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, and economic justice movements. This episode dives deep into how movements can incorporate anti-fascist strategies and reimagine justice through transformative frameworks.

Ejeris Dixon (they/she) is an experienced organizer, political strategist, and the Principal of Ejerie Labs. As the Founding Executive Director of Vision Change Win Consulting, Ejeris collaborates with organizations across the U.S. and globally to deepen the impact of their organizing strategies. They are the coordinator and host of the Fascism Barometer Podcast and Learning Hub, which explores the rise of fascism in the U.S. and effective organizing against it. Ejeris also served as Deputy Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, leading initiatives on hate violence, domestic violence, and police violence, and was the Founding Program Coordinator of the Audre Lorde Project's Safe OUTside the System Collective, developing transformative justice strategies to address hate and police violence.

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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 Future Forward, Move Forward, and the People's Party, Kunthida demonstrates how a movement rooted in innovation and inclusion can create lasting change—even under repressive conditions.

Kunthida Rungruengkiat is a Thai academic, activist, and former Member of Parliament. She served as the deputy leader of the Future Forward Party, where she championed education reform, progressive social policies, and democratization efforts. Currently, she directs the Progressive Movement Foundation, supporting pro-democracy initiatives at both national and local levels. Kunthida is a leading voice in Thai politics, advocating for systemic change, equality, and modernization.

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 rising authoritarianism? What can we do to make political violence backfire in our communities?

Maria is an award-winning author and organizer whose work in academic, public service, and nonprofit sectors has focused on the role of nonviolent action and peacebuilding in advancing human rights, democracy, and sustainable peace in the US and globally. As Chief Organizer, Maria provides strategic direction and thought leadership within Horizons, brokering key relationships, bridging research and practice, and convening partnerships for collective action.

Since cutting her teeth in social justice work at Dismas House, a transitional home for former prisoners and college students in Rutland, Vermont nearly 25 years ago, Maria has dedicated her life to the proposition that ordinary people, when organized and inspired, can bring about extraordinary change.

Maria Stephan’s Book, Why Civil Resistance Works

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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 they're effective?

Host of the Words to Win By podcast and Principal of ASO Communications, Anat Shenker-Osorio examines why certain messages falter where others deliver. She has led research for new messaging on issues ranging from freedom to join together in union to clean energy and from immigrant rights to reforming criminal justice. Anat’s original approach through priming experiments, task-based testing and online dial surveys has led to progressive electoral and policy victories across the globe. Anat delivers her findings packed in snark at venues such as the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Centre for Australian Progress, Irish Migrant Centre, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation and LUSH International. Her writing and research is profiled in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Boston Globe, Salon, The Guardian and Grist among others. She is the author of Don’t Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense About the Economy.

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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 Convergence). What should we be doing to defend our democratic institutions? What can we learn from other countries fighting the rise of authoritarianism in their borders? Daniel also touches on the transformative power of trusting ourselves and making space for grieving in movement work. 

Daniel Hunter co-founded Choose Democracy to help stop Trump’s 2020 coup, most recently writing What Will You Do If Trump Wins. He is a renowned nonviolence trainer, having worked globally as a training director with 350.org and working with ethnic minorities in Burma, pastors in Sierra Leone, and independence activists in northeast India. He has written multiple books, including Climate Resistance Handbook and Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow.

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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 education and other institutions, and offers food for thought for the rest of us drawn from Florida's fightback.

Dwight M. Bullard is the Senior Political Advisor of Florida Rising. Leading the organization to bring political education and awareness to underserved and often marginalized communities, he uplifts people in a way that helps them determine their own destinies.

In 2008, he was sworn into office as State Representative of District 118 and was reelected subsequently. In 2012, Dwight was elected to the Florida Senate, where he served as Vice Chair of the Transportation and Agriculture Committees. He maintains his memberships in the Democrats of South Dade Club, the Ron Brown Democratic Caucus, 100 Black Men of South Florida, and many more organizations.

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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 authoritarianism? And what’s up with the authoritarian bloc's obsession with the LGBTQ community?

Rachel O’Leary Carmona is the Executive Director of Women’s March and Women’s March Network. Rachel served as the Chief Operating Officer of Women’s March from 2018, transitioning to the Executive Director role in 2019. She oversaw building the infrastructure of Women’s March as an organization from a series of record-breaking mobilizations. Under Rachel’s leadership, Women’s March drove record turnout in 2018; anchored 4,500 nationwide actions in the United States, mobilizing tens of millions in 2022; and mobilized women in a pivotal 2023 Supreme Court race in Wisconsin.

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 cost of living create the conditions for isolation? What issues matter most to young people, and how do we bring more of them into the pro-democracy movement?

Alex is a student and community organizer based in Atlanta, Georgia. At 17, Alex founded the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, which builds grassroots student power among a multiracial base of thousands. She led campaigns to defeat "don't say gay" laws, book bans, voucher bills, and racial gerrymandering, resulting in the largest public education budget in Georgia's history. Alex now trains and funds youth organizers at the Student Action Network for Equity (SANE) and directs youth organizing at the nationwide Partnership for Equity and Education Rights (PEER).

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.

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.