There Is No Opting Out with Tarso Ramos
Episode Description
Ejeris welcomes back researcher, strategist, and longtime movement advisor Tarso Ramos for a sobering and clarifying conversation about authoritarian consolidation, democratic renewal, and what it means to stay in the fight. Tarso and Ejeris explore why the barometer reads differently depending on the community you belong to and the dangers you face. Together, they examine the warning signs of rising fascism and an increasingly consolidated authoritarian state, the escalating attacks on targeted communities and social justice organizations, and the urgent need to shift from protest to challenge.
Episode transcript coming soon!
About Tarso
Tarso Luís Ramos has been studying and challenging the U.S. Right Wing for decades. He's a sought-after speaker and movement advisor on authoritarianism and fascism. Brazilian born, Ramos was raised in the U.S. after his family was exiled by that country's military regime. For fifteen years Ramos served as executive director of Political Research Associates, a research and strategy center dedicated to defeating authoritarian and supremacist movements. He is currently a senior fellow with Future Currents.
About Ejeris
Ejeris is a political strategist passionate about strengthening liberation movements and building community safety. Ejeris serves as the Fascism Barometer's "movement meteorologist," exploring the impact of fascist movements on communities of color, queer and trans communities, and all marginalized people. Having worked for the past twenty-five years at the intersections of racial justice, LGBTQ liberation, anti-violence, transformative justice, and economic justice movements, Ejeris focuses on creating political and strategic experiments to strengthen social justice movements through the organization Ejerie Labs.
Resources
Read
Listening Guide coming soon!
Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War by Steven Levitsky, Lucan A. Way, Cambridge University Press
The Philippines Reader: A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, and Resistance by Daniel Schirmer, South End Press
“Fascist Emergency Playbook” by Ejeris Dixon, Fascism Barometer
“Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender girls and women from school athletic teams” by Mark Sherman, Lindsay Whitehurst, AP News
“The Authoritarian Checklist” by Don Moynihan, Can We Still Govern?
“Transcript: Trump’s Authoritarianism Has Failed in a Critical Way” by Perry Bacon, Yahoo
“Trump Administration’s $1.7 Billion National Guard Deployments Fail To Reduce Violent Crime, Squandering Taxpayer Funds on Authoritarian Tactics” by Gabby Blanco, Rafael Medina, Center for American Progress
“Two Facts, One Weekend” by Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Medium
“Woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her” by Jessica Piper, Adam Wren, Politico
“Why the Sunrise Movement reorganized to fight authoritarianism” by Kim Kelly, Yale Climate Connections
“The deeper meaning behind trump’s raid in Ohio” by Scot Nakagawa, Convergence
“House Republicans resurrect Save America Act by adding it to spending bill” by Chris Stein, The Guardian
“What the US can learn from South Koreans who stopped an authoritarian power-grab” by Jungmin Choi, Waging Nonviolence
“Origins of the United Democratic Front” by South African History Archive
“The Freedom Charter” by Congress of the People, South African History Online
“What we can learn from the playbook that defeated Orbán” by Daniel Hunter, Waging Nonviolence
Sources and definitions pages to come soon!
Listen
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The danger of a single story by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie, Ted
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