The New Antisemitism and Neo-McCarthyism

A student encampment in solidarity with Gaza at Brown university in April 2024 (Credit: Colonel Glenn/Flickr.com)

Unsurprisingly, authoritarian forces in the U.S. are desperate to quell the grassroots upsurge in Palestine solidarity protests by responding with neo-McCarthyist repression tactics, recalling a period of extreme anti-Left repression driven by the U…

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Taiwan’s 2024 Elections

Disinformation in the Struggle Between Democracy and Authoritarianism
people standing in a row holding sunflowers. A sign says "Taiwan is not for sale."

Taiwan is often described as Asia’s freest country. Kayo Chang Black details Taiwan’s political history and how the 2024 election cycle resurfaced the authoritarian threat that lurks within Taiwan’s democracy.

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The Fight Ahead

How the Electoral Far Right Fared in the 2022 Midterm Elections
White man on stage with hand raised smiling, you can see the letters "ESANTIS" projected behind him.

In October 2022, PRA published a map tracking the Electoral Far Right in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections. Of the 276 candidates tracked by PRA, 155 appeared on the general election ballot. 107 of these candidates won their races. In addition to…

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A Bid For Power

Mapping The Electoral Far Right in the 2022 Elections
Photo of gray pickup truck with RW flags in bed with a mock up of a map of the US with blue data points layered on top on the left side of the image

The purpose of this resource is to help understand and visualize how ideas, policies, and factions that have long been associated with the Far Right in the United States have become an ordinary part of U.S. politics. PRA has identified 274 far-right…

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The Great 2020 Antifa Scare

A flyer on a pillar that reads: "This is a fascist free zone. Antifa"

Over the last six years, the U.S. has seen a mass wave of nativism that has shifted the “Overton Window” of acceptable politics, making once-marginal aspects of anti-immigrant ideology a part of the mainstream GOP. This has changed the nature of…

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PRA Statement on the January 6 Insurrection

Pro-Trump mob assembled in front of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 (Credit: Blink O'fanaye/Flickr).

In the run-up to the 2020 election, Political Research Associates warned that Trump would never concede defeat and that his volatile mix of supporters would take to the streets to contest the results if he lost at the polls. We recognized the danger…

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Navigating the Narrows

PRA Statement on the Election and Threats to Democracy
An older lady in a shirt with her fist in the air.

Early this morning, and without any legitimate basis, President Trump declared electoral victory and decried voter fraud. Political Research Associates, among other observers, had warned of such moves. So far, the president appears to be following…

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Under the Cover of COVID

Resisting Disaster Authoritarianism, Building Multiracial Feminist Democracy
President Trump Giving an Update at the White House on the Coronavirus Response

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the inadequacy of our public health and emergency response infrastructure, leaving the heaviest burdens of our distress to fall unevenly, but predictably, along fault lines of race, class, gender, and disability while…

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COVID-19 and Authoritarian Crisis Management in Hungary

Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary

On March 30, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, Hungary’s parliament passed a law allowing the nationalist government to rule…

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Multi-Racial Democracy, or Authoritarianism?

Tarso Luís Ramos speaking at the Facing Race conference.

I’m a pastor’s kid and I was raised to believe in Martin Luther King Jr.’s inspiring assertion that the arc of history may be long, but it bends towards justice. And, I was raised in a family that had to flee our country when Brazilian democracy…

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In the Court of the Centrist King

Emmanuel Macron and Authoritarian Liberalism

If Macron is the bulwark against a looming authoritarian nightmare, why does his program look like an assault on the fundamental foundations of democracy in France?

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Trading Principles for Power

The U.S. Christian Right's Endorsement of Authoritarian Leaders

On Friday, August 4, Paul Kagame celebrated a landslide victory in Rwanda’s presidential election, securing his third seven-year term as the small, East African country’s leader with nearly 99% of the vote. It was an unsurprising result, given that…

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#First100Days Crash Course: Week 13

Political Repression, Surveillance, and PRISONS

The steady expansion of both the power and use of law enforcement in multiple areas of life reflects (and institutionalizes) right-wing worldviews regardless of the political party or identity claims of the speaker. These readings explore the…

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#First100Days Crash Course: Week 12

Public Education

From “school choice” schemes and the neoliberal privatization movement to the influence of the Christian Right on curriculum and school policy, public education is a key battleground.

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#First100Days Crash Course: Week 10

Economic Justice

As progressives contemplate how to build a movement for justice that can effectively counter such forces, it is necessary to understand how the Corporate Right—what we might term the Chamber of Commerce wing of the conservative movement—is…

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#First100Days Crash Course: Week 9

LGBTQ Rights

Opposition to LGBTQ equality has long been both a fundamental value and useful political tool for many American conservative organizations, especially those associated with the Christian Right. Even as visibility and mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ…

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#First100Days Crash Course: Week 6

Racism and White Supremacy

Racial inequality remains deeply embedded within U.S. social and economic structures, even as its forms and justifications are in flux. Claims to White racial superiority, though not entirely dead, were largely washed aside by the civil rights…

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#First100Days Crash Course: Week 4

Fascism, Authoritarianism, Right-Wing Populism

Right-wing populist movements target superficial or false symbols of elite power, reinforces systems of social privilege and oppression, and are built around a backlash against liberation movements, social reform, or revolution.

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#First100Days Crash Course

Coinciding with Trump’s first 100 days in Office — a period of time historically used as a benchmark to measure the potential of a new president — PRA will share readings, videos, and tools for organizing to inform our collective resistance based on…

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Democratic Principles for Antidemocratic Times

Engaging Trump, Defending Human Rights, and Preventing Authoritarianism

The bigotry and false solutions championed by President Donald Trump are not a new phenomenon in American politics. Indeed, the idea that one person’s dignity requires another’s subjugation has been a central contradiction in this country’s founding…

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What time is it?

Why we can’t ignore the momentum of the Right

Broadly speaking, the consensus is that we’re in a time of great instability, revolt, and possibility. History teaches us that in times like these, we need to be both bold and vigilant. Authoritarian, chauvinistic, and bigoted movements assert…

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Beyond Trump

Disrupt, Defuse, Compete

To defeat the current upsurge in right-wing populism, progressives will need to disrupt, defuse, and – critically – compete for portions of its constituency.

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