Reintroducing The Public Eye!

After a brief hiatus, The Public Eye is back with a new issue.

With the theme, “Democracy Under Attack—And How We Fight Back,” this Fall 2023/Winter 2024 double issue of The Public Eye examines antidemocratic forces on the Right and pro-democracy efforts to counter them. Our contributors share insights from movements that are anticipating and contending with threats from the Right while building a more inclusive and just multiracial feminist democracy.

From Project 2025—an “unprecedented collaboration” among former Trump officials and the Right’s legal and political infrastructure that seeks to aggressively “take the reins of government”—to the capture of local counties by far-right militia and sheriffs and the War on Terror’s ongoing legacy of injustice, this issue takes a broad look at the high stakes of organized attacks on democratic government, politics, and culture. In direct contrast, the issue also explores how activists maintained and defended abortion access in local communities subjected to the structural violence of the New Right from the 1970s to 2000s, interventions to disrupt racialized terrorism frameworks, and abolitionist organizers' clear-eyed assessment of the challenges of confronting right-wing violence while building the just world we need now.

Between issues of The Public Eye, PRA publishes regularly online at politicalresearch.org and religiondispatches.org. We hope you’ll visit us often.

Kitana Ananda

Editor

In this Issue

Project 2025: How Trump Loyalists and Right-Wing Leaders Are Paving a Fast Road to Fascism by Peter Montgomery: Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation coalition launched in 2022, aims to "take the reins of government" during a Republican presidency, and further its authoritarian agenda.

County Capture: The Role of Militias in County Governments in Central and Southside Virginia by Priya Dixit and Carolyn Gallaher: Local militias in counties in Virginia are working to undermine democracy at a county level, sometimes working with local governments and law enforcement to enforce their authority.

Review: The Age of Insurrection by Shane Burley: Read the review of David Neiwert's book, The Age of Insurrection, where he explores how various Far Right actions culminated in the January 6 insurrection.

When the Sheriff Is Above the Law: The Rise of the Far Right in Western New York by Raina Lipsitz: Local sheriffs and government officials have ties to a small but active Far Right in Erie County. As the county becomes more multiracial, far-right groups continue to grow and organize locally.

Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Author Q&A with Dr. Maha Hilal by Habiba Farh: Dr. Maha Hilal discusses the pervasive and ongoing effects of the War on Terror, and the dehumanization of Muslims across the globe. 

Countering the Ideology of “Violent Care”: Lessons from Bay Area Radical Abortion Defense by Angela Hume: Abortion defenders and activists showed Angela Hume the inherent contradiction in the anti-abortion movement: it purports to protect women while actively harming them.

Practicing Emergent Strategies to Fight the Right and Resist Fascism by Andrea Ritchie: An excerpt from Andrea Ritchie's new book, Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies.

Author Q&A with Andrea J. Ritchie: Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies by Kitana Ananda: PRA talks to Andrea J. Ritchie about her new book Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies, and how emergent strategies can help us resist the Far Right.

From our Cover Artist, Zoe Newton

"This issue of The Public Eye tells us about both the reality of where we are as a country right now, and how we can fight against the authoritarian forces threatening to take over. For the cover, I wanted to focus more on the latter and center community care and collaboration as the main concepts. The composition shows community members of diverse ages, genders, and races coming together to mend a quilt of the U.S. The quilt serves as a metaphor for the possibility of us coming together as a community to reimagine and rebuild our country. The quilt is unfinished; some states are missing or disconnected, while others are loosely stitched together. It's an imperfect union where the stitches are obvious, the lines aren't straight, and colors bleed over into one another. Many of the states highlight names, symbols, or cultural artifacts from different resistance movements that dreamed of an equitable and just future. This emphasis on reimagining and rebuilding is echoed in my color and design choices, from the bright colors to the crooked lines."

Read more here.

In Case You Missed It Season 2 of Inform Your Resistance released earlier this year! Listen to episodes on what we can expect from the anti-trans movement and how we can combat them, and the impact of the Hindu nationalist movement domestically. Look forward to episodes on male supremacism and more! Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

The Latest from Religion Dispatches

Nikki Haley’s Slavery Omission Typifies the GOP’s Tragic Pact with White Supremacy by Annika Brockschmidt

At a New Hampshire town hall, Nikki Haley drew criticism when she failed to mention slavery as a cause of the Civil War. Annika Brockschmidt writes on how this “gaffe” is in fact representative of the GOP’s slide towards open White supremacy. 

Despite Conflation of Israel with Judaism, Anti-Zionism is More Kosher Than You Think by Seth Sanders

Seth Sanders gives a comprehensive review of anti-Zionism throughout Jewish history, going back as far as 600 BCE up through the present day. 

Lost and Found: Despite the Hope, Morality, and Meaning Inspired by Deconversion, Why is Respect Only For Those Who Find God? by Robert Repino

Conversion stories are often venerated in the media—countless TV shows, movies, and books share inspiring stories of religious conversion. But why don’t we have the same love for deconversion stories?

Speaker Mike Johnson to Allow Privately Run National Prayer Breakfast into the Heart of the Capitol by Jonathan Larsen

In past years, the annual National Prayer Breakfast was held at a hotel in Washington, DC. This year, under Speaker Mike Johnson, it took place in the heart of the Capitol. 

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