As the word ‘advocacy’ is banned from academic papers in the US, Banks reflects on how “the old pathways to influence are broken” with an instructive critique of progressives’ failure in “the battle for the nation’s conscience and culture”, as it continues to play by “the old rules.” “The progressive movement continues to pour resources into outdated influence tactics – broadcast advertising, performance marketing, media relations teams, policy shops, and think tanks – while the right has spent decades methodically building a sprawling ecosystem of decentralised (but powerfully coordinated) narrative infrastructure… Many progressives still think their problem is messaging: crafting the perfect slogan, landing the right talking point, tweaking the framing to be more ‘persuasive.’ But the real challenge is distribution.” Banks offers three steps for developing the essential “strategies that move the majority of people, on the platforms where they actually spend their time”.

Shahid presents a deep assessment of the “zero-sum gridlock of two party politics” in the US, and offers a thorough plan for what the Democrats need to become next (could be a lesson for Labour too). “The Democratic Party has become trapped in a politics dominated by the upper middle class, where fighting for democracy and combating bigotry are framed more as moral performances of negative partisanship than as paths to real change… What remains is a politics of performative gestures and timid incrementalism – actions designed to placate elite donors and upper-middle-class voters while sidelining the working class and marginalised communities in the name of respectability… If Democrats want to reclaim their position as the party of working people, they need to stop hedging and start confronting the power structures that define inequality… To govern in the people’s interest, you first have to be willing to take on those who profit from their suffering… The next DNC Chair must rebuild the party around a simple idea: Democrats win when they are the party of working-class people of all backgrounds.” Also see.

Host John Biewen gathers his co-pilots from recent seasons of Scene On Radio, which have covered capitalism, racism, sexism, and climate, to discuss the US election result. They share their analyses, worries and advice for how to respond, offering reassurance that we’re not starting from scratch. They encourage us to “turn to people in movements who are already working…find those people, amplify their stories, and make sure they continue to do the work.” They warn that “we can get into messaging and all these other tweaks, but at some point we're going to have to tackle the dominant understandings of how we understand the world…and if we don't get to that, you can do all the tweaking you want...but you're going to see the same cycle continue to play out.” One way to do this is to accept that ultimately, “we can only talk our way out of this…forming an empathic bond between two humans is the only way we have ever found to eventually change someone's mind.”

A reflection on the snap election this summer in France, when the left-leaning alliance rallied to resist the far right with a surprise “come-back” in the second vote. This offers specific lessons for resisting fascism, e.g. “we have to cast elections against authoritarian leaders as elections that are a fork in the road for two futures – not a competition between two existing agendas.” It also describes how its success was due to a rapid coordination that centred organisers – “people who wanted to do things” – and that by working from shared goals and messaging, this coordination across movements was able to reach a lot of people quickly, inviting them in to choose “care” instead of “hatred”, with the emphasis on what they were ‘for’, rather than just ‘against’.

“People are tired of being asked to settle for the same broken promises and status quo. How many times do we have to say it?… This is a pivotal time to consider a new economic order that prioritises economic equality, social programs, and taxing the damn rich… Our call to action is considering how we tell a salient story about a new economic order prioritising a working-class politic… Organising against the systems that oppress us every day, electing revolutionary leaders from within our communities, and tearing down the structures of capitalism, fascism, and colonialism… Our strength lies in our recognition of the interconnectedness of our struggles. The narrative we build must advance revolutionary values, dismantle hegemonic power, and disrupt the systems... This is the moment to reimagine a future beyond the oppressive systems that have held us captive.”

“Donald Trump’s victory is an inflection point – not merely for the future of American democracy, but for the future of the West, and the planet. The driving forces behind his re-election must be properly understood…there is a more alarming, overarching – and insidious – factor at play: a network of billionaires, think tanks and lobbying groups that believe, as does the Russian Government, that democracy must be destroyed… The liberal paradigm which has governed the growth of industrial civilisation is now increasingly embattled – and in many ways irrelevant… Either the status quo is defended and we end up moving inexorably into that rut, which ends with collapse; or we move forward to rebuild and redesign our societies in line with economic, energy, and ecological reality.” Also see.

A discussion of the next Trump administration’s likely impact on climate change and global climate action. For example, repealing Biden’s renewables tax credits would reduce renewable energy provision by the equivalent of “something like 600 Hoover dams”. Also includes a reveal of the odd relationship between Big Coal, Elon Musk, Crypto and AI; in brief: drive up energy demand via rapid unregulated AI and Crypto development to make even more money. Includes a call for Biden to declare a Climate Emergency and release remaining IRA funds now, “because once you give the money away, it’s hard to take it away.”

Four suggestions from the founder of UK-based Larger Us: “1. Don’t see ‘we’ as the left; 2. Empower young men; 3. Embrace relational activism; 4. Build power everywhere.” For the third, Evans says “two places we could start are with tackling loneliness, and bridging divides…loneliness can make us more self-centred, less empathetic, and more vulnerable to extremism - and hence that it’s something totalitarian regimes actively want”. And for the fourth: “a big part of what drives the process is stories. Stories that bring communities together, that keep us going as we come to terms with how much won’t go ‘back to normal’, and that over time help us to make sense of where we are, where we’re trying to get to, how to get there - and underneath it all, who we are… When we’re ready, there’s work to do.”

“Fear breeds distance. We have to consciously break that distance. In Chile they organized under the guise of affinity groups. This was, as its name suggests, people who shared some connections and trust. Finding just a few people who you trust to regularly act with and touch base with is central… Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do… In our country, pressuring elite power is reaching its end point. Power will need to emerge from folks no longer obeying the current unjust system. This tipping point of mass noncooperation will be messy. It means convincing a lot of people to take huge personal risks for a better option. Put simply: Use the political space and voice you have.” Also see, and.

“This guide offers a structure for how to hold a space for yourself and fellow activists to process, strengthen community, and begin to ready ourselves for the future. We always knew we would still have work to do after election day, no matter the outcome. Now it’s time to take a beat and integrate with each other so we can be ready for what’s next. You may feel this moment calls for something different, or you may want to be part of larger public responses. Please know this is meant as one option, and you can choose what fits you and your community best.” Also see.

A (pre-election) overview of “seven key findings about the state of American culture in 2024, as well as a preview of the important questions we’ll be investigating over the course of our next year of research.” The findings include: “Americans are deeply dissatisfied with the state of our country and think things should change—but aren’t sure what that change should look like”; “Individualistic and reactionary thinking is gaining traction among younger people”; and “Mindsets around gender are in flux—and lie at the center of a volatile site of contestation in American culture.” The report suggests that clustered mindsets might be disrupted via single “linchpin” mindsets, which ”cue and buttress other mindsets”, offering a useful focus for change and resistance efforts with limited resources.

How do you reach the men who are supporting a fascist presidential candidate, to avoid “dude-bro-ing our way into democratic death“ and curtail a wider eugenics revival? Focus on the “affective dimension” of the problem because, as has been stated clearly elsewhere, policy alone isn’t moving people. “A lot of what a lot of men are going through right now is simply the inner experience of the old line, ‘When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression’… one of the great sweeping mistakes of our era has been assuming that, because certain kinds of change are morally correct, they go down easy… (men) need to feel seen and heard and recognized in their stress and anxiety and sense of dislocation in the future that is coming… Saving the country from tyranny needs to become aspirational for men. Not a lecture.”