As the month of August comes to an end, you can listen to three architects of this summer’s “No ICE in the Cup” movement on The Anti-Authoritarian Podcast discuss their organizing across culture workers, ideological difference, and grounded theory of noncooperation. The infrastructure and creative assets of that national campaign are now being repurposed to prevent voter intimidation by ICE during the midterms. As described in the new Brennan Center report Vote Safely in 2026, “Sending troops or ICE officers to the polls is illegal. Here’s how you can protect your vote and your community’s voice, even if federal agents unlawfully show up.” And you can find inspiration from Daniel Hunter in his latest piece, What D.C.’s election defense under occupation can teach us. “As the threat of federal interference looms over the midterms, we can look to D.C., where a grassroots election protection effort stood up to federal troops.”
As election season is upon us, the topic of corruption and crony capitalism continues to be a salient issue across ideologies and sectors to call more people into the pro-democracy agenda. You can read more in the recent opinion piece: America needs an accountability agenda. We also recommend our colleague Matthew Cebul’s latest article, Why Anticorruption Campaigns Aren’t a Silver Bullet that discusses balancing accountability with the need to spur defections. “The key lesson is that regimes are not monoliths, and not all regime associates are devoted loyalists. Movement overtures that offer a safe way out for wavering regime supporters may be necessary to restore democracy, which is itself the only path that offers any real chance of future accountability for the worst offenders.” Check out the Cronyism & Corruption working group and resources available from the Business Response to Authoritarian Threats (BRTAT). You can also consult the report on How Anti-Corruption Efforts Can Inadvertently Fuel Conflict from the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy (CJL) Program’s learning initiative, “Conflict Sensitivity in Anti-Corruption.”
We are also observing increasing interest in transitional justice processes, including this piece on Breaking the Cycle: Transitional Justice in America After Trump. “It is in this context of unparalleled assaults on the rule of law in the United States that we must discuss how to address these failures in a post-Trump America. The bad news is that America has a history of trying to “turn the page” on its institutional failures…The good news is that tools to address the U.S. government’s most recent failures don’t have to be invented from whole cloth – they exist in the field of transitional justice.” And check out this important piece by Aria Florant on Building a Culture of Repair: What It Is, and Why It Matters.
From our partners, Sojourners and Protect Democracy, please share widely the new Faith Companion Action Guide 2026: A Faith-Centered Framework to Protect Our Elections. You can listen to Emma Adams from Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) on Both Side of the Aisle podcast discussing MWEG’s participation in the Utah redistricting lawsuit, and how the group chooses issues and positions to organize around. Also, don’t miss this great piece from the Democracy Rising Collaborative, What we learned from a US bus tour of judges.
Finally, from the Horizons’ team, Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig’s most recent podcast interview reflects on “Big Tent Culture” on The Anti-Authoritarian Podcast. And Senior Researcher Adam Fefer’s published his latest article, Resistance to Authoritarianism Must Be Local. “Subnational governments are powerful arenas for resisting democratic backsliding, but not only because of their institutions and elected leaders. Equally important are the shared loyalties and identities that states and localities inspire… Few developments have galvanized Americans to defend their constitutional rights more than federal attacks on their states, cities, and fellow residents—regardless of partisanship or immigration status.”
Here are some additional resources we’re reading, watching, and listening to in August:
READING
A Journey to A Nation That Works For All
PolicyLink
As the PolicyLink Summit takes place this month, you can read their recent report from a year-long national listening process across lines of ideology, geography, and background. These conversations explored: what gives people hope; how to govern a diverse nation; the meaning of the American Dream after 250 years; the values that unite and divide us; how to make government trustworthy; and what it takes to shift from an “us vs. them” to a “we, the people” mindset. “Our conversations surfaced rich, often surprising insights. They revealed how deeply democracy, the economy, and governing are linked. They underscored the importance of connection in a world that feels increasingly atomized. And they pointed, again and again, to a central conclusion: the weakening of America’s civic and cultural infrastructure — the everyday systems that help people experience themselves as co-authors of a shared American project — is at the heart of our democratic strain.”
How to Defeat the Authoritarian Message
by Filip Milačić, Journal of Democracy
“…the battle for democracy must be waged not only through institutions but through words. To successfully resist attacks on democracy in the name of the nation, democrats need their own patriotic counternarratives. The sovereignty and dignity of the nation are topics that cannot be left to authoritarians with designs to dilute, degrade, or subvert democracy.” You can also listen to the author speak about this article on the recent RevDem (Review of Democracy) podcast “Abandoning Democracy for the Nation.” And, on the theme of patriotism, don’t miss Maurice Mitchell’s most recent article, To Exit Our Authoritarian Timeline, We Must Reclaim Patriotism by Keeping its Promise.
We’ve Been Doing Anti-Authoritarian Work All Along. We Just Haven’t Called It That.
by Alexandria J. Maloney
“It is difficult to have a conversation about authoritarianism without acknowledging a fundamental truth: for much of American history, African Americans have lived under forms of tyranny exercised or sanctioned by government institutions…So why don’t we call it anti-authoritarianism? Part of the answer is historical. Black advocacy has traditionally organized around concrete injustices rather than abstract political theory. If a community is fighting voter suppression, unequal policing, housing discrimination, or educational inequity, those issues understandably become the language of the movement. Another reason is disciplinary. The language of “authoritarianism” largely comes from political science, comparative politics, and international affairs. Many Black leaders come from law, ministry, organizing, business, education, philanthropy, or public service. They are often solving the same problems from different starting points. Finally, the term itself can feel politically loaded. Some avoid it because it is perceived as partisan. Others worry it distracts from immediate community concerns. But avoiding the label doesn’t mean avoiding the work… Perhaps the question isn’t whether Black thought leadership belongs in the anti-authoritarian conversation. Perhaps it’s whether the anti-authoritarian conversation has fully recognized the leadership that has been there all along.”
WATCHING
Some of the videos from this summer’s TED Democracy in Philadelphia are now available to watch. Including How surveillance tech erodes your privacy by Jen Golbeck; Why democracy requires renewal by Michael Dimock; How citizens (not politicians) are building the future by Jon Alexander; and Why economic inequality is the biggest threat to democracy by Sally Kohn.
How can we create the democracy we deserve, one that works for all?
DIY Civics with Baratunde Thurston, Carnegie Foundation
“When federal SNAP food benefits were cut in Birmingham, Alabama, affecting nearly 25,000 people, a teenager helped start a community garden, growing fresh and free produce for her neighbors. In the small town of Saint George, South Carolina, a 20-year-old convinced her town council to let her use a public building for free to bring healthy practices to her community. In Boulder, Colorado, a teenager helped his peers unplug from social media by getting them to take a break together. In Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a young leader made it easier for residents of his city to match their interests to candidates. And in Tallahassee, Florida, a student brought 200 people who disagree into the same room — on purpose. Writer and comedian Baratunde Thurston sat down with Sofia, Nyra, Ben, Imre, and Ryan to hear how they’re addressing local problems and what the rest of us can learn from them. All five students are part of Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness”
D.C.’s Fight for Self-Government
A More Perfect District Podcast, ACLU District of Columbia
“In this episode, we discuss the impact of D.C. Home Rule and the future of D.C. statehood. Host Alicia Yass, Policy Advocacy Director, is joined by Melissa Wasser, Sr. Policy Counsel, to discuss the history of Home Rule and how protecting Home Rule is protecting democracy. Later, Yass is joined by Keya Chatterjee, Executive Director of Free DC. Here they discuss why D.C. needs Statehood, how Congress has a history of deciding the fate of D.C. and its residents, and the journey for equal representation for D.C. residents.”
LISTENING TO
Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life, Season Two
PolicyLink
“What is democracy for? Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life takes up that question by turning to Atlanta – a city shaped by Black leadership and becoming ever more multi-racial – where democracy is practiced in real time: debated, challenged, and remade. Hosted by Angela Blackwell, in conversation with voices rooted in Atlanta for generations and those newly arrived, this 6-part audio documentary explores radical imagination and innovative action, race and place, power and policy, and the city’s evolving relationship with Georgia. At a time when faith in democracy feels fragile, Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life lifts up lived experiences and people-centered governance to demonstrate that a thriving multi-racial democracy in service of human flourishing, claimed by We the People, remains possible – and necessary for a good life.”
Tech Fascism Has Come for American Democracy
Tech Won’t Save Us podcast
“A cult of fascist ideology has gripped Silicon Valley, and the tech industrial complex is threatening US democracy. Gil Durán joins Paris Marx to discuss the radical billionaire cabal that is hellbent on the consolidation of corporate and political power, including the visions they have for the future and the strategies they’re using to drive us there.” Gil Durán is the author of The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy and writes The Nerd Reich newsletter.
Building Scaleable Trust – Of Identity, Commons and Governance with Grace Rachmany
Accidental Gods podcast
Grace Rachmany discusses the need to create communities of place, purpose and passion and how to find other communities to link with so we can: scale from community to region; keep one another accountable for behaviors that reflect what we say our values are; scale behavior change beyond a closed community to multiple communities; scale actions and collaborations to regional levels without a hierarchical coordination structure; and coordinate actions and behaviors based on the commons we share, whether or not we share “values”.
FOR INSPIRATION
Look Up at the Sky. The Perseid Meteor Shower Will Awe You.
by Cody Delistraty, New York Times Opinion
“The more we experience awe, the humbler we become (we are so inadequate compared with the cosmos), the less materialism seduces (there is so much more to life than what we own), the less we stress (we know that death and pain are part of the natural order) and the more satisfied we are with our lives (we no longer need to sweat the small stuff) …Awe exists anywhere you’re willing to look. And that is the key: You must look. Walk down the street and notice the effort it took to create the skyscraper in front of you, the airplane flying overhead. Watch the emotions on people’s faces as they pass you by — observe the joy or despair they might be experiencing, the depths of their interiority. Indeed, awe can be found in almost anything that you can’t entirely understand. You can be awed by the unexpected kindness of a stranger. You can be awed by music, of course. By the flow state and creativity that come from grappling with a big idea. By watching a father be good to his son. Or, as has struck me most lately, by the vastness of our own ability to love, to feel connected to another person, to discover that we have the capacity for feelings not previously tapped.”
