PRA Fall Webinar Series

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, PRA hosted a series of moderated conversations with experts and social justice movement organizers exploring and challenging some of the most pervasive and influential anti-democratic movements in the U.S. today. We explored the influence of these right-wing movements on the election and the ways they will continue to represent a threat to democracy and civil rights regardless of the electoral outcome.

A recording of each webinar is available in the links below:

  

sheriffs

Courted by the Right: A Growing Movement of Right-Wing Sheriffs

September 17, 2020 at 4-5:30pm ET

Over the past decade, sectors on the Right have been making a concerted effort to mobilize county sheriffs to support and expand systems of racialized social control and expulsion. With COVID-19 flourishing in incarcerated populations, 3,081 county sheriffs (90% of whom are White cis men) oversee the county jails that hold approximately a third of the total incarcerated population in the U.S. Some sheriffs are refusing basic measures to reduce disease spread, others are establishing second amendment and anti-abortion sanctuary cities, and more still are perpetuating and profiting from the carceral state. 

With the special release of a new, comprehensive interactive map identifying right-wing sheriffs and their affiliations, PRA research analysts Cloee Cooper and Ethan Fauré explore the unchecked power that local sheriffs wield in conversation with movement organizers Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Co-Executive Director of the Highlander Research & Education Center;

Juan Miranda, organizer with Siembra NC; and Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, Director of the Asian American Advocacy Fund.

Watch the recording.

 


 

paramilitaries

Paramilitaries and the Far Right: Advancing a Vision of Civil War

September 24, 2020 at 4-5:30pm ET

Since the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, PRA has documented more than 180 incidents of armed far-right actors showing up at racial justice protests. They have threatened, harassed, and killed racial justice protesters, collaborated with the police, claimed to support police accountability, and shot and killed law enforcement personnel. We have been here before. Far-right paramilitaries have been a part of the American landscape since slave patrols, anti-Indian militias, “rangers,” and private company security forces evolved into modern day police departments. 

Join us as we discuss how paramilitaries have recently become more numerous, visible, and active under the Trump administration. To keep our movements safe, we all need to better understand who these paramilitaries are, what threats they pose, and what to do when they are present.

Watch the recording. 

 


 

Austerity kills sign

Austerity Kills 

October 8, 2020 at 4-5:30pm ET

Within weeks of Joe Biden announcing a $3.5 trillion economic plan, the head of his transition team, former senator Ted Kaufman, told the Wall Street Journal: “When you see what Trump’s done to the deficit … forget about Covid-19, all the deficits that he built with the incredible tax cuts. So we’re going to be limited.” With Kaufman sounding the death knell of Biden’s economic plan and mentions of austerity cropping up across Europe as a possible approach to post-COVID recovery, the further dismantling of welfare programs, when people will need them most, seems imminent. 

Join us for a deep dive on U.S. austerity with experts and movement organizers advocating for investment, not divestment, in the American people. 

Watch the Recording.

 


 

Women's Rights are Human Rights sign

Mobilizing Misogyny in the Service of Authoritarianism

October 15, 2020 at 4-5:30pm ET

Mobilized in the 2016 election, misogyny has become a defining characteristic of the past four years. Manifesting in mass shootings, endemic in the treatment of prominent female political leaders, and bolstering White supremacy, misogyny is contributing to the steady rise of authoritarianism in the U.S. and abroad. 

Join us for a discussion on how misogyny unites disparate sectors of the Right with experts and movement organizers who center feminist practice in building democracy. 

Watch the Recording.

 

 


 

Jerusalem

Christian Zionism: The End Times Agenda in U.S. Domestic and Foreign Policy

October 27, 2020 at 4-5:30pm ET

President Trump’s administration flaunted numerous political norms and regulations during this year’s Republican National Convention; one of the most conspicuous instances was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s pre-recorded participation broadcast from the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. A clear violation of diplomatic norms, Pompeo’s participation sent a clear message to Trump’s evangelical Christian base: Christian Zionists occupy and will continue to occupy a place of influence in his administration. 

Join us as experts and movement leaders discuss the deeply antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-democratic Christian Zionist movement, its outsized influence in the Trump administration, and the significant impact it has on domestic and foreign policy. 

Watch the Recording.

 

 


 

President Trump and Vice President Pence

Election Eve: State of Democracy Report

October 29, 2020 at 4-5:30pm ET

Democratic backsliding has accelerated in the U.S. over the past four years under a presidential administration and congress that has worked diligently to reverse environmental protections, civil and reproductive rights, diplomacy, and welfare programs. During a global pandemic and recession, millions more Americans have entered an indefinite state of precarity with inconsistent messaging, inadequate protections, and condescending treatment ranging from disinterest to contempt being delivered from on high. 

Join PRA on the eve of the 2020 election for a comprehensive look at the last four years under President Trump and his administration and the “what-ifs” of four more years to come. 

Watch the Recording.