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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 7:31:53 GMT -5
Consider for a moment what must be going on in the mind of an 'American' who makes a conscious decision to show up near a polling place, not to vote but to intimidate people who are there to vote. "Colorado electioneering law prohibits both voters and campaign staff from advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate or ballot measure inside polling places and within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place."
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 7:35:19 GMT -5
Another review of voter suppression tactics These tactics have been reviewed in numerous posts on this message board. It is still worth noting more widespread contemporary coverage of this challenge to democracy as awareness of it goes mainstream. The challenge will have to be communicated in many different ways before the vast majority of Americans can come to terms with it.
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 8:02:38 GMT -5
The unabashedly bold negation of democracy in Texas is clear for all the world to see. They will win this rather perverse battle, but they are sure to lose the war. Perhaps not in Texas, at least not in 2020, but certainly in the future. As with most Americans, as more Texans come to know this history of undemocratic tactics, they will reject it in droves at the ballot box.
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 11:59:43 GMT -5
Since America's civil war, we have never seen such a large number of people willing to throw our democracy out the window and defy the will of the majority of voters in the general election, even if it is a landslide. We cannot take anything for granted. Prepare to PROTECT THE RESULTS! Indivisible and Stand Up America are announcing that more than 80 advocacy groups and grassroots organizations have joined Protect the Results, a coalition building a system to mobilize millions of Americans should Donald Trump contest the election results, refuse to concede after losing, or claim victory before all the votes are counted. The new partners join Indivisible and Stand Up America in educating the public about the threat Trump poses to the peaceful transition of power and preparing to mobilize millions of their members to take action.
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 12:04:29 GMT -5
ORGANIZING TO PROTECT THE RESULTS OF THE 2020 ELECTION building a coalition of voters ready to mobilize if Donald Trump refuses to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election FIND AN EVENT NEAR YOU
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 12:20:23 GMT -5
Now this is what I am talkin' about. Domestic heroism defeats domestic terrorism! Let's start widely celebrating the failure of voter suppression where ever and whenever we can record such victories.
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 13, 2020 12:41:16 GMT -5
Election Defenders! Training SeriesTuesday, October 13, 7:30pm EDT With the stakes being as high as they are, voter suppression already more rampant than ever, and the nationalist right emboldened by conspiracy theorists, we can’t depend on anyone else ensuring people are able to vote freely and safely. Election Defenders will be working to provide safe supports for voting (such as PPE and water), and election and voter defense, de-escalating right-wing intimidation tactics and signaling to a network of groups and lawyers if and where trouble breaks out. Can't make this proposed time? Sign up anyway so we can send you a recording of the training. These trainings will cover different areas each week so we are asking everyone to attend all four trainings or email to request a video of training. Poll Monitoring Bystander Training De-escalation Direct Action 101 Combating Disinformation
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 18, 2020 10:17:06 GMT -5
In Swing States, Officials Struggle To Process Ballots Early Due To Strict Local LawsStates have rapidly expanded voting options to respond to the pandemic, says Auburn University's Hale, but their legislatures haven't kept up in these cases. "Every state's laws about all of the different pieces of the [elections] process, they all hang together," Hale said. "And so changing one piece usually means that changes need to be made to other pieces, to have the system work the way it was intended."
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 18, 2020 16:48:05 GMT -5
Choose Democracy We are a crew of organizers, activists, trainers, academics, and concerned citizens preparing for the scenario of a coup in 2020. We’re building Choose Democracy as a short term platform, not an organization that lasts beyond this moment. We focus on “What if there’s a coup?” so other groups can keep their focus on other important efforts: voter outreach, preventing voter disenfranchisement, defending vote-by-mail, and making things better whoever wins. We offer the pledge, training, handbooks and resources on how efforts can succeed to stop a coup. A group of election experts ran multiple scenarios on possible disrupted Presidential elections. Their conclusion? “A show of numbers in the streets — and actions in the streets — may be decisive factors.”
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 18, 2020 16:50:24 GMT -5
PREPARING FOR A NOVEMBER SURPRISEAs the country prepares for a momentous election, now is a good time for movement leaders, scholars, lawyers, and analysts to come together and start planning for any November challenges—including extra-constitutional ones—and prepare for the long, hard work of healing the country in the election’s aftermath. Maria J. Stephan is the co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict and co-editor of Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback? Erica Chenoweth is the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Candace Rondeaux is a Professor of Practice in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University and a Senior Fellow with the Center on the Future of War, a joint initiative of ASU and New America. Follow them on Twitter: @mariajstephan, @candacerondeaux, @ericachenoweth.
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 18, 2020 16:57:56 GMT -5
Mass direct action might be the only way to stop Trump from stealing the election (George Lakey, August 27, 2020) The more quickly we nonviolently disrupt Trump’s plans — at scale — the less longer-term disruption to our country and our lives. “Authoritarian rulers fear peaceful resistance above all else.” Moralism sometimes blocks the ordinary human process of figuring out “what works.” George Lakey has been active in direct action campaigns for over six decades. Recently retired from Swarthmore College, he was first arrested in the civil rights movement and most recently in the climate justice movement. He has facilitated 1,500 workshops on five continents and led activist projects on local, national and international levels. His 10 books and many articles reflect his social research into change on community and societal levels. His newest books are “Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians got it right and how we can, too” (2016) and “How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning” (2018.)
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 18, 2020 17:04:39 GMT -5
Civil Resistance Against Coups: A Comparative and Historical Perspective (Stephen Zunes, December 2017) Nations are not helpless if the military decides to stage a coup. On dozens of occasions in recent decades, even in the face of intimidated political leaders and international indifference, civil society has risen up to challenge putschists through large-scale nonviolent direct action and noncooperation. How can an unarmed citizenry mobilize so quickly and defeat a powerful military committed to seizing control of the government? What accounts for the success or failure of nonviolent resistance movements to reverse coups and consolidate democratic gains? This monograph presents in-depth case studies and analysis intended to improve our understanding of the strategic utility of civil resistance against military takeovers; the nature of civil resistance mobilization against coups; and the role of civil resistance against coups in countries’ subsequent democratization efforts (or failure thereof). It offers key lessons for pro-democracy activists and societies vulnerable to military usurpation of power; national civilian and military bureaucracies; external state and non-state agencies supportive of democracy; and future scholarship on this subject. Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he serves as coordinator of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. He also currently serves as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, a contributing editor of Tikkun, and as an academic advisor for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. He is the author of scores of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, strategic nonviolent action, international terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, and human rights. He is the principal editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University Press, 2010). Watch the Webinar Recording of “How Can Civil Resistance Work Against Violent Coups,” by Stephen Zunes, offered by the ICNC Webinar Series on December 7, 2017, on the occasion of the release of this monograph.
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Post by Gary Riccio on Oct 24, 2020 7:15:59 GMT -5
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Post by Gary Riccio on Nov 6, 2020 7:34:56 GMT -5
Many were connecting the dots in Trump's attacks on the USPS and mail-in voting at least as far back as July. It is sad how predictable his strategy to undermine the most fundamental processes of our democracy has been. See, e.g., this story in Reuters on July 23, 2020 that we posted back then. Even more ridiculous than the glaring irrationality of Trump's rantings and civic disregard in an ignoble speech to the nation last night is that the whole strategy was utterly predictable over four months ago. Bottom line: We were prepared.
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