The Anti-Authoritarian Podcast

When authoritarian regimes consolidate power, they come for the artists first because artists name what is happening, make people feel what is true, and keep moral imagination alive when everything else is being suppressed. In this episode, Scot talks with two people who have spent their lives at the intersection of art and resistance: Jane Fonda, one of the most consequential activist artists of the twentieth century, and Nadine Bloch, strategic nonviolent actionista and Training Director for Beautiful Trouble. They talk about the First Amendment under pressure, what backfire looks like when you come for the artists, and why joy is strategic. Beautiful Trouble equips social movements with an ever-growing suite of strategic tools and training to help grassroots movements be more creative, effective, and irresistible. Learn more about their work and offerings at beautifultrouble.org. Originally created during the McCarthy Era, the Committee for the First Amendment stands in defense of constitutional rights against the forces of repression. They are fiercely united to defend free speech and expression, and urge everyone who cares about the First Amendment and every artist around the globe to join at https://www.committeeforthefirstamendment.com.  The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook digs into the theory behind what Nadine and Jane describe, why cultural workers are central to anti-authoritarian strategy, how creative resistance generates backfire, and what movements that have won can teach us about this moment. Read it at bit.ly/antiauthoritarianplaybook. 

The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. The midterms are near. This is not a normal political moment and it calls for more than a normal political response. In this episode, Scot talks with Stacey Abrams, voting rights champion, political leader, and founder of Fair Fight Action, about her ten-point plan to defeat authoritarianism, what it means to defend democratic institutions when those institutions are under coordinated attack, and why voting is an act of resistance. The 10 Steps campaign is a nationwide mobilization and education effort led by author, voting rights activist, and former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams. Through in-person events, media engagement, and organizational partnerships, we're giving Americans the framework to understand what's happening to our democracy—and the tools to fight back. Learn more by visiting 10stepscampaign.org/#campaign. The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook goes deeper on the strategic framework behind this conversation, the pillars of support holding authoritarianism in place, what the research says about how movements reverse democratic backsliding, and what we need to do now. Read it at bit.ly/antiauthoritarianplaybook.

Authoritarianism is a global project, coordinated, cross-border, and learning from itself in real time. The resistance has to be, too. In this episode, Scot talks with Pedro Telles, Director and founding board member of D-Hub, about what democratic defense looks like from a transnational vantage point. They cover how authoritarianism takes hold, what civil society can do to stop it, the role of narrative strategy in the fight, and what a new anti-authoritarian toolkit offers democracy defenders on the front lines. D-Hub is a community of democracy defenders committed to working  together to defeat authoritarians, wherever they are. Learn more about their work by visiting dhub.org. Access the Anti-Authoritarian Toolkit by visiting antiauthoritarian.com. The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook is where we dig into comparative research on authoritarian consolidation and what movements around the world have done to reverse it. Read it at bit.ly/antiauthoritarianplaybook.

The far-right's assault on democracy has always run through the bodies, agency, and political power of women. That's not incidental, it's structural. In this episode, Scot sits down with Tamika Middleton, Chief Strategy Officer of the Women's March and co-founder of Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective, to talk about what it means to organize at the intersection of mass action and healing justice. They dig into the misogyny driving far-right power-building, what it takes to build mass actions that fuel a sustained movement, and how we hold the election line in 2026 and beyond. Women’s March is building a base of feminists to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. Learn more about the work the Women’s March is doing in this climate by visiting womensmarch.com. Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective is building a collaboration of southern healers and organizers who stand ready to respond to trauma through collective models that sustain our communities, and our movements in order to prevent isolation, early burn out, and emotional, physical, or spiritual deprivation. Learn more by visiting kindredsouthernhjcollective.org. The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook is where we work through the strategy behind everything you heard in this episode, the research on what defeats authoritarianism, the frameworks for building durable cross-sector movements, and the tools organizers need right now. Read it at bit.ly/antiauthoritarianplaybook.

The World Cup is the most watched event on earth. This summer it was on US soil while ICE conducted raids in immigrant communities and used fear as a tool of authoritarian control. No ICE in the Cup is a campaign that meets that global stage with a global message, built on a pillars analysis, powered by artists and cultural workers, organized across deep ideological differences, and grounded in a clear theory of how noncooperation moves the institutions propping up authoritarian power. In this episode, Apyphanie Dawn, 22CI’s Communication Manager, talks with three of the architects: Paola Mendoza, Latinx artist, film director, and cultural organizer; Austin Weatherford, co-founder of Country First and veteran conservative political strategist; and Jordan Seaberry, painter, organizer, and Co-Director of the US Department of Arts and Culture. Learn more about No ICE in the Cup and find ways to get involved at noiceinthecup.us. The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook goes deeper on the pillars analysis, the theory of noncooperation, and the strategic framework behind campaigns like this one. Read it at bit.ly/antiauthoritarianplaybook.