Anti Authoritarian Podcast

Scot Nakagawa and Sue Hyde sit down with Ejeris Dixon, an organizer, strategist, and co-editor of Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement. Ejeris shares insights on navigating rising authoritarianism, building abolitionist futures, and strengthening community resilience drawn from their 20-plus years of experience in racial justice, LGBTQ, anti-violence, an...

In this episode of Anti-Authoritarian Podcast , Scot Nakagawa and Sue Hyde talk with Kunthida Rungruengkiat, a Thai academic, former Member of Parliament, and director of the Progressive Movement Foundation. Kunthida shares her insights on the resilience of Thailand’s pro-democracy movement, the challenges of opposing authoritarianism, and the power of grassroots organizing. Through her work with...

While political violence is not new in the United States, incidents of violence are on the rise. These events are gaining more attention in public discourse. Maria Stephan, an organizer, author, and expert on non-violent movements joins to discuss the historic success of protest and non-violent civil disobedience in protecting democracy. What makes nonviolence strategic, especially in times of ris...

Powerful narratives play an essential role in building governing power. In this episode, Scot and Sue are joined by Anat Shenker-Osorio, host of the Words to Win By podcast and principal of ASO Communications . Anat helps us understand the power of narrative strategy to win the battle of ideas. What narrative strategies are working in the fight to defeat authoritarianism, and how do we know when t...

Following last week's elections, Scot and Sue are joined by Daniel Hunter, co-founder of Choose Democracy , to discuss how we respond to authoritarians emboldened by the election results. In the episode, they take a deeper look together at Daniel's recent post-election essay 10 Ways to Be Prepared and Grounded Now That Trump Has Won What (first published by Waging Nonviolence and then shared by Co...

Continuing this season’s exploration of how communities are fighting authoritarians, we turn the spotlight to Florida. Scot and Sue sit down with Dwight Bullard, Senior Political Advisor with Florida Rising . Dwight gives insights into what has been going on in Florida for the past 20 years and how authoritarians have captured the state. He shows us how authoritarian policies weaken public educati...

Scot and Sue are joined by Rachel Carmona, Executive Director of the Women’s March , to discuss threats to our democracy and what building mass movements has taught her. How is minority rule undermining democracy and what must organizers and believers in democracy do to win? How do we create a big enough tent to allow room for disagreement, while keeping a shared commitment to defeating authoritar...

Throughout history, the participation and leadership of young people has defined the success of movements for justice. The same is true today. Scot and Sue are joined by Alex Ames, a movement leader in the state of Georgia, to give insights into the experiences of young people and democracy. Why are young people cynical toward the democratic process in the US? How do social media and the rising co...

Scot and Sue have a conversation with Alan Jenkins and Gan Golan, co-authors of the graphic novel 1/6 , which speculates on what could have happened if the insurrection on January 6, 2021 had been successful. After the insurrection, Alan and Gan were concerned with how quickly the nation was forgetting--and, more troubling still, reinventing history. They retell this history in a compelling way th...

The South remains the epicenter in the fight for freedom and equality in the US, and North Carolina specifically has been a site of fierce battles between authoritarians attempting to capture state government and communities defending the democratic process. Scot and Sue are joined by Serena Sebring, Executive Director of Blueprint NC , an organization helping to lead the charge against these auth...

Scot and Sue are joined by Hahrie Han , an award-winning author and professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss her new book Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church (Penguin Random House 2024). Undivided tells the story of Hahrie's visits to a megachurch in Ohio as it goes through a six-week program developed by church leaders to cultivate meanin...

In this episode Scot and Sue are joined by Laura Flanders, a media expert and host of the Laura Flanders & Friends show, to lay out the history of media in the US and the power the mainstream media has to frame issues. How has the media landscape changed since the civil rights movement, and what investments have authoritarians and their ultra-rich supporters made in media to give them the infl...

Over the past couple of decades, white nationalists and authoritarians have become growing threats to democracy and peace in northwestern states like Oregon and Washington. Lindsay Schubiner of the Portland, Oregon-based Western States Center joins the show to take us on a journey through history not only to learn how the situation became what it is today, but also to point out legacies of resista...

Authoritarians and anti-democratic political elites attack democracy because a robust and equitable democracy is the ultimate regulator of wealth and power. But their bottom lines are drawn behind their own heels and in front of the toes of working families. So, how are they attempting to build a mass populist movement against democracy, popular enough to use the democratic process to take power? ...

The stories we tell and how and to whom we tell them can be the difference between winning and losing in political struggle. Scot and Sue chat with Malkia Devich-Cyril from MediaJustice about the difference between communication strategy and narrative strategy. Short term communication strategy is helpful for the policy debates of today, but long term cultural change requires a deep understanding...

Authoritarians rely on scapegoat tactics to distract the public from root problems and isolate groups that have historically faced discrimination. Scot and Sue are joined by Sulma Arias, an immigrant herself, who for decades has fought to block authoritarian policies, restore faith in democracy, and build a multi-racial majority that wins together. She reflects on her time organizing in Kansas aga...

In this episode, Scot and Sue hear the wisdom of Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party . Maurice explains why working-class families feel ignored by politicians on both sides of the aisle as material conditions worsen, and how authoritarians weaponize fear to gain support for their ideas. So how do we overcome the two-party system that ignores root causes, and media fee...

In this episode, Scot and Sue are joined by Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow for the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Rachel gives us insights into the authoritarian playbook and how over the past 20 years the Right has polarized our politics and our culture. How are they strategically fighting across race, place, and gender lines, and h...

In this episode, Scot and Sue discuss Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence (HOPE PV), a new report and training program from 22CI and the Horizons Project , with report author Hardy Merriman and Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart of Political Research Associates . The vast majority of people in this country do not condone the use of violence to settle political disputes, yet political viole...

In this episode, Scot and Sue sit down with Suzanne Pharr , a Southern queer feminist and anti-racist organizer, strategist, writer, community organizer, and educator. Over her decades of work, she has contributed to the advancement of many social justice movements and worked on historic campaigns against authoritarian attempts to exploit popular prejudice for political and financial gain. With mu...

The Anti-Authoritarian Podcas t is here to help anyone concerned about creeping authoritarianism and fascism in the US and beyond to confront strategy questions that will strengthen their work to advance multiracial democracy and stop the rise of authoritarianism. Our core message is: We can block authoritarianism, bridge across lines of differences, and build an inclusive multiracial democracy–if...