Today’s episode welcomes The 22nd Century Initiative’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Jiva Manske. Koki and Jiva lay out key ways that the Left can and must build a shared vision of democracy, all while the pro-democracy movement is in a moment of extreme crisis. They talk through the “what is to be done?” about this moment, drawing inspiration from key strategies such as mobilizing, non-compliance, non-violent direct action, and alternative institutions like mutual aid, collective care, and...
Jul 10, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In this episode of Inform Your Resistance, Koki reads “ Gender and Authoritarianism: A Framework for Analysis and Action ” by Annie Wilkinson, as part of our ongoing From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA’s more than 40 years of publishing. This article was published in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue of The Public Eye magazine, and you can read the article here ....
Jun 12, 2025•20 min•Season 4Ep. 2
In conversation with PRA’s Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner, he and Koki discuss the wide-ranging practices, policies, and ideologies underlying the antidemocratic goals of the Neoreactionary Right—and how to resist them. Diving into the foundations of white nationalism and Christian supremacy that prop up the billionaire agenda under Trump, their conversation pieces together the connections in topics ranging from privately owned micro states and the tariff regime intended to re-indust...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In this episode, Koki interviews PRA’s former Executive Director Tarso Luís Ramos, who stepped down from his role in December 2024 after nearly two decades at the helm of the organization. With over 30 years of experience working, researching, and leading in the Fight the Right sector, Tarso has had an indelible impact in the social justice Left, informing the ongoing and evolving fight against White, Christian, patriarchal supremacy. In our conversation, he reflects on the fascinating ways that...
Feb 06, 2025•52 min•Season 3Ep. 10
In this episode, Koki speaks with researchers Mariel Cooksey and Amy Mack about the Far Right in Canada today. They discuss the evolution of the Far Right and its disparate movements, the current rise to prominence of the Far Right in provincial politics, and the discordance between a rich history of anti-democratic organizing and a profound global reputation for progressive liberalism. Is Canada as exceptional as it seems? Mariel Cooksey is the Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for F...
Jan 23, 2025•48 min•Season 3Ep. 9
In this episode, Naomi Washington Leapheart explores the role of community and solidarity in creating responsive and durable strategies of contestation—of resistance—in our contemporary political moment. As PRA's Strategic Partnerships Director, Naomi presents empowering stories of how we at PRA inform our resistance movements, and as a reverend and community organizer, she breaks down the philosophical concept of community organizing to present a vision and plan for self actualization, collecti...
Jan 09, 2025•47 min•Season 3Ep. 8
In this episode, PRA Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner provides astute analysis on what has led us to this moment in history—when Donald Trump and the Republican Party have so decisively won the presidency and both houses of congress. Steven shares likely scenarios that may play out in Trump’s first year back in office, the implications of his chaotic cabinet picks for the implementation of both mundane and reactionary policy, and, most importantly, on the opportunities available to res...
Dec 19, 2024•52 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In this episode of Inform Your Resistance, Koki reads “ From Palestine to Atlanta, Outside and Foreign: The Institutional Policing of Dissent ” by Habiba Farh, as part of our ongoing From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA’s more than 40 years of publishing. This article was published in the Spring 2024 issue of The Public Eye magazine, and you can read the article here ....
Dec 05, 2024•18 min•Season 3Ep. 6
This interview with Savera Coalition partners Safa Ahmed and Pranay Somayajula dives into an expose on the immensely influential Hindu American Foundation, or HAF, as a Hindu supremacist institution masquerading as a civil rights organization. We discuss HAF's reputation as a leader in civil rights and its true agenda to perpetuate caste discrimination and support for the authoritarian Indian Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP regime in the United States. We discuss HAF's roots in the Hindu supremaci...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Koki talks with Ramah Kudaimi about U.S. imperialism and state violence, and its reverberations both domestically and abroad. From the global war on terror, to genocide in Palestine, to anti-Muslim policing and surveillance in our communities, we discuss the ways that imperial power, capitalist interests, and far-right organizing intersect in ways that compound harm and entrench systems of oppression. We discuss the ways in corporations profit not only from war and militarism, but specifically f...
Nov 07, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 4
This episode with guest-host Jack Gieseking features an in-depth discussion with Frederick Clarkson about the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a significant and influential movement within the Christian Right. Clarkson explains the background and history of NAR, as well as its contemporary political significance. The conversation also touches on the relationship between NAR the January 6th 2021 Capitol insurrection, NAR’s relationship with Israel, and their strategy to build their voting block a...
Oct 24, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Inform Your Resistance is coming to you this week in between regularly scheduled episodes to introduce you to a new podcast series, The Insurgence: Sheriffs . This collaboration between Political Research Associates and Cuentero Productions uncovers how a national network of far-right sheriffs is mobilizing to create a White Christian republic, one county at a time . Subscribe today, wherever you get your podcasts to catch the rest of the episodes in the series....
Oct 17, 2024•25 min
In this episode of Inform Your Resistance, Koki reads “ Nativist Bedfellows: The Christian Right Embraces Anti-Immigrant Politics ” by Tarso Luís Ramos and Pam Chamberlain, the fourth in our new From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA’s more than 40 years of publishing. This article was published in the Summer 2008 issue of The Public Eye magazine, and you can read the article here . This week we're also excited to announce th...
Oct 10, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In this first episode of Season 3, we are back with a conversation about the origins, unlikely intersections, and influence of the contemporary anti-immigration movement. Ethan provides us with a fascinating overview of how this movement developed, from its White Nationalist origins, with significant bipartisan and centrist support. We discuss John Tanton’s network of organizations, funding sources for the anti-immigrant movement, significant legislation impacting the immigration landscape, inte...
Sep 26, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Uncover the disturbing realities of racial capitalism and state violence with host Koki Mendis and Saqib Bhatti, co-executive Director of the Action Center on Race and Economy (ACRE). Bhatti’s insights illuminate the distressing crossroads where austerity programs, mass incarceration, and a negligent police state meet. Throughout the conversation, Bhatti exposes the dangerous influence of corporations on public services and their contribution to the rise of a racialized policing system. We discu...
Aug 29, 2024•30 min
Who are the abortion abolitionists? What drives them, and how do their tactics overlap with those of other far-right movements? Join host, Koki Mendis, and PRA Senior Research Analyst, Cloee Cooper, as we uncover the differences between the broader pro-life movement and the abortion abolitionist movement. The abortion abolitionists are a nationwide network of militant anti-abortion far-right activists who want to eradicate all abortion. They would like to see the death penalty for those involved...
Aug 15, 2024•36 min
In this conversation with Lauren Jacobs from PowerSwitch Action, the discussion focuses on the role of worker power in combating authoritarianism. Lauren and host Koki Mendis explore the allure of reactionary anti-state narratives in explaining worker precarity and how labor organizing can present counter-narratives and options for reducing worker suffering. They also discuss the barriers to unionization posed by corporations, the relationship between worker organizing and the presidential admin...
Aug 01, 2024•39 min
In this eye-opening interview, Dr. Chrissy Stroop peels back the layers of Christian dominionism, and explains how this ideology is deeply woven into the fabric of Christian homeschooling. Dr. Chrissy Stroop is both a former insider and an expert scholar. She has long written and shared candid stories of growing up in a Christian educational environment. Here, she recounts the ways in which evangelical ideology was deeply woven into her own educational experiences. Her experiences are a prism fo...
Jul 18, 2024•56 min
In this episode, Koki reads “ The Spirit of January 6th: The Theology of This Seldom Discussed Movement Animates the Growing Threat to U.S. Democracy ” by Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné, the third in our new From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA's more than 40 years of publishing. In this article, Clarkson and Gagné offer a peek into a shadowy, dramatic, and hugely influential corner of the Christian right. The New Apost...
Jun 20, 2024•26 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In this episode, Koki interviews Laura Pulido, Collins Chair and Professor of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies and Geography at the University of Oregon, who studies race, environmental justice, and cultural memory. They discuss the intersection of racial and climate denialism, and how these realms of politics, understanding, and identity buttress one another. Laura and Koki dig into some of the key insights from Pulido's work, an invaluable vocabulary with which to parse the salience of emo...
Jun 06, 2024•38 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In this episode, Koki sits down with Shane Burley to discuss some of the most peculiar, and—at times, most influential—corners of the Far Right, capturing a spectrum of White nationalist, misogynist organizing that spans the neopaganist Wolves of Vinland to the multiracial, hypermasculine Proud Boys to the highly suspect community of so-called Formers. Shane also provides timely updates on his seminal pieces written for PRA on these movements and we discuss their significance for the broader lan...
May 23, 2024•44 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode of Inform Your Resistance, Koki reads “ Total Life Reform: The Real Consequences of the Far Right’s Self-Help Grift ” by Shane Burley, the second in our new From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA’s more than 40 years of publishing. This article was published in the Fall 2020 issue of The Public Eye magazine, and you can read the article here ....
May 09, 2024•37 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode, Koki is joined by Aidan Orly, one of a handful of U.S.-based researchers writing and speaking about Christian Zionism: the right-wing domestic and international movements that use a Christian biblical interpretation to promote and endorse Jewish nationalism. Christian Zionism forms the largest political base of support for the state of Israel in the U.S . Koki and Aidan focus on the authoritarian nature of Christian Zionist movements, and discuss their key leaders, organizations...
Apr 25, 2024•36 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In this episode, Koki reads “ Why Are Gen Z Girls Attracted to the Tradwife Lifestyle? ” by Marielle Cooksey, the first in our new From the Archives series. From the Archives features those must read and, now, must listen to pieces from PRA's more than 40 years of publishing. In this article, Cooksey explores the growing online Tradwife subculture, one with deep ties to White nationalism, Christian nationalism, and anti-feminism. This article was published in the Spring/Summer 2021 issue of The ...
Apr 11, 2024•30 min•Season 2Ep. 5
This week, Inform Your Resistance is on a mid-season break. Instead of interviewing a guest, host Koki Mendis shares some quick takes on incredible new content from our quarterly magazine, The Public Eye . See links to the pieces she discusses below, and listen to the episode for Koki’s analysis! “ Project 2025: How Trump Loyalists and Right-Wing Leaders Are Paving a Fast Road to Fascism ,” by Peter Montgomery, The Public Eye , 2024. “ County Capture: The Role of Militias in County Governments i...
Mar 28, 2024•9 min
In this episode, Koki interviews Peter Montgomery, Research Director at People for American Way, to discuss Project 2025, the Right’s playbook to remake the U.S. government as we currently know it toward authoritarianism. Peter discusses the architects of this plan, the people and movements who have signed on to it, and the implications for the American public if it should be put into place. Koki and Peter discuss how the Right has stitched together such disparate tensions and factions in the Ri...
Mar 14, 2024•34 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this episode, Koki talks with Alex DiBranco, executive director of the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism. Alex breaks down for us: What is male supremacism? What is its relationship to other supremacist ideologies and movements? And how does male supremacism form part of a political strategy? We discuss both the religious and secular versions of male supremacism; its intersection with other right-wing movements; how male supremacism is central to the culture war; its relationship wit...
Feb 29, 2024•50 min
In this episode, Koki interviews Prachi Patankar, an anti-caste and feminist writer and organizer, to discuss Hindu Nationalism, or Hindutva, a little understood but large and well-resourced movement that has transnational influence on U.S. politics and culture. Prachi explores the connections between Hindu nationalism, White supremacy, and other supremacist ideologies. In the diaspora, including in the U.S., caste hierarchy persists. However, Hindu and dominant caste immigrants in the U.S. fall...
Feb 15, 2024•44 min
EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In this episode, Koki interviews Heron Greenesmith, Esquire, former Senior Research Analyst for LGBTQ justice here at PRA and a policy attorney with over a decade of LGBTQ advocacy experience, to reflect back on 2023 as the worst year in anti-trans organizing, and look ahead at anti-trans organizing momentum and trends in 2024. Heron is presently Deputy Director of the Transgender Law Center, which recently released the Trans Agenda organizing statement. Drawing on their exp...
Jan 30, 2024•33 min
We’re back later this month with a new season of conversations with some of the most brilliant minds working in social justice. With interviews spanning a sober assessment of the year to come in anti-trans organizing, to the pervasive influence of violent misogyny, and how the authoritarian Hindu Nationalism movement shows up in the U.S., we will engage with the question of which movements, actors, and ideologies threaten our already failing democracy and what we, on the Left, can do to block th...
Jan 02, 2024•1 min
