A collaboration with The New School & the European Democracy Institute
 
Tag: <span>Democracy</span>

Pressure and Protest

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How many small actions (like Emily Feiner’s civil disobedience at a Mike Lawler townhall) are “making a dent” in the MAGA onslaught. Two weeks ago, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) held a congressional town hall meeting in Somers, a small suburban town in northern Westchester County. Even though his team imposed a set of ridiculous requirements on attendees—that they had to prove they were residents of the district, that they couldn’t …

Digital Christian “Small Acts of Resistance”

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Jess Fisher is a graphic designer and liturgical artist. She served for a time as Digital Minister at the Washington D.C. Presbyterian Church of the Pilgrims, which introduces its website with the title “Where all are pilgrims, but none is a stranger.” The church, under the leadership of Rev. Erin Counihan, has joined with the Washington Interfaith Staff Community in organizing “Faithful Witness Wednesdays,” weekly vigils at the Capitol “call[ing] on Congress to …

Small Acts of Legal Resistance

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  May 15, 2025 While the Trump administration has initiated dangerous Executive Orders and policy changes at a dizzying pace, it has been countered at every step by litigation. And while the administration has succeeded in cowing some top law firms from challenging its edicts, there remain many attorneys, and legal organizations, that are uncowed and unbowed, and who have been steadfastly committed to using every legal means …

A Nine Year Old’s Democratic Resistance: Korry Skipper – Miller at the Attorneys General’s Rule of Law Road Show

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Early this month, on May 8th, I went to a “community impact hearing” called by Letitia James, the New York Attorney General. At Westchester Community College, just down the road from my home, James, along with Attorneys General of California, Rob Bonta, Illinois, Kwame Raoul, Minnesota Keith Ellison, and New Jersey, Matt Platken, as well as my Congressman, George Latimer, gave impassioned speeches criticizing the authoritarian actions of …

The Constitution of Freedom: A Reply to Micah Beckwith’s Misreading of the 3/5 Compromise

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Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith recently took to X to post a short video denouncing the “DEI radical revisionist history” taught by “professors at woke schools.” His target: the idea that the 3/5 Compromise “was some terrible thing in our past.” This compromise—one of the compromises through which the U.S. Constitution was established in 1787—incorporated this language into Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned …

Authoritarianism is Built on Collaboration: How Supporters Enabled and Normalized the Fascist Consolidation of Power

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Photo: “Cover of “La Domenica del Corriere” of February 24, 1929, signing of the Lateran Treaty.” Author: Achille Beltrame (1871–1945).Source. Via WikiCommons. “Copertina della Domenica del Corriere Anno XXXI n. 8 del 29.2.1929 illustrata da Achille Beltrame. La didascalia recita: Uno storico avvenimento. Nel Palazzo Lateranense, il Duce e il Cardinale Gasparri firmano l’accordo tra lo Stato italiano e la Santa Sede. Disegno di A. Beltrame Italiano: Anno XXXI …

Voice Comes: A Declaration of the State of Affairs

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Note: This statement, written by Daeun Kim on December 7, was then circulated at Indiana University, Bloomington as an open letter under the heading “Students and Researchers for President Yoon’s Impeachment.”  The statement was quickly signed by 38 supporters, and it represents the sentiments of those signatories, and does not represent the official stance of Indiana University Bloomington or the Korean Student Association (KSA). The statement can be …

Introduction: South Korean Students Respond to the Crisis of Their Democracy

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Photo: ‘Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea signing resolution approving the Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol,’ 14 December 2024. 대한민국 국회, KOGL Type 1 , via Wikimedia Commons. Source. On the evening of Tuesday, December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked his country and the world by declaring martial law. In a televised address, he declared that the Democratic Party, which holds a majority of seats in the …

Point of No Return: Georgia’s Democratic Uprising

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Photo credit: Badri Okujava. Introduction: A Nation at the Edge Georgia stands at a pivotal moment in its modern history. Since late October this year, protests against the government’s suppression of the opposition, election rigging, and suspension of the country’s EU membership talks have evolved into nationwide outrage resisting the authoritarian regime imposed by the Georgian Dream (GD) party. Unlike previous demonstrations, such as those opposing the Russian-style …

Confronting Trump and Trumpism: 10 Observations after “The Morning After” / moving “Beyond Alarm”

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Photo: “President Donald J. Trump, joined by the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Acting Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, watches an aircraft flyover during his remarks at the Salute to America event Thursday, July 4, 2019, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks).” The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. I am …