Home

Apologies while we rebuild this website for viewing on cellphones

Resistance is Not Futile – It is Essential

The Progressive Movements Commons

A cornucopia of information for progressive individuals and movements
Challenging the Right-Wing Backlash
Curated by Chip Berlet of Research for Progress | Notes about this website and its policies

Visit Common Dreams for “News and Views for the Progressive Community”

 

What You Find When You Scroll Down
What Does a Social Movement Need to Succeed?

Slideshow for your Skeptical friends: How Trump’s Rhetoric Fueled a Bigoted Juggernaut of White Nationalism, Heteropatriachy, and Repression

♦Best Websites
♦Trump & Ideology Study ♦Bibliographies
♦Timelines

 No More Fake News!
Search over 250 websites at once)

 

Featured Video:
When Democracy Works
Made in 1997 — it’s still Current, especially with the Election of Donald Trump.
Narrated by Scot Nakagawa
‘
Already a classic:
‘Social Self-Defense’: Protecting People and Planet
Against Trump and Trumpism
by Jeremy Brecher

Groups, Organizations, Websites

Key Sources for Challenging Trumpism

Reliable Media: No More Fake News!

Search or Browse a Curated List of
over 250 Reliable Websites
from progressive, liberal, and civil liberties organizations

Read the latest News Feeds from a variety of progressive groups
and civil liberties organizations

Selected Reliable Progressive Media:

Public Interest Journalism

Regional/Local

Special Interest Commercial Media

Organizations and Groups by Topic

Democracy and Human Rights

American Promise
–Set reasonable election spending limits
Amnesty International USA
–Defending Prisoners of Conscience
Demos
–An equal say and an equal chance for all
Facing History and Ourselves
–Resources for Teaching about Genocides
Open Democracy
–Global Information Network
People for the American Way
–For a diverse democratic society

Peace & Antiwar

Civil Liberties
Why should progressives support civil liberties and
free speech for all? “`

Sustainability and
Environmental Protection

Other Reliable Progressive Groups

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
Black Lives Matter
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Media & Democracy
Changelab
…Scot Nakagawa’s Race Files Blog
Class Matters
Color of Change
Day Laborer Organizing Network
Domestic Workers Alliance
Guestworkers’ Alliance
Movimiento Cosecha
Highlander Research and Education Center
Institute for Southern Studies
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Move On
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Children’s Advocacy Center
— Multiple State & Local Affiliates
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
National Lawyers Guild
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
National Organization for Women
National Urban Indian Family Coalition
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress
Our Revolution
People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
Political Research Associates
Race Forward / Colorlines
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Southeast Asian Freedom Network
Spirit House Project
Showing Up for Racial Justice
United for a Fair Economy
United for Peace & Justice
US Human Rights Network
 (Member Groups)
Working America
Working Families Party
Zinn Education Project: People’s History

Regional & State

International

United Nations

–Global Sustainable Development Goals
–What are Human Rights?
–Universal Declaration of Human Rights
–Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Urgent Care:
A Section on Safety and Security

→ A more extensive set of resources is curated at Political Research Associates

Defending Our Civil Liberties:

U.S. Constitution: Amendment I.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.
Click above to read a lot more about what it means

Remember: The First Amendments protects ideas,
but not actions that break laws
♥ Why should progressives support civil liberties and free
speech for all?
♥ When libertarians are our strategic or tactical allies!
{in the queue}

Movement Building

The Basics

When movement leaders create a coherent and persuasive
interrelated package linking a group’s Ideology, Frames, and
Narratives it helps build powerful social movements on the Left
and Right

 

Race, Gender, Class – try to separate them
and you help build systems of oppression.

Is Organizing Enough? Race, Gender, and Union Culture
by Bill Fletcher Jr., Institute for Policy Studies and Richard W.
Hurd, Cornell University

Race, Gender, and “Essentialism”
Thoughtful analysis from Colette Guillaumin, 1995. from her book Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology. London: Routledge.

Consider Using the “Building Human Rights” Framework as an
Inclusive Umbrella Concept for Outreach and Coalition Building

Organizing to Block Trump’s Plans

Start with this excellent slideshow from Organizing Upgrade
> Post-Election Slideshow

Then Read: ‘Social Self-Defense’: Protecting People and Planet
Against Trump and Trumpism by Jeremy Brecher

Research Resources

Extensive Glossary of Terms

An example:
Systems of oppression: Forms of oppression
that have become embedded in social systems, structures, and
institutions in a society.
— See for example:
Racial oppression,
Gender oppression.
— See also:
Institutional racism, Institutional sexism,
Institutional homophobia, Institutional classism,
Institutional xenophobia

Strategic Rhetoric for Progressives

Avoid Using the Phase: “Violent Radicalization”
—WHY? “Radicalization”
deals with the relative position of ideas and ideologies while “Violence” is an act.
Thus the term “Violent Radicalization” undermines First
Amendment guarantees of free speech, and masks the wave of
surveillance and political repression being carried out by
US government. Avoid using the term “Radicalization”
in a pejorative sense in the current political climate.
.
Avoid Using the Term: “Extremism”
Replace with (The Target) and (The Act or Methodology)
—Examples
Racist Terror, Sexist Rhetoric, Islamophobic Articles, Antisemitic Posts.
Homophobic Assault, Stigmatizing the Disabled,
Stereotyping Mexicans
—Why?
“Extremism” is a term used to deligitimize any ideas outside an imaginary “Political Center;”
and to suggest systems of oppression are something we all do not need to confront.
Forms of oppression can be Institutional, Structural, Interpersonal, and often are a combination of these.
.
Avoid “Hate Crimes” Replace with “Bias Crimes” or “Ethnoviolence.”
—WHY? Because most of us tend to think those people that
“hate” are not like us, and so we do not confront our
own–often unconscious–complicity in existing systems of
oppression.

How Trump uses the rhetorical Tools of Fear:
System of oppression in the United States are fueled by Prejudice, Bigotry, Supremacism, Ethnonationalism and other factors which create fear and anxiety about losing power and privilege in a society under stress. This is researched by sociologists who use “Social Movement Theories.

To see how these sociological theories can be of use by activists, be sure to visit

How does Trump’s rhetoric of “Scripted Violence” work?


Best Websites for Researching & Challenging Right-Wing Movements

Since 1981
Political Research Associates
The Premiere Progressive Website for Studying
Right-Wing Movements and Institutions
Home Page
Reports
Public Eye Magazine

Read Stories Exposed by
The Center for Media and Democracy
Using Investigative Journalism

Major Focus Sections
Special Investigative Projects

Koch exposed (Koch Brothers & Koch Industries)
ALEC exposed (American Legislative Council
SPN exposed (State Policy Network)
Trump Exposed

Major Sections

PRWatch
SourceWatch
Outsourcing
Business Chambers (US Chamber of Commerce)

Right Web:
Tracking militarists’ efforts to influence
U.S. foreign policy
Scholar Bob Altemeyer:
Donald Trump and Authoritarian Followers
and
Authoritarianism & the Tea Party Movement
People for the American Way: Right-Wing Watch

Invaluable Collection of Lists of Right-Wing
Organizations
– People
 – Topics
– Reports

American United for Separation of Church and State
Southern Poverty Law Center
Most extensive and reliable information on the
Ultra-Right, especially White Supremacists, Misogynists,
Antisemites, Islamophobes, and Homophobes
Center for Right-Wing Studies
University of California at Berkeley has a huge
physical archive
Center for the Analysis of the Radical Right

An international collaborative effort by scholars studying the radical right.

Right-Wing Populism in America
Online excerpts and many expanded resources from the book by Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons that predicted the Tea Party and Trump
Small Populism Chart

Click to Enlarge this nifty chart above
on Right-Wing Populism and the “Producerist” Narrative”

Building Human Rights Network

(Currently Under Construction but with topical search)

Major Introductory Overview of:
The Ideological Roots of the Republican Party and its Shift to the Right in the 2016 Election
by Alex DiBranco and Chip Berlet

To successfully counter Trumpism, progressive organizers and
organizations need to expose the ideologies behind the Trump
campaign, and also show how they are rooted in “mainstream” US society.  The authors are busy writing a chapter on this for Routledge Press, so please respect our copyright.

Coming Soon:

  • Rugged Individualism {in the queue}
  • Aggressive Militarism
  • Planetary Resource Exploitation

White Nationalism, Right-Wing Populism, and Fascism

A slideshow originally created for Showing Up for
Racial Justice by Chip Berlet – May 16, 2017
This link takes you to a slightly revised version
based on feedback from a panel of experts.

Bibliographies:

Chip Berlet’s
Reading List: ‘Trump, Populism, and White Nationalism‘
on the WorldCat website. These are the books I
frequently refer to when researching right-wing politics in the
US. I am working on smaller topical lists as requested by you
pests.

A
slightly out of date but nifty
Searchable database of books about right-wing reality
by critics, scholars, and participants —-
Developed for the Political
Research Associates library

Multimedia

At Organizing Upgrade

At Research for Progress

Video
Audio
Slideshows
 Trump, Populist Rhetoric, and
Fascism (pre-election)
Bibliographies
Charts
& Diagrams

Timelines at the Social Movement Study Network

Training Guide Track

Under Construction by Strelnicov & Friends at
Research for Progress

Resources
for Defending
Democracy and Human Rights

The FAQ Files:
The Truth is Filed Here

What
are the Different Sectors of the US Right?
A Chart from Political Research Associates

Under Construction and {in the queue}

Armed Citizens Militias
“Cultural Marxism”
Alt-Right
Dominionism
Fascism
Populism
Right-Wing Populism
— As
a precursor feature of Fascism
— Core elements
——Producerist
White Nationalism
——Demonization
& Scapegoating
——Conspiracism
——Apocalyptic
Narratives & Millennial Visions
—The
Sucker Punch of Right-Wing Populism
Right-Wing Movements & Groups
Key Institutions and Think Tanks
Cato Institute
Heritage Foundation
—Conservatism
—Patriot Movement
——Tea Party Movement
——John Birch Society
——Oath Keepers *
——Sovereign Citizens *
—Conspiracism on the Right
——Key Targets
———Saul Alinsky
———Collectivism
———Democrats & Liberals
———LGBTQ Community
———Obama linked to Hitler & Stalin
———Socialism
———Voter Fraud
———Welfare Recipients
Tools of Fear
—Demonization
—Stereotyping
—Discrimination
—Prejudice
White Nationalism
—as Ideology
—White Supremacy *
——as Ideology
——as Organized Movement *
———Ku Klux Klan Groups*
———NeoNazi Movements *

*Often intersecting with Ultra-Right
***Part of the Ultra-Right

Citizen Journalism
Training

  • Is moving today…

Chip Berlet’s Resource Stash

Research
for Progress Website & Blog

What
are the Tools of Fear Used by Trump?
From Bigotry to Scapegoating to Violence

How
Organized Wealth Keeps Screwing U.S.
A Slightly Snarky History of the 1%

Given the trends we are facing, all of us who want to defend
human rights and democracy have to fight on four fronts. We must
organize against:

  • The rise of reactionary populism, nativism, & fascism with
    roots in White supremacy, xenophobia, Islamophobia,
    antisemitism, conspiracist subversion myths, and the many
    mutating offspring of the Freemason/Jewish banker conspiracy
    theories.
  • Theocracy and other anti–democratic forms of religious
    fundamentalism, around the world, which in the US is based in
    White Anglo-Saxon Protestant with its subtexts of elitist
    hierarchy, patriarchy and heterosexual privilege.
  • Authoritarian state actions in the form of militarism and
    interventionism abroad and government repression and erosion of
    civil liberties at home.
  • The antidemocratic pillaging by the greedster elites of
    organized wealth and rapacious multinational capital
    (neoliberalism) with their attack on the standard of living of
    working people around the globe.

The Tools of Fear & Systems of
Oppression

Systems of Oppression
in the United States
that are fueled by prejudiced ideas,
and which generate acts of discrimination and violence
Racism
Sexism
Classism
Ableism
Homophobia
Xenophobia
Nativism
Antisemitism
Islamophobia
Religious Triumphalism
(and many more)


Forms of Discrimination:
Actions and Attitudes that create Systems of Oppression

Individual — i.e. person to person

Structural (defacto) — i.e. within
kinship, family, and/or societal structures.

Systemic (defacto) — i.e. political
systems (social democracy, fascism), economic systems

Institutional (defacto) — i.e.
Fox News, Tea Parties, John Birch Society, Heritage Foundation,
Free Congress Foundation

Legal (dejure) — i.e. Courts, Police,
Parole officers, FBI, etc.

These can occur singly or in combinations.

* defacto: discrimination enforced as a matter of fact without
being tied to a specific law, and sometimes illegal.
* dejure: discrimination enforced by being tied to a
specific law.

Note that the First Amendment protects prejudice in the form of
ideas without necessarily being tied to concrete acts, unless
these acts break an existing law.
Prejudice is Ideas — Discrimination is Acts
The First Amendment protects Ideas

Heroes
Know Which Villains to Kill:
How Coded Rhetoric by Demagogues
Incites Scripted Violence Against Scapegoats
by Chip Berlet

A New Inclusive Formula

Prejudice
+ Power
—————-
= Oppression

This simple formula allows us to
discuss
interrelated
“Systems of Oppression”
that keep us apart
but also explore the intesectionality
that could unite us into a powerful movement
for justice, democracy, and human rights.

Favorite Hoax Quote

Mussolini Said What?
The
Hoax Quote on Corporatism

Seek
Peace
Nurture Nature
Challenge Oppression
Build Human Rights
Defend Democracy
Demand Justice
Resist Repression


Notes on this website and its policies

This website features progressive organizations
and tends to avoid links to Inside-the-Beltway groups, with overly
close ties to the Democratic Party or mainstream liberal
organizations, because of their lurch to right in terms of
ideologies, analysis, and action plans since the 1970s.

There are hundreds of progressive organizations and movements
across the US. This page is a small curated collection of links
that highlights only a few of them.

Not listed here are progressive groups that offer training for a
fee, many of which are excellent. However free online resource
materials from these groups are linked when appropriate. We
generally do not link to information behind a pay wall.

This website was originally developed in 2008 as part of a set of
webtools demonstration sites as a way to urge progressive
movements to build collaborative online resources to fight the
right. It is currently is curated by Chip Berlet. In 2018 it will
be turned over to a consortium of progressive organizations who
will curate it in a collaborative manner.