In Summer 2020, PRA held a four-part online series launched on Thursday, July 16, 2020. PRA researchers and invited guest speakers delved into topics ranging from White Nationalism to COVID-19, offering perspectives on how right-wing actors are capitalizing on socio-political instability to advance their agendas and what the Left can do to combat these threats in pursuit of a multi-racial, feminist democracy.
Video recordings are linked in the title of each webinar listed below.
Multi-Racial Democracy or Authoritarianism?
Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 4:00pm ET
Featuring:
- Tarso Luís Ramos, Executive Director of Political Research Associates
- Dania Rajendra, Director of the Athena Alliance
Right now, we are living in a global period of democratic decline and the rise of authoritarianism. From Moscow to Manila, from Brasilia to Budapest, from Warsaw to Washington, D.C., authoritarian leaders, parties, and movements are on the rise.
Fueled by misogynist patriarchy, White nationalism, and neoliberal capitalism, it would be a mistake to think that the U.S. is immune to broader global trends. So, how do we get from here, perhaps the brink of authoritarianism, to the just, inclusive, multi-racial democracy that we seek?
Don’t miss this discussion and Q&A session about reining in racial nationalism and theocracy, along with their authoritarian cousins: neoliberalism, surveillance and monopoly capitalism, and oligarchy.
Under the Cover of COVID
Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 4:00-4:45pm ET (45 minutes)
Featuring:
- Ben Lorber, PRA Research Analyst
- Cloee Cooper, PRA Research Analyst
- Tobita Chow, Director of Justice is Global, a project of People’s Action / People’s Action Institute
While Americans struggle to meet their basic needs and keep themselves and their families safe from the coronavirus, the U.S. Right is capitalizing on widespread distress and misinformation to advance a white supremacist agenda. Cramped quarters and poor health conditions leave incarcerated populations especially vulnerable to COVID-19 and a third of the country’s incarcerated population reside in jails administered by 3,081 county sheriffs (who are 99% men and 95% white). The Far Right is engaged in a bigoted call-and-response with the Trump administration, and provocateurs are consolidating anti-Chinese slurs, broader anti-Asian resentment, and antisemitic conspiracy theories into COVID-19 currency for right-wing media consumers.
PRA research analysts Lorber and Cooper and movement strategist Chow speak to our uniquely precarious present moment, examining the Right’s use of rhetoric, coalition-building, and opportunism to mobilize against a distracted public.
White Supremacy: Mobilization and Resistance
Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 4:00-5:30pm ET (90 minutes)
Featuring:
- Zoé Samudzi: PRA research fellow, writer, and UCSF doctoral candidate in medical sociology,
- Steven Gardiner: PRA Assistant Research Director of Racial and Immigrant Justice, and
- Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, National Strategies and Partnerships Director at Movement for Black Lives
- Aislinn Pulley, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago and co-Executive Director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center
While Portland contends with unwanted federal troops and other cities like Chicago facing surges of their own, it reinforces that we are at an inflection point in the administration of White supremacy in the United States. White nationalist movements exercise leverage at the highest levels of government — not merely to accelerate the roll-back of civil rights but to adopt a new set of strategies intended to secure the cultural, economic, political, and numerical dominance of Whiteness — that is, to achieve a future for the United States as a White, Christian nation. The dynamic interplay between social movements and the state has disrupted the playbook of a generation of justice organizers focused on rooting out structural racism.
Centered on the development of PRA’s new Understanding White Supremacy framework, Samudzi and Gardiner explain the thinking behind PRA’s new framework-in-progress and strategic movement leaders Akinwole-Bandele and Aislinn respond to the intersections of theory and practice.
Disrupting Anti-Trans Feminist Advocacy: An Interactive Training
Led by PRA Senior Research Analyst Heron Greenesmith, Esq.
Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 4:00-5:30pm ET (90 minutes)
United by a shared investment in gender essentialism, Christian Right organizations and anti-trans feminists are deliberately partnering to give anti-transgender advocacy the appearance of a broader consensus across the political spectrum. This interactive workshop shares information on who the leaders of anti-trans feminist advocacy are, and which organizations, media outlets, and spokespeople on the Right are platforming these activists. You’ll learn about common anti-trans feminist rhetoric and practice how to disrupt this rhetoric.