcement agencies or vigilante groups—use arrest, physical coercion, or violence to subjugate a specific group. Learn more and fearmongering at the heart of the authoritarian playbook; and what we can expect from the Right moving forward. They also explore what the resistance in Minneapolis can teach us as we sharpen our own strategies to block the Right and build a better future. This episode was recorded on Friday, January 30th.

Episode Resources

Authors

Political Research Associates (PRA) is a social justice research and strategy center. Since 1981, we have been devoted to supporting organizations, civic leaders, journalists, and social sectors that are building a more just and inclusive democratic society.
Ben Lorber’s research focuses on antisemitism and white nationalism.
Ethan Fauré is a researcher focusing on movements promoting anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and White nationalist ideologies. They joined PRA after working with the Center for New Community for five years, authoring groundbreaking reports on anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim activity in the U.S. Ethan works closely with other researchers, journalists, national organizations, and, grassroots activists to deepen their understanding of these forces—informing resistance efforts and their work building power across the country.
Steven Gardiner started researching and writing in opposition to the politics of bigotry, violence, and authoritarianism in the early 1990s. Working for the Portland, Oregon-based Coalition for Human Dignity (CHD), he did some of the first analyses of the Religious Right in the Northwest and his work supported the years-long fight against anti-LGBTQ ballot measures of the Oregon Citizens Alliance. As editor of CHD’s newsletter, The Dignity Report, and principal writer and analyst on a series of articles and reports he helped to shape understanding and arm the resistance to antisemitism…
Annie Wilkinson, Ph.D., researches transnational anti-gender movements, mis- and disinformation and conspiracy theories, and authoritarianism as a Senior Research Analyst for Political Research Associates.