Dear ROPnet,
Welp…here we go. Ballots dropped this week, and somehow, seeing them hit mailboxes makes what we’re facing in the coming weeks even more real. Are you feeling the fear and anxiety stirred up by this moment in our political history? We know we are. Alongside the fear, there has also been so much energy and unprecedented voter engagement in support of democracy and to stop rising authoritarianism–an energy we want to engage and move into the long-haul organizing that will create the depth of changes our communities actually need.
We don’t know exactly what’s coming after the election, but we’ve been running scenarios with the ROP network of Human Dignity Groups to plan for an array of outcomes as best we can. Regardless of what happens, we will need to gather with our people locally and statewide to assess our situation, take a collective breath, and determine how to move next.
For these reasons and more, we’ve gathered some of our wisest ROP elders and movement friends, Suzanne Pharr, Scot Nakagawa, and Mab Segrest, for Meeting the Moment: A Post-Election Gathering on November 7th from 6-7:30 PM. You can register to join us on Zoom here. Suzanne, Scot, and Mab each bring decades of experience tracking and organizing in response to the Far Right and growing authoritarianism.
Suzanne Pharr is an organizer and political strategist who has spent her adult life working to build a broad-based, multi-racial, multi-issued movement for social and economic justice in the United States. At the center of her every effort is the question, “How can we make it possible for everyone to live as a whole person, to have self-determination, to be treated with dignity and respect, and to have access to material necessities as well as joy?” Scot Nakagawa is a 42-year veteran of social and economic justice advocacy and has served as an organizer, political strategist, and social movement analyst in the struggle against authoritarianism and for equitable and inclusive democracy since 1988. He is the current Director of the 22nd Century Initiative, a national action and strategy hub supporting efforts to defeat authoritarianism and build democracy. Mab Segrest is a writer, activist, and teacher. Mab’s book Memoir of a Race Traitor is a landmark work of white anti-racist activism. Mab’s work spans 40 years and profound cultural shifts, the resolution of which still hangs in perilous balance.
In our last ROPnet, we shared ROP’s history and how our founder, Marcy, and leaders from the women’s anti-violence movement and the No on 9 campaign traveled the state to help form the original 30 Human Dignity Groups. Among those leaders were Suzanne and Scot, who have been helping ROP strategize to meet the political moment for the past 32 years. You can hear more about this history and strategies to respond to growing authoritarianism when Scot interviews Suzanne on the first episode of the Anti-Authoritarian Podcast.
In the past three decades, the ROP network has shown that we will work together to keep each other safe. We will work together to protect what we have. And we will work together to build what we need. We would love to see you on November 7th to figure out what that looks like post-election. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to ROP for support around voter intimidation, political violence, or (in better news) bringing newly active folks into your human dignity group!
Warmly,
Hannah and the ROP Team
