Resistance

The Swinging of the Political Pendulum

An Issue of the Anti-Authoritarian Playbook Newsletter

Many people have tried to assure me that however difficult the political, economic, and social conditions in the U.S. may become under authoritarian rule, improvements are on the way - the political pendulum inevitably swings back. The thing is,…

Article

The Antidote to Authoritarianism with Jiva Manske

Inform Your Resistance Season 4: Episode 3

a black and white photo on people marching on the street, wearing hats and dhotis

In this episode, Koki and Jiva lay out key ways that the Left can and must build a shared vision of democracy, while the pro-democracy movement is in a moment of crisis. They talk through the “what is to be done?”, drawing inspiration history.

Podcast

illustration of a house on fire, with seeds at the bottom

Artist Micah Bazant talks to PRA about organizing and chronic illness.

Art of Activism

Why They're Winning And What We Can Do About It

An Issue of the Anti-Authoritarian Playbook Newsletter

Authoritarians in the U.S. and around the world are clearly gaining ground rapidly. Their success has caused many to speculate about why and how they are winning, hoping to duplicate or riff on those winning strategies and tactics. In this endeavor…

Article

Three Way Fight

Author Q&A with Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. Lyons

Woman holds a pink sign that reads "resist trump"

Ben Lorber interviews authors Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. Lyons about their book Three Way Fight, a collection of essays designed to serve as a guide to antifascism and revolution.

Q&A

Leading in Resistance: Three Decades of Fighting Authoritarian and Supremacist Forces, A Conversation with Tarso Luís Ramos

Inform Your Resistance Season 3: Episode 10

PRA’s former Executive Director Tarso Luís Ramos about the ways that the terrain of contestation between Left and Right has shifted over three decades, and where he looks to for inspiration in an era of growing authoritarianism.

Podcast

Calling In

Author Q&A with Loretta Ross

a purple and blue background with two protestors holding signs of solidarity

PRA talks to Loretta Ross about her journey through activism and her framework for addressing conflict within and beyond social justice movements.

Q&A

Fire Dreams: Making Black Feminist Liberation in the South

A Conversation with Deon Haywood, Laura McTighe, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson

A discussion with Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson and the authors of Fire Dreams: Making Black Feminist Liberation in the South about Black feminist liberatory praxis and resistance strategies to White supremacy.

Q&A

How Solidarity Provides the Path of Resistance: A Conversation with Naomi Washington-Leapheart

Inform Your Resistance Season 3: Episode 8

Focus on a raised fist, background of people kneeling in protest.

In this episode, Naomi Washington-Leapheart explores the role of community and solidarity in creating responsive and durable strategies of contestation—of resistance—in our contemporary political moment.

Podcast

Review: Commune or Nothing!

Lessons for Building Grassroots Power Toward Liberation and Democracy

A group of people wearing red hats led by a man speaking with his hand raised.

Hialy Gutierrez reviews Chris Gilbert’s book Commune or Nothing!, a story of Venezuela’s communes as a model for liberatory organizing.

Book Review

The Education Wars

Author Q&A with Jennifer C. Berkshire

Woman in blue shirt holding a sign that reads "Teach real history don't ban books"

Jennifer C. Berkshire’s interview with PRA about her and Jack Schneider’s new book, The Education Wars, provides a road map for defending public education.

Q&A

a beige background with green barbed wire and the words "until we're all free"

An interview with artist Dio Cramer on resistance, art, and inspiration.

Art of Activism

What Is Movement Infrastructure?

How Movements Sustain Us Amid Rising Authoritarianism

A person holds up a sign that reads "Uproot the system"

Cloee Cooper speaks with three movement leaders—Alex Tom, Meena Jagannath, and Vince Warren—about rising authoritarianism, successful resistance strategies, and the future of Left organizing.

Q&A

Rising Against Authoritarianism

Amplifying Voices for Immigrant Justice

A woman with her eyes closed wearing a black shirt that says "F ck ICE"

Cloee Cooper interviews Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream, about her work in the immigrant justice space and our current political moment of rising authoritarianism and anti-immigrant policy and sentiment.

Q&A

Review: Reverberations of October 7

Mobilization Against Genocide Undeterred by Peak Anti-Palestinian Repression by Palestine Legal

A person wearing a mask and glasses holds a sign reading "Students say stop the bombs"

Palestine Legal’s report on anti-Palestinian repression in months after October 7, 2023 details the enormous wave of institutional backlash against pro-Palestine protesters.

Book Review

From the Archives: From Palestine to Atlanta, The Institutional Policing of Dissent by Habiba Farh

Inform Your Resistance Season 3: Episode 6

A person holding a sign that says "uproot the system"

In this episode of Inform Your Resistance, Koki reads “From Palestine to Atlanta, Outside and Foreign: The Institutional Policing of Dissent” by Habiba Farh, as part of our ongoing From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read…

Podcast

Three Way Fight

Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism

People holding a red and black flag that reads Anti-Racist Action

This excerpt from Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism explores a radical framework that can inform sharper and more effective strategies for organizing for human liberation.

Article

Q&A: Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence

An interview with Scot Nakagawa and Hardy Merriman

a black and white image of men holding flags walking.

A discussion with Hardy Merriman and Scot Nakagawa on the Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence (HOPE-PV) project, and what strategies communities can use to resist political violence.

Q&A

Synagogue Safety Beyond Higher Walls and Militarized Police

An Excerpt from Safety Through Solidarity

A group of people standing in front of a synagogue with umbrellas open

In this excerpt of the book Safety Through Solidarity, Ben Lorber and Shane Burley share insights on community organizing to build Jewish solidarity.

Article

There were glimmers of hope as the national election results came in Tuesday night, such as the advance of reproductive freedom in five states and historic elections of transgender and Black women. Overall, however, the elections delivered a…

Statement

An interview with Gabi Hawkins on resistance movements and inspiration.

Art of Activism

A collage of a group of people hugging each other in front of a background with two phoenixes.

The authors of Fire Dreams: Making Black Feminist Liberation in the South tell the story of how their book came about following an attack on their offices. Their work offers a window into how we can organize against systemic violence.

Q&A

A Q&A with Fearless Collective ambassador, Vicky Shahjehan on solidarity, and the role that art plays in activism.

Art of Activism

From Palestine to Atlanta, Outside and Foreign

The Institutional Policing of Dissent

a person holding a sign that says "Defend the Atlanta Forest", a policeman and two Palestinian flags

In a timely commentary on the state’s use of the “outside agitator” narrative to violently repress progressive movements, namely, Palestine solidarity activism and the Stop Cop City movement, Habiba Farh examines how “the powerful choose…

Article

Four people walking holding a banner that says "3rd world women we cannot live without our lives"

An excerpt from Andrea Ritchie’s new book Practicing New Worlds. This book examines the role of practicing emergent strategies toward abolition, or a just future without punishment, prisons, or violence in any form. Arguing that emergent…

Article

Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies

Author Q&A with Andrea J. Ritchie

Four people carrying a Palestinian flag standing on a lion.

PRA talks to Andrea J. Ritchie about her new book Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies, and what lessons we can learn from organizers and experts working to fight the Right.

Q&A

An illustration of people sitting in chairs fixing a quilt that says Democracy is Alive

Artist Zoe Newton is also PRA’s Communications Coordinator. Zoe is a visual storyteller and creative problem solver. Their work centers around community and cultural competency. In 2021, Zoe graduated from the Sam Fox School of Art and Design at…

Art of Activism

The Squad Grows Up

Author Q&A with Ryan Grim

A woman standing in front of a podium with three women behind her.

PRA interviews author Ryan Grim about his latest book, The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution, the possibility of bipartisan political progress, and cultivating cohesion in progressive spaces.

Q&A

Worker Power in the Fight Against Authoritarianism, a conversation with PowerSwitch Action's Lauren Jacobs

Inform Your Resistance Season 1: Episode 7

Protesters in the background. The Foreground has a sign that says "SAF-Aftra On Strike! Honk"

In this conversation with Lauren Jacobs from PowerSwitch Action, the discussion focuses on the role of worker power in combating authoritarianism. Lauren and host Koki Mendis explore the allure of reactionary anti-state narratives in explaining…

Podcast

Forty years of Antifascism with Daryle Lamont Jenkins

Inform Your Resistance Season 1: Episode 6

a sign that says "Fascist Fireman: You're Fired!"

In this interview host Koki Mendis and Daryle discuss the change in how the Far Right has shown up both historically and today, the importance of pushback, and the work of One People’s Project in documenting and exposing far-right movements.…

Podcast

Uncovering Right-Wing Funding

Inform Your Giving: Right-wing Funding Session 1

Two people holding a sign that says "Boycott" at a protest

This article is an excerpt of a longer discussion about right-wing funding, part of our Inform Your Giving series.

Article

Protesters holding a black lives matter flag and walking

Anthony Crider is a professor of Astrophysics at Elon University in North Carolina. He is also a photographer with a keen eye for capturing just the right moment. Photographing both social justice protests and far-right mobilizations, Crider has…

Art of Activism

Danbee (Deb) Kim is a Chicago-based artist who supports social justice movements and organizations through visual storytelling and design. Originally on the path to become a social worker, Kim now focuses full-time on centering art in movement…

Art of Activism

Rae Senarighi is a painter, designer, and muralist based in Portland, Oregon. The front cover of the Summer 2018 issue of The Public Eye features a piece from “The Love Series,” which he conceptualized after a cancer diagnosis. Senarighi decided…

Art of Activism

Cover art for PE Winter 2018, showing the words "Protest makes America great," and several important moments of protest of American history.

As a Filipino-American printmaker, illustrator, comic artist, and educator, Karl Orozco’s work often grapples with the legacy of colonialism, seeking to “challenge assumed notions of race, family, migration and power.”

Art of Activism

A student looks at the remaining boots of a toppled statue.

Our fall cover artist, Jennifer Luxton, describes herself as a “journalist by training, designer by profession, illustrator by passion, and amateur taxidermist by moonlight.”

Art of Activism

The cover artist for the summer issue of The Public Eye, Ashley Lukashevsky, was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she was involved with activism from a young age. Her life took a detour, however, when she attended University of Southern…

Art of Activism

This spring’s Public Eye cover artist, Erik Ruin, is a Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, and paper-cut artist whose work has been called “spell-binding” by The New York Times. He describes his art as oscillating “between the poles of…

Art of Activism

The Artists of The Public Eye

Since a re-design in 2013, The Public Eye has featured the work of activist artists both on the covers and inside. Here’s a look back at what some of our featured artists had to say about the “Art of Activism”:

Art of Activism

Nansi Guevara, a visual artist and activist based in South Texas, has been creating art for as long as she can remember. “The circumstances in my household, a crafty and costurera mother and a father that left construction materials all over the…

Art of Activism

Social movements need an infrastructure to survive

The political Right currently runs the country. That’s very annoying, but pretending it isn’t true is foolhardy. What is truly annoying is that in the late 1970s some of us were giving speeches and writing articles explaining that rightists intended…

Article

Organizing Advice: What Can I Do?

The Right’s many groups organize on a wide variety of specific issues, from education, the environment, civil and human rights, immigration, and criminal justice to developing new constituencies such as fathers and conservative people of color.

Statement

Press Release: Case in Defense of LGBTQI Human Rights Moves Forward with Critical Support from Political Research Associates’ Ground Breaking Research

Oral argument on motions for summary judgment in Sexual Minorities Uganda v. Lively, a federal lawsuit in which Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), is suing Scott Lively, a U.S.-based anti-…

Press Release

Statement from PRA on the 2016 Election

This is a difficult moment for justice-minded people and anyone who believes in democracy. A man who ran an insurgent campaign as a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and anti-establishment demagogue is now president-elect of the United States.

Statement

Ground Rules and Tips for Challenging the Right

No one organization “controls” the Right. No single funder is “behind” the Right. Some large organizations are important, but many others appear to be more influential than they really are. Recognize that there are multiple networks of organizations…

Statement

Taking on Patriot Movement Talking Points

Responding to Patriot Movement claims on militias and gun rights, rural economics, the Constitution, public lands, and conspiracy theories.

Article

“A History of the War on Drugs”

The Public Eye Artist in the News

On September 15, hip-hop artist Jay Z and author and illustrator Molly Crabapple collaborated (along with dream hampton, Jim Batt, and Kim Boekbinder) on a short, animated video, “A History of the War on Drugs, from Prohibition to Gold Rush,” for…

Art of Activism

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…

Article

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.

Article

Putin stands in front of the Eastern Orthodox cross and the geographical outline of Russia.

Joshua McPhee, our Winter 2016 cover artist, didn’t go to a traditional art school to learn his craft, but rather what he calls “the punk rock school of art,” where he became part of a politicized sub-culture and learned to work in a wide variety of…

Art of Activism

Common Sense Security

Plan for the worst; work and hope for the best. Here are some specific suggestions for protecting yourself and your projects.

Advisory

Influential figures pour resources into the Church, with representation of tax cuts for the rich and budget cuts for Medicare.

Amelia Spinney, a visual artist and arts educator in the greater Boston area, created the cover image for the Fall 2015 issue of The Public Eye. Spinney describes being politicized as an artist and a person in two particular moments. When they were…

Art of Activism

The Art of Activism: Asad Badat

Asad Badat, the artist behind the cover of the Summer 2015 issue, says he’s always seen himself as “a passionate observer who has romantic eyes for beauty.” Recently, though, he’s departed from this observatory position, opting instead to use his…

Art of Activism

A White woman with short blond hair wearing a green t-shirt and orange sleeveless jacket sitting in front of some bushes.

Article

The Art of Activism: Helen Zughaib

Helen Zughaib came to her longtime home in Washington, D.C., by way of many other nations. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, she also lived in Iraq, Kuwait, Greece and France, before coming to the United States to earn her BFA at Syracuse University in 1981…

Art of Activism

PRA Founder Jean Hardisty's Reflections on the Last 30 Years

This interview with PRA founder Jean Hardisty was published in our Fall/Winter 2011 newsletter, celebrating PRA’s 30th anniversary. It is republished here in honor of Jean, who passed away in March

Q&A

Know Your Neighbors Hits the Road

As the U.S. Right’s global impact on the lives of women, LGBTQ people, and people of color increases, the pressing question is: “What can we do?” Know Your Neighbors—a collaborative project between PRA and Soulforce—aims to respond.

Article

From the cover of PE Winter 2015: the words "A Global Scam: Selling the 'Natural Family'"

When Meredith Stern (whose artwork is also featured on the front cover) chooses where to live, she embraces the “act locally, think globally” ethos. That’s why, once she put down roots in Providence, Rhode Island, the printmaker and collage artist…

Art of Activism

The Art of Activism: David Bacon

For more than 30 years, David Bacon has been writing about and photographing people who are displaced by poverty in Mexico and choose to cross into the United States in search of a better life.

Art of Activism

A group of protesters led by Dr. Rev. William Barber II

An Interview with Rev. Dr. William Barber II, President, North Carolina NAACP

Article

The Art of Activism: Rommy Torrico

This issue’s cover artist, Rommy Torrico, is the graphics and new media director for the Collier County Neighborhood Stories Project (CCNSP), based in southwest Florida.

Art of Activism

The Gospel of James Baldwin

An Interview with Dr. E.L. Kornegay Jr.

Kornegay was drawn to study the work of the writer James Baldwin (1924-1987) through a comment made by the founder of Black liberation theology, James H. Cone, who once said that Baldwin taught him how to write. Kornegay was intrigued: “That took me…

Article

Small Town Cross Roads/Moving Up, Fighting Back

Creating a Path to LGBTQ Youth Liberation

In Small Town Cross Roads, Southerners On New Ground (SONG) explores the realities and dreams of queer people who live in small Southern towns like West Monroe. Echoing SONG’s findings, FIERCE also lifts up challenges faced by LGBTQ youth in rural…

Article

Don't Miss PRA at Creating Change!

Headed to the Creating Change conference in Houston this week? Don’t miss PRA’s workshops!

Press Release

My Debt to Dr. King

As an Asian-American, I’m often cast as an ally rather than a stakeholder when I show up at Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations. Occasionally, someone will even come right out and thank me for showing up, like I’m doing folk a favor or something…

Article

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

As many of us enjoy the long weekend, we are called to remember Dr. King’s extraordinary role in the movement that dismantled Jim Crow segregation and secured civil rights for African Americans. But we also remember MLK’s broader vision for…

Statement

Long Walk To Freedom

What African Sexual Minorities Can Learn from Tata Mandela

Mandela’s vision extended to all those who continue to pursue long walks to freedom. Mandela championed the human rights of all people, whether Black, White, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or intersex. He lived to see the day when…

Article

"Klansville USA"

An Interview with David Cunningham

a group of people marching, holding signs.

David Cunningham became interested in the Ku Klux Klan while conducting research for his dissertation at the University of North Carolina. He originally focused on how the FBI dealt with the Civil Rights Movement, but his research led to a…

Q&A

Confronting the Right Across Generations

Spencer Sunshine Interviews Walter Reeves

In 1990, when I was a teenager, I met and began working with Walter Reeves and other members of Neighbors Network—an anti-Klan, anti-Nazi group based in Atlanta, GA. Reeves was its co-chair of education and outreach from 1989 until the group’s…

Q&A

Celebrating the Movement Mandela

We pause this day to celebrate Nelson Mandela, “Madiba,” and to reflect on what his life and the South African freedom movement has to teach us. Inevitably, this involves reflecting on our own lives and our own social justice commitments.

Statement

Protesters in a park with buildings in the background.

On June 25, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, which established a formula for determining whether states and jurisdictions need permission from the federal government to change…

Article

Thoughts From PRA's Founder

Looking back, what do you think PRA’s most memorable impact was?

Q&A

Basta Dobbs!

An Interview with Roberto Lovato

Last year, a coalition of Latino/a groups successfully fought to remove anti-immigrant pundit Lou Dobbs from CNN. Political Research Associates Executive Director Tarso Luís Ramos spoke to Presente.org co-founder Roberto Lovato to find out how they…

Q&A

Activists Sue Denver Over Civil Liberties Violations

Since the successful street demonstrations against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in 1999, police and federal agencies have relied on aggressive and unconstitutional tactics to disperse, disrupt, and dissuade popular protest. Last…

Article

Thinking about Elephants

Toward a Dialogue with George Lakoff

A man with grey hair and grey beard wearing spectacles

Since last November’s election, George Lakoff’s book, Don’t Think of an Elephant!,¹ has deservedly captured the imagination of mainstream Democrats and of many progressives as well. He offers us the promise that we can achieve…

Book Review

The Montana Human Rights Network

Fighting the Far Right with Research

In April 2005, Kevin McGuire, an engineering student at the local state university, ran for the Bozeman, Mon. elementary school board. He was a newcomer in town, hailing from Santa Rosa, Calif., and part of the white flight flowing into the state.…

Article

A Call to Defend Democracy and Pluralism

by the Blue Mountain Working Group Coordinated by Chip Berlet Jean V. Hardisty Suzanne Pharr Loretta Ross November 1994 We are a group of individuals interested in joining with others to rebuild a multi-issue movement for…

Article

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