In February, we celebrated 100 years of Black History Month , with commemorations and invitations to communities to “reflect not only on the history itself, but on how the rituals of remembering have helped shape culture, identity, and national understanding of Black life.” We also joined in the joyful celebration of this year’s Super Bowl half-time show, with Bad Bunny’s Gift for Multiplicity . “Bad Bunny showed up with community, color, dance, music and chaos. That’s why, when he ended his performance by saying seguimos aquí (‘we’re still here’), it felt like an insistence on showing up as our full selves, without leaving anything or anyone behind.”
This election year feels like it has already kicked into high gear as we collectively rejected the President’s threat to nationalize elections , while being reminded by Sam Tarazi from Voting Rights Lab that neither the elections, nor the democracy movement should be nationalized . One helpful resource to continue to make sense of the real-life impact of government-wide policies and practices is the new Civil Service Archive from Protect Democracy, a searchable online database that tracks changes to how the federal workforce works. The recent Navigator Research report covers Americans’ views of democracy, authoritarianism, and the federal government, and finds that more and more of us do not view our current government as a democracy.
At the same time, many are offering concrete actions you can take, like
this article
that uplifts our economic power to
Resist and Unsubscribe;
and the new platform
We Act
to help create new habit loops: get a call to action from a source you trust; take the action; prove it, reflect on it; recruit someone else to do it; and repeat.
Check out the new
10steps Campaign,
a nationwide mobilization and education effort.
And if you are a lawyer looking to get more involved, you’ll find concrete actions in this
new toolkit
from the Democracy Rising Collaborative.
We are especially inspired by the
rise of singing resistance
across the country, and you can find a
whole playlist of modern resistance songs here.
From the Horizons’ team, enjoy this new piece from our Democracy Fellow, Jarvis Williams, on
Organizing Under Political Stress: Structural Clarity Before Engagement Is a Governance Imperative.
You can also listen to Jarvis and Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig reflect on their experience facilitating learning cohorts amongst US and European activists in the
first in a series of four podcasts on Democracy and Belonging
that we conducted together with the Othering & Belonging Institute.
You can re-watch the webinar that our Chief Organizer Maria Stephan participated in this month,
From Maine to Minneapolis: Faith in A Fragile Democracy,
hosted by the National Council of Churches.
And we invite you to check out
Maria’s recent interview on the Ken Harbaugh Show,
where she shares more about the power of strategic nonviolence and civil resistance.
Here’s more inspiration from the many others we are reading, watching and listening to.
📚 READING
How To Build Solidarity Infrastructure for the Long Haul
by Adaku Utah and Deepa Iyer, Nonprofit Quarterly
“In the United States, we have become accustomed to bursts of solidarity that show up during movement moments and national crises. In the past few months, people and organizations have gathered for protests against immigration enforcement, No Kings rallies, and mutual aid support. These powerful examples of episodic solidarity — which are often catalyzed by injustice, state violence, or catastrophic events — spread awareness, mobilize people, and make demands to power holders. When solidarity arrives in bursts — ignited by movement moments, urgent campaigns, or collective outrage — it tends to recede when the crisis subsides or another one takes its place. But to sustain solidarity beyond the initial spark and to transform it into a meaningful, lasting practice, we must support, organize, and buttress both short-term scaffolding and long-term infrastructure.” In this article, the authors have identified six identifiable practices of transformative solidarity that often show up in social movements.
Two lenses on Christian nationalism
by Ruth Braunstein, Democracy is Hard Substack
Recently, “PRRI dropped a major new report that measures Christian nationalist attitudes across all 50 states… it shows that white evangelical Protestants are the religious group most likely to hold Christian nationalist views, and that holding these views makes them more likely to support authoritarianism and political violence.” But the author warns against feeding into a narrative that all evangelical Protestants are Christian nationalists in these states and lifts up stories of those within the evangelical faith (and others) who are demonstrating courage and publicly “breaking the symbolic link between Christian faithfulness and right-wing political ideology.”
What shapes our relationship-centred practice
by Mairi Lowe, Relationships Project
The Relationships Map is a directory of brilliant individuals and organisations across the UK working towards a more relationship-centred future… this article describes the 10 main patterns or themes of where people get their inspiration from; and this next article in the series describes the shared challenges of working relationally, including (1) lack of time, space and workload pressures; (2) systems that prioritise efficiency over connection; and (3) measuring and proving value. Don’t miss all the advice and resources the Relationships Project includes here to address those challenges.
The Trust Compass
by Amber Banks
Amber lifts up the work of Dr. Shayla Nunnally’s Trust in Black America , which focuses on what she calls racialized trust to describe the ways in which Black and White Americans experience trust differently because of systemic racism. The goal in our work, therefore, is not to strive for the same definition of trust but rather to better understand each other’s experiences of trust. Amber offers a helpful tool, the Trust Compass, to help us wrap our heads and hearts around what it takes to build and repair relationships. The Trust Compass is designed to help us navigate trust in the context of our individual and collective experiences. “It will not do the work for you, but it will help break down the dimensions of trust that inform how we relate to each other. The Trust Compass has four dimensions: Identity, Context, Power, and Values.” This article is part two in a series on building and repairing trust in social justice movements. You can read part one here .
📺 WATCHING
Echoes of History: Robert Evans Keynote and Fireside Chat
The Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center
“Journalist and host of the Behind the Bastards podcast Robert Evans challenges viewers to consider what they are prepared to do to fight an authoritarian government in his keynote address, followed by a fireside chat with the Japanese American National Museum’s President and CEO, Ann Burroughs.” JANM’s Democracy Center hosted the symposium to bring together thinkers, artists, organizers, and civic leaders confronting authoritarianism today.
The Seven Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems
The Conversation Factory
“One delight of this book ( Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems ) is the recognition that transforming systems can be long and hard work… Adam Kahane helpfully grounds this long journey of transformation in everyday habits — which is such an effective way to help us all continuously refocus our energies on the work, the perseverance, and commitment to rest. Here are the seven habits from Adam’s book: (1) act responsibly; (2) relate in three dimensions; (3) look for what’s unseen; (4) work with cracks; (5) experiment a way forward; (6) collaborate with unlike others; and (7) persevere and rest. There’s also a kind of a zeroth habit: Know what a system is. So, in this conversation, Adam and Daniel Stillman talk about systems theory in general. It’s important to realize that many of our most challenging challenges are with systems — governments are systems, organizations are systems, families are systems, and people are also systems.”
Cult of Personality: The Psychology of Political Obedience
Principles First Summit 2026
You don’t want to miss the recording of this panel discussion with an important observation that authoritarian movements are not powered by stupidity. They are powered by seduction. One of the most important threads across the conversation was the reminder that the draw is rarely just about a single leader. As Laura Field described, many within the “new right” are motivated less by devotion to the current president and more by the allure of radical ideas, plus the promise of order, certainty, hierarchy, belonging, and meaning. Steven Hassan shared from personal experience that people don’t experience themselves as “brainwashed.” They experience themselves as convinced, awakened, loyal, and purposeful. Rich Logis from Leaving MAGA re-emphasized the power of belonging. Political loneliness, distrust, and alienation are powerful entry points, so the exit begins not with confrontation, but with patience, curiosity, and the presence of non-judgmental relationships. And our own Maria Stephan underscored that authoritarian power depends on obedience, which stems from many places — habit, fear, material incentives, identity, social norms, and perceived helplessness. But that dependence also makes authoritarian power fragile. Change happens when ordinary people, institutions, and communities withdraw consent from an unjust government and act together. You can watch all the recorded panels from the recent Principles First Summit here.
🎧 LISTENING TO
Faith in the Streets: What Minneapolis Is Teaching America About Resisting Authoritarianism
American Unexceptionalism podcast
“When the history of this moment is written, Minneapolis may take its place alongside Selma, Stonewall, and Harper’s Ferry — a name synonymous with resistance. In this episode, Matthew Taylor and Susie Hayward return to American Unexceptionalism to reflect on what has unfolded in the Twin Cities over the past two months: mass ICE deployments, escalating authoritarian tactics, and a powerful, community-rooted response. Drawing from the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul, they explore what frontline resistance looks like in real time, how religious leaders have stepped into both pastoral and prophetic roles, and why this moment feels like the full activation of both Trump-era authoritarian impulses and an American resistance movement finding its footing.”
Jane Fonda on How to Turn Rage into Hope
On with Kara Swisher podcast
“Jane Fonda has been fighting for social justice for over five decades, but in the past year, she’s kicked things up a notch. This past fall, she relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment … The iconic actor and activist talks to Kara about how to fight for democracy and the environment when both are under attack. She [explains] why artists’ voices matter, and how to use action to beat back depression and despair. And she shares a couple secrets for living well at any age.”
How Healing Systems Happen
Collective Change Lab podcast
“The Collective Change Lab podcast explores how healing is central to transforming systems. Each episode features reflective conversations with partners, practitioners, and change-makers reimagining what becomes possible when healing, compassion, and relational practice are brought into systems change… In this first episode in the series, Radha Ruparell shares how healing-centered leadership transforms teams, organizations, and whole systems through connection, care, and courage.”
💡 THOUGHT-PROVOKING
My Daughter and an ICE Agent: Reflections on parenting, ICE, and the tragic expression of unmet needs.
by Kazu Haga, Letters to Beloved Community
“It may be hard to see that behind the violent actions of ICE officers, they are yearning desperately for a need to get met. It may be hard to imagine that even beatings, tear gas, and fatal shootings are a tragic expression of those unmet needs… It’s hard in part because their actions and the strategies they are choosing are obscured by so many layers of weapons, centuries-old trauma from colonization and stolen land, the normalization of authoritarianism, the rise of white supremacy and nationalism, a culture of state-sanctioned violence, and so much more… The body armor they wear is not only made of metal, but also carries centuries of collective trauma shaped by state violence — trauma that engulfs the humanity of those wearing it… To me, a commitment to nonviolence in these times is a commitment to doing our own inner work enough that we can slow down to see this, to try to pierce through all the layers of physical and symbolic armour and glimpse the human needs desperately trying to be heard.”