Inform Your Resistance

Our collective freedom is at stake. How do we prevent the most vulnerable from being excluded, targeted, or taken advantage of, while providing values, moral clarity, and the most strategic inputs possible? In this first of a two-part series, we share insights from PRA’s researchers about how to move beyond the work on blocking rising authoritarianism, to the work of building power, vision, and solidarity. Steven Gardiner, Ethan Fauré, and an unnamed PRA researcher in conversation with the Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart describe the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, and how to respond. Our panelists provide an overview of the quality makeup and ideologies of the current Trump administration, the interplay between state repression, particularly of the Palestinian Liberation Movement, and Islamophobia and weaponized antisemitism, and the expansion of the deportation machine in direct alignment with the white nationalist anti-immigration movement. They provide deep insights into the White, Judeo-Christian authoritarianism demonstrated in extrajudicial violence, denial of humanity, further power disregard for congressional and judicial power, concentration of executive power, the “power of the purse,” and attacks on public speech, gathering, and due process.Our panelists offer insights to focus your organizing, stay in community, right size threats to understand them more accurately, create counternarratives, get into the field, enact noncompliance, and identify and grow the fissures between factions of the Right.ResourcesTrump 2.0’s First 100 Days Authoritarian Gains and Consolidation by Political Research AssociatesThe Antidote to Authoritarianism with Jiva Manske by Political Research Associates (podcast)What Is Movement Infrastructure? How Movements Sustain Us Amid Rising Authoritarianism by Cloee CooperQ&A: Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence: An interview with Scot Nakagawa and Hardy Merriman by Naomi Washington LeapheartBook Review: Commune or Nothing! Lessons for Building Grassroots Power Toward Liberation and Democracy by Hialy GutierrezBook Excerpt: Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism by Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. LyonsRising Against Authoritarianism: Amplifying Voices for Immigrant Justice by Cloee CooperReligion Dispatches article: “Authoritarians Must Break Your Will to Resist — So What Can You Do About it?” by Steven GardinerReligion Dispatches article: “Trump’s Cabinet (and Other) Picks Paint Picture of a Christian Nationalist ‘Kakistocracy’” by Annika Brockschmidt and Thomas LecaqueReligion Dispatches article: “Leading ‘Constitutional Sheriffs’ Org Announces ‘Full Support’ for Trump’s Mass Deportations” by Ethan Fauré

In this episode of Inform Your Resistance, Koki reads “Gender and Authoritarianism: A Framework for Analysis and Action” by Annie Wilkinson, as part of our ongoing From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA’s more than 40 years of publishing. This article was published in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue of The Public Eye magazine, and you can read the article here.

In this episode, Koki interviews PRA’s former Executive Director Tarso Luís Ramos, who stepped down from his role in December 2024 after nearly two decades at the helm of the organization. With over 30 years of experience working, researching, and leading in the Fight the Right sector, Tarso has had an indelible impact in the social justice Left, informing the ongoing and evolving fight against White, Christian, patriarchal supremacy. In our conversation, he reflects on the fascinating ways that the terrain of contestation between Left and Right has shifted over three decades, what this evolution tells us about the possibilities and imperatives of this moment, and where he looks to for inspiration in an era of growing authoritarianism. Former PRA Executive Director, Tarso Luís Ramos has been researching and challenging the U.S. Right Wing for nearly 30 years. At PRA, Tarso launched major initiatives on antisemitism, misogyny, authoritarianism, White nationalism, and other threats to democracy. Ramos is a sought-after public speaker and his work has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, and Time Magazine, among other outlets. Before joining PRA in 2006, Ramos served as founding director of Western States Center’s racial justice program, and exposed and challenged corporate anti-environmental campaigns as director of the Wise Use Public Exposure Project. Resources: Nativist Bedfellows: The Christian Right Embraces Anti-Immigrant Politics by Tarso Luís Ramos and Pam Chamberlain for Political Research Associates Listen to “Nativist Bedfellows: The Christian Right Embrace Anti-Immigrant Politics” on Inform Your Resistance Season 3, Episode 2 One Year In: A Q&A with Tarso Luís Ramos on Trump’s first year in office by Tarso Luís Ramos and Kathryn Joyce for The Public Eye Multi-Racial Democracy, or Authoritarianism?: A Webinar Discussion and Excerpt by Tarso Luís Ramos at the 2018 Facing Race conference closing plenary Capitol Offenses: January 6th 2021 & The Ongoing Insurrection, PRA State of the Right Report by Steven Gardiner and Tarso Luís Ramos for Political Research Associates Press Release: Political Research Associates Welcomes New Executive Director Sylvia Broude

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. As PRA's Strategic Partnerships Director, Naomi presents empowering stories of how we at PRA inform our resistance movements, and as a reverend and community organizer, she breaks down the philosophical concept of community organizing to present a vision and plan for self actualization, collectivized risk, and the possibility of triumph through solidarity.Naomi Washington Leapheart, PRA Strategic Partnerships Director, is a Black queer daughter of Detroit, and a minister, professor, and movement strategist. She has worked as a faith organizer and director for Power Interfaith, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and the Mayor's Office for Public Engagement in the City of Philadelphia.Naomi teaches emerging scholars of religion and theology at Villanova University, Arcadia University, and Harvard School for Divinity. Music was and is her first love. In her spare time, she delights in singing with an all volunteer choir whose mission is to bring audible comfort and kindness to the bedsides of people living in hospice care.Episode resources: To hear Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart on other podcasts, check out this list. Q&A: Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence: An interview with Scot Nakagawa and Hardy Merriman by Naomi Washington LeapheartBook Review: Commune or Nothing! Lessons for Building Grassroots Power Toward Liberation and Democracy by Hialy GutierrezWhat Is Movement Infrastructure? How Movements Sustain Us Amid Rising Authoritarianism by Cloee CooperBook Review: Reverberations of October 7: Mobilization Against Genocide Undeterred by Peak Anti-Palestinian Repression by Palestine Legal by Habiba FarhFire Dreams: Making Black Feminist Liberation in the South: A conversation with Deon Haywood, Laura McTighe, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson by Kitana AnandaBook Excerpt: Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism by Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. LyonsRising Against Authoritarianism: Amplifying Voices for Immigrant Justice by Cloee CooperSynagogue Safety Beyond Higher Walls and Militarized Police: An Excerpt from Safety Through Solidarity by Ben Lorber and Shane Burley

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 and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA’s more than 40 years of publishing. This article was published in the Spring 2024 issue of The Public Eye magazine, and you can read the article here.

Koki talks with Ramah Kudaimi about U.S. imperialism and state violence, and its reverberations both domestically and abroad. From the global war on terror, to genocide in Palestine, to anti-Muslim policing and surveillance in our communities, we discuss the ways that imperial power, capitalist interests, and far-right organizing intersect in ways that compound harm and entrench systems of oppression. We discuss the ways in corporations profit not only from war and militarism, but specifically from Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry and violence. Ramah unpacks the concept of “terror capitalism” or the idea that corporations reap massive profits from labeling entire communities as “terrorists,” who then become the test subjects for technologies of warfare (both at home and abroad) that line the pockets of large corporations and continue the war long after ground troops have come home. We also discuss the modes of resistance available to us and our movements to counter these forces. Ramah Kudaimi works at the Action Center on Race and the Economy as the campaign director of the Crescendo Project, which focuses on researching and campaigning against corporate complicity in Islamophobia and anti Muslim bigotry.Episode ResourcesHow Big Tech Sells War on Our Communities“DHS Open for Business: How Tech Corporations Bring the War on Terror to Our Neighborhoods,” a report from Action Center on Race & the Economy, LittleSis, MediaJustice, and the Surveillance, Tech, and Immigration Policing Project at the Immigration Defense Project, 2022. Banking on Solidarity CitiBank campaignGenocide Gentry, a dataset and analysis of weapons company executives and board members with connections to educational and cultural institutionsShattering Justice, an online visual timeline on the War on Terror in the U.S.

Inform Your Resistance is coming to you this week in between regularly scheduled episodes to introduce you to a new podcast series, The Insurgence: Sheriffs. This collaboration between Political Research Associates and Cuentero Productions uncovers how a national network of far-right sheriffs is mobilizing to create a White Christian republic, one county at a time.Subscribe today, wherever you get your podcasts to catch the rest of the episodes in the series.

In this first episode of Season 3, we are back with a conversation about the origins, unlikely intersections, and influence of the contemporary anti-immigration movement. Ethan provides us with a fascinating overview of how this movement developed, from its White Nationalist origins, with significant bipartisan and centrist support. We discuss John Tanton’s network of organizations, funding sources for the anti-immigrant movement, significant legislation impacting the immigration landscape, intersections with other movements (not all right-wing) like the environmental movement and Christian nationalism, and Project 2025’s vision for immigration policy in the U.S. We end on a high note, discussing local resistance strategies to fight back.Ethan Fauré is a Senior Research Analyst at PRA, with over a decade of experience focusing on movements promoting anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and White nationalist ideologies. 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. Episode ResourcesThe Tanton Network (animation). Political Research Associates, 2022.Where the White House Gets its Racist Immigration Policies. Ethan Fauré. Political Research Associates, 2018. The National Sheriffs’ Association Strengthens the Deportation Machine. Ethan Fauré. Political Research Associates, 2019.Nativist Bedfellows: The Christian Right Embraces Anti-Immigrant Politics. Tarso Luís Ramos, Pam Chamberlain. Political Research Associates, 2008.White Borders: Author Q&A with Reece Jones. Shane Burley. Political Research Associates, 2022. The Right’s Decades-Long Fight for A Census Citizenship Question. Ethan Fauré. Political Research Associates, 2019. Immigrant Justice and the Right Wing's Eliminationist Agenda: A Q&A with Hamid Khan. Political Research Associates, 2018.Blood Red Lines: How Nativism Fuels the Right: Author Q&A with Brendan O'Connor. Ethan Faure, Ben Lorber. Political Research Associates, 2021. Blurring the Border: Immigration Enforcement and Solidarity in Ohio. Austin Kocher. Political Research Associates, 2018. Episode KeywordsAnti-immigration, anti-immigrant, John Tanton, Project 2025, Immigration Justice, Fight the Right