Anti Authoritarian Podcast

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 that can reach everyday people. It's not just the story of what happened, but of what could have happened and how close we came to losing our democracy. How can this moment in history be a warning sign and call to action for us all?

Alan Jenkins is a Harvard Law School professor, a writer, and a human rights advocate. He teaches courses on racial justice, strategic communications, and Supreme Court jurisprudence, and is a frequent commentator in broadcast and print media. Alan was selected as a Blacklist Google Screenwriting Fellow and named a 2022 top 25 screenwriter to watch by the International Screenwriters Association. Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty, he was president and co-founder of the Opportunity Agenda, a social justice communications lab.

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 authoritarians. How has North Carolina historically and presently been a battleground for democracy, what are real threats that we must acknowledge and navigate, and what are victories and stories of hope that the rest of the country can learn from?

Serena Sebring is a queer Black feminist, mother, organizer, educator, and the Executive Director of Blueprint NC. Serena also served as the Regional Organizing Lead for Southerners on New Ground and taught at North Carolina State University. Blueprint NC is one of the country’s premier people-power organizations that is working toward inclusive and anti-racist democracy rooted in civic engagement through movement building and mobilization.

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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 meaningful relationships across race and foster collective anti-racist action. Listening to the congregation and the participants she follows, Hahrie hears a powerful story about politics in the US and what we can do to protect democracy.

Hahrie Han is a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, as well as the inaugural director of SNF Agora, an institute dedicated to strengthening global democracy. She writes for The New York Times, the Washington Post, and The New Republic and is an award-winning author of four books. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she lives in Baltimore. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and share it with your friends. Don't forget to subscribe to the Anti-Authoritarian Podcast for more episodes on fighting authoritarianism and building the pro-democracy movement.

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 influence they wield today? What should our strategy and tactics be to  grow the pro-democracy media ecosystem?

Laura Flanders is the host and executive producer of Laura Flanders & Friends (formerly The Laura Flanders Show), which airs on PBS stations nationwide. She is an Izzy-Award winning independent journalist, a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Media Center.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and share it with your friends. Don't forget to subscribe to the Anti-Authoritarian Podcast for more episodes on fighting authoritarianism and building the pro-democracy movement.

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 resistance and modern-day organizing. Lindsay specifically gives insight on the new threats from “active clubs,” networks of local white nationalist groups that train together and often show up to target and intimidate the community. What can we learn from the pro-democracy movement in the Pacific Northwest to build a super-majority and counter these active clubs around the country?

Lindsay Schubiner is Western States Center's Director of Programs, which counters the dangerous ascension of white nationalism across the country. She previously led advocacy efforts against anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim bigotry at the Center for New Community. Lindsay has served as a Congressional staffer handling housing, health, and immigration policy, and managed advocacy for sexual health and rights at American Jewish World Service. Lindsay has provided commentary for PBS NewsHour, the New York Times, and the New Yorker, among other outlets. She holds a Master's degree from Harvard’s School of Public Health.

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?  By organizing down the class ladder to white workers; a move that use to legitimate their claim of being champions of "real" Americans. In this episode Executive Director of Standing Up For Racial Justice, Erin Heaney addresses the elephant in the room: how do we compete for the hearts and minds of white workers and build a counter-movement for progress and a multi-racial democracy? As executive director of the largest white anti-racist organization in the US, Erin shares the sometimes messy work of organizing in white communities that have been fed lies by authoritarian. How are race and gender weaponized to divide us, and how do we make the case that a multi-racial democracy means prosperity for everyone?

Erin Heaney is the Executive Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), organizing in majority-white communities to undermine the power of the Right and bring millions of white people into multi-racial movement. She brings over a decade of experience running grassroots campaigns for economic, racial and environmental justice and building organizations to enable transformative organizing.

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 of narrative strategy. Authoritarians and political elites offer a false narrative rooted in fear and violence - how must we in the pro-democracy movement shift the narrative to protect our futures? What has worked for us in the past, and how might we adapt?

Malkia Devich-Cyril, is an activist, writer and public speaker on issues of digital rights, narrative power, Black liberation and collective grief. Devich-Cyril is also the founding and former Executive Director of MediaJustice — a national hub boldly advancing racial justice, rights and dignity in a digital age. For over 20 years, Devich-Cyril has championed the media and technology rights of communities of color and other under-represented groups to demand and win equity in a digital age.

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 against anti-immigrant and authoritarian politician Kris Kobach, and makes the case for how a revival of community and worker organizing is key to stopping authoritarianism.

Sulma Arias brings over 20 years of organizing experience to her role as Executive Director for People’s Action. She immigrated to Kansas from El Salvador at the age of 12 and ultimately went on to lead Sunflower Community Action, where she worked on training organizers and building a base of volunteers to fight for driver’s licenses and tuition access for immigrants and fighting harmful policies during the Kobach era. Sulma’s organizing work spans many issues including immigrant rights, voting rights, and economic justice, and her practice has always centered directly impacted people to build power.

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 feedback loops that spread misinformation and intentionally polarize us? We organize and build working-class solidarity. By finding common ground and achieving shared political commitment, we make government work for us.

Maurice Mitchell is the National Director of the Working Families Party. Maurice is a nationally recognized social movement strategist, a visionary leader in the movement for Black lives, and a community organizer for racial, social, and economic justice. Born and raised in New York to Caribbean working class parents, Maurice began organizing as a teenager and has never stopped.

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 how must we counter this attack to overcome polarization and build the multiracial democracy we deserve?

Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld advises governments, philanthropists, and activists on how democracies make major social change. Raised in a log house on a dirt road in Fairbanks, Alaska, Rachel received her BA from Yale University and her Masters of Philosophy and Doctorate of Philosophy at Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. As a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Rachel is a leading expert on how democracies – including the United States – can improve, with a particular focus on countries facing poor leadership, polarized populations, violence, and corruption.