The 22nd Century Initiative
@22ci.bsky.social
Forging a people-powered democracy in this century and the next |
Creators of The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook newsletter and podcast
www.linktr.ee/22ci
Creators of The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook newsletter and podcast
www.linktr.ee/22ci
Pinned
Democracy as Infrastructure
A Call to Action for Progressive Leaders
open.substack.com
The fight against authoritarianism IS the fight for economic justice, racial equity, gender liberation, and environmental survival.
Hawai’i's unique position - as a strategic economic and military hub, a heavily progressive state, and the homeland of an Indigenous sovereignty movement - makes it particularly vulnerable during authoritarian consolidation.
Hawai'i Matters
While Largely Taken For Granted In U.S. Politics, Hawai'i Is Strategically Important
buff.ly
November 13, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Hawai’i's unique position - as a strategic economic and military hub, a heavily progressive state, and the homeland of an Indigenous sovereignty movement - makes it particularly vulnerable during authoritarian consolidation.
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
On how Catholic leaders and communities around the world have confronted autocratic regimes and defended democratic freedoms, with lessons for faithful action in the US today. @horizonsprjt.bsky.social bit.ly/4hSOqDk
U.S. Catholics are facing an authoritarian threat. The church has been here before.
The Catholic Church in the United States today is facing a crucial test. Will Catholic leadership accommodate and adapt itself to authoritarian power? Or will it offer leadership to give hope, oppose authoritarian abuses and defend human freedom?
bit.ly
November 12, 2025 at 11:51 AM
On how Catholic leaders and communities around the world have confronted autocratic regimes and defended democratic freedoms, with lessons for faithful action in the US today. @horizonsprjt.bsky.social bit.ly/4hSOqDk
Structure tests assess our readiness, capacity, and positioning to maintain unity, discipline, and strategic focus under pressure while effectively leveraging power against opponents. open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
Testing the Waters
Just Where Are We In the Process of Building the Movement We Need?
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Structure tests assess our readiness, capacity, and positioning to maintain unity, discipline, and strategic focus under pressure while effectively leveraging power against opponents. open.substack.com/pub/antiauth...
The shutdown fight revealed that when tested, Democratic leadership chose the path of least resistance over using leverage to win.
Authoritarians don’t stop because you’re reasonable. They stop when you make the cost of continuing too high. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/yes-this-w...
Authoritarians don’t stop because you’re reasonable. They stop when you make the cost of continuing too high. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/yes-this-w...
Yes, This Was a Betrayal
Democrats Are Bringing Facts to a Fight For Power
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The shutdown fight revealed that when tested, Democratic leadership chose the path of least resistance over using leverage to win.
Authoritarians don’t stop because you’re reasonable. They stop when you make the cost of continuing too high. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/yes-this-w...
Authoritarians don’t stop because you’re reasonable. They stop when you make the cost of continuing too high. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/yes-this-w...
With millions at risk of losing access to healthcare, this moment calls for true leadership. The disability justice movement is that leadership - surviving authoritarianism is about care, solidarity, and building the world we want to see. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/surviving-...
Lessons from the U.S. Disability Justice Movement
Surviving Repression Through Mutual Aid and Solidarity
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:33 PM
With millions at risk of losing access to healthcare, this moment calls for true leadership. The disability justice movement is that leadership - surviving authoritarianism is about care, solidarity, and building the world we want to see. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/surviving-...
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
‘We Ain’t Buying It’ is a nationwide economic pressure campaign taking action against corporations that have colluded with this administration.
Read our full release: blackvotersmatterfund.org/black-voters...
Read our full release: blackvotersmatterfund.org/black-voters...
BLACK VOTERS MATTER, INDIVISIBLE AND UNTIL FREEDOM LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO PUT ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON CORPORATIONS TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM — Black Voters Matter
‘We Ain't Buying It’ joins a growing, powerful collective of groups and individuals, including the Working Families Party and 50501, demanding corporations stand for democracy and DEI by hitting them ...
blackvotersmatterfund.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
‘We Ain’t Buying It’ is a nationwide economic pressure campaign taking action against corporations that have colluded with this administration.
Read our full release: blackvotersmatterfund.org/black-voters...
Read our full release: blackvotersmatterfund.org/black-voters...
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
I took inventory. It looked good.
In 2025 We Showed Up: Notes on Resistance to the Regime
Ayoung white woman in yoga clothes berating masked ICE agents in a parking lot this spring. A pope speaking up again and again for immigrants. Furious judges dressing down the Trump administration and...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I took inventory. It looked good.
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
“The traditional playbook…is part of the machinery that led to this moment. Siembra’s approach works outside those channels, building power through direct action & hyperlocal community building that doesn’t depend on institutions…”
@writingthings.bsky.social
indyweek.com/news/inside-...
@writingthings.bsky.social
indyweek.com/news/inside-...
Inside the Movement to Teach ICE Defense to N.C. Business Owners
From coffee shops to electrical contractors, local businesses are getting crash courses in constitutional law to prepare for potential encounters with federal agents.
indyweek.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:54 PM
“The traditional playbook…is part of the machinery that led to this moment. Siembra’s approach works outside those channels, building power through direct action & hyperlocal community building that doesn’t depend on institutions…”
@writingthings.bsky.social
indyweek.com/news/inside-...
@writingthings.bsky.social
indyweek.com/news/inside-...
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
“We have to be building political homes while also doing the door-knocking and organizing that builds power and changes lives. The duality of that work can be hard to hold.”
An interview with activist and scholar Cathy J. Cohen:
An interview with activist and scholar Cathy J. Cohen:
Building a Political Home - Boston Review
Activist and scholar Cathy J. Cohen on winning power in the midst of a “generational war.”
www.bostonreview.net
October 7, 2025 at 11:52 PM
“We have to be building political homes while also doing the door-knocking and organizing that builds power and changes lives. The duality of that work can be hard to hold.”
An interview with activist and scholar Cathy J. Cohen:
An interview with activist and scholar Cathy J. Cohen:
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."
In Chicago, We Run Toward Danger Together
"Faced with unrelenting state violence, Chicagoans have refused to be cowed," says Mariame Kaba.
organizingmythoughts.org
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
"Students and professors at over 100 universities across the United States on Friday joined protests against [..] Trump's sweeping assault on higher education."
"We're building a movement of students, faculty, and campus workers to demand our colleges do not comply."
#USA #Protest #Education
"We're building a movement of students, faculty, and campus workers to demand our colleges do not comply."
#USA #Protest #Education
Protesters at 100+ Campuses Tell Trump 'Hands Off Higher Ed!'
Students and professors nationwide rose up against Trump's assault on higher education, including his compact for federal funding.
www.commondreams.org
November 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
"Students and professors at over 100 universities across the United States on Friday joined protests against [..] Trump's sweeping assault on higher education."
"We're building a movement of students, faculty, and campus workers to demand our colleges do not comply."
#USA #Protest #Education
"We're building a movement of students, faculty, and campus workers to demand our colleges do not comply."
#USA #Protest #Education
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
For people who are interested in and working to develop abolitionist interventions and groups to help keep each other safe, we have a new resource that aims to help demystify a few things about how we create these organizations and formations, and how we sustain them.
Read it here:
Read it here:
Loving and Protecting Us — Interrupting Criminalization
A resource for people interested in and working to develop abolitionist crisis response rooted in transformative justice. This offering aims to help demystify a few things about how we develop, think ...
www.interruptingcriminalization.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:02 PM
For people who are interested in and working to develop abolitionist interventions and groups to help keep each other safe, we have a new resource that aims to help demystify a few things about how we create these organizations and formations, and how we sustain them.
Read it here:
Read it here:
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
“woke” is when you acknowledge that black people have contributed to the united states
Two panels commemorating the contribution of Black American soldiers towards the liberation of the Netherlands in World War Two have been quietly removed from a cemetery in Limburg. It follows a complaint by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
November 8, 2025 at 9:01 PM
“woke” is when you acknowledge that black people have contributed to the united states
Authoritarian consolidation can move quickly. People power can stop it. A lesson from Poland is that we keep going.
Keep going
A story of resilience from Poland
buff.ly
November 8, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Authoritarian consolidation can move quickly. People power can stop it. A lesson from Poland is that we keep going.
Authoritarian movements succeed because they connect immediate tactical wins to long-term cultural transformation.
We need the same strategic coherence for democracy.
We need the same strategic coherence for democracy.
November 6, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Authoritarian movements succeed because they connect immediate tactical wins to long-term cultural transformation.
We need the same strategic coherence for democracy.
We need the same strategic coherence for democracy.
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
This #VeteransDay, women veterans and allies rise together: NO cuts to care, NO ICE attacks, NO military in our streets. When our communities are under attack, we must unite for justice. Find a protest: vetssayno.org #VetsSayNo #NoCutsNoOccupation
November 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
This #VeteransDay, women veterans and allies rise together: NO cuts to care, NO ICE attacks, NO military in our streets. When our communities are under attack, we must unite for justice. Find a protest: vetssayno.org #VetsSayNo #NoCutsNoOccupation
Turn tactical wins into cultural transformation. Turn cultural transformation into structural infrastructure. Turn structural infrastructure into anti-authoritarian power.
Every campaign is a democracy lab. Today is a day for organizing.
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/connecting...
Every campaign is a democracy lab. Today is a day for organizing.
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/connecting...
Connecting Tactical Organizing to Democratic Infrastructure
A Counter-Strategy to Authoritarianism
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Turn tactical wins into cultural transformation. Turn cultural transformation into structural infrastructure. Turn structural infrastructure into anti-authoritarian power.
Every campaign is a democracy lab. Today is a day for organizing.
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/connecting...
Every campaign is a democracy lab. Today is a day for organizing.
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/connecting...
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
Trump and his allies have mused about invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to some US cities. Despite what he has said, it doesn’t give him unconstrained, dictatorial powers. @amandacarpenter.bsky.social and @rlullo.bsky.social cover the facts: https://protdem.org/4hIaYqt
November 5, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Trump and his allies have mused about invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to some US cities. Despite what he has said, it doesn’t give him unconstrained, dictatorial powers. @amandacarpenter.bsky.social and @rlullo.bsky.social cover the facts: https://protdem.org/4hIaYqt
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
7 million people, the largest single-day protest in American history.
This isn’t “anti-American” dissent. Protesters reclaimed patriotism from authoritarians who think it means loyalty to a king.
This is the people power the law should defend.
jacobin.com/2025/10/trum...
This isn’t “anti-American” dissent. Protesters reclaimed patriotism from authoritarians who think it means loyalty to a king.
This is the people power the law should defend.
jacobin.com/2025/10/trum...
Patriotism Against Authoritarianism
Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies featured millions of Americans claiming patriotic imagery against authoritarianism and toward progressive ends. That’s a good thing.
jacobin.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:00 PM
7 million people, the largest single-day protest in American history.
This isn’t “anti-American” dissent. Protesters reclaimed patriotism from authoritarians who think it means loyalty to a king.
This is the people power the law should defend.
jacobin.com/2025/10/trum...
This isn’t “anti-American” dissent. Protesters reclaimed patriotism from authoritarians who think it means loyalty to a king.
This is the people power the law should defend.
jacobin.com/2025/10/trum...
Faith leaders and institutions can be key pillars of support for authoritarianism. When people defect from these pillars, their actions are powerful support for democracy.
"We have rarely witnessed such brutality erupt into public view like it has in Chicago. For me, this is a spiritual emergency, and it means putting our bodies on the line in order to stop deportations," writes @revdrmichaelwoolf.bsky.social
I’m One of the Clergy ICE Assaulted. They Treat Immigrants Worse
I learned the hard way that my clerical collar doesn’t offer much protection from ICE. But immigrants have no protection at all.
sojo.net
November 4, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Faith leaders and institutions can be key pillars of support for authoritarianism. When people defect from these pillars, their actions are powerful support for democracy.
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
See how Project 2025 is affecting rural America this week. Subscribe free!
—Trump's policies hit hard in rural Iowa
—Report: Federal cuts threaten rural progress in Wisconsin
—Under Trump, a lifeline for young women in rural Virginia fights to survive
—Trump's policies hit hard in rural Iowa
—Report: Federal cuts threaten rural progress in Wisconsin
—Under Trump, a lifeline for young women in rural Virginia fights to survive
Project 2025 Weekly Rural News Clips, Nov. 3, 2025
Trump's policies hit hard in rural Iowa; Report: Federal cuts threaten rural progress in Wisconsin; Under Trump, a lifeline for young women in rural Virginia fights to survive
ruralorganizing.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:41 AM
See how Project 2025 is affecting rural America this week. Subscribe free!
—Trump's policies hit hard in rural Iowa
—Report: Federal cuts threaten rural progress in Wisconsin
—Under Trump, a lifeline for young women in rural Virginia fights to survive
—Trump's policies hit hard in rural Iowa
—Report: Federal cuts threaten rural progress in Wisconsin
—Under Trump, a lifeline for young women in rural Virginia fights to survive
The fight against authoritarianism IS the fight for economic justice, racial equity, gender liberation, and environmental survival.
Democracy as Infrastructure
A Call to Action for Progressive Leaders
open.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM
The fight against authoritarianism IS the fight for economic justice, racial equity, gender liberation, and environmental survival.
Reposted by The 22nd Century Initiative
From chasing ICE cars out of town w/bullhorns to setting up security to providing know-your-rights info, to reclaiming public space, and refusing to live in fear, the members of Grupo Auto Defensa are defending community when no one else will.
inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
A Blueprint on How To Fight Against Ice Includes Community
These ‘neighbors from the hood’ saw ICE terrorizing their community—and banded together to fight back.
inthesetimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:25 PM
From chasing ICE cars out of town w/bullhorns to setting up security to providing know-your-rights info, to reclaiming public space, and refusing to live in fear, the members of Grupo Auto Defensa are defending community when no one else will.
inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
#MutualAid is about undermining systems of oppression, weakening authoritarian control, and building power from below.
Mutual Aid
From Surviving to Thriving
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:05 PM
#MutualAid is about undermining systems of oppression, weakening authoritarian control, and building power from below.
Make every campaign a democracy lab. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/connecting...
Connecting Tactical Organizing to Democratic Infrastructure
A Counter-Strategy to Authoritarianism
antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Make every campaign a democracy lab. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/connecting...