Keep Building, Keep Blocking: Post-Election Resources

On Election Night we’ll see the end of one phase of heroic collective effort—and take a leap into unknown territory. We could likely be facing either (1) another attempt to overturn the election by a coup, which will require collective action to beat back; or (2) the need for mass action to make clear to a white Christian nationalist administration that attempts to implement its program will meet with determined resistance. Convergence has compiled this short list of resources to help navigate the moment. If you have resources to share, you can email [email protected]. We plan to update this list periodically.

Build solidarity and shared understandings

We will need each other more than ever as we do our best to respond strategically in this moment. Several groups and networks have been convening mass calls and will do so the week of the election to help hold feelings, make meaning, and plan next steps:

• The Oct. 30 Mass Call organized by Working Families Party (WFP), Seed the Vote, Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ), and the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is a good starting point. It laid out the post-election MAGA threats and pointed to the work ahead. You can access that call here.
  The next call in their series will take place Thursday, Nov. 7 at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET. You can register here.
  In the wake of the election, the four convening groups invited 200+ other organizations in the broad democratic front to join. More than 140,000 people logged on. You can find the recording, feel the inspiration, and sign on to the call to action at this new site: https://weareworthfightingfor.org.
  • Mass calls continue: Working Families Party will continue to hold calls to ground us in the moment and identify key actions. The next calls are Weds., Nov. 20 at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET and Tues., Dec. 10 at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET. To get the registration link, text “MASS CALL” to 30403.
• M4BL/M4BL Action fund will hold a Black-focused and centered community call Thursday, Nov. 7 at 3pm PT/ 6pm ET. RSVP at M4BLLINK/NOV7  
• Movement Voter Project has a call scheduled Wednesday, Nov. 6 at noon PT/ 3pm PT. They have been following the work of grassroots groups in battleground states closely. Link here.
• SURJ called a mass meeting for white people on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET. Register here.
• Women’s March is convening a healing justice space on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET. Register here.
• United We Dream Action will host “We Create the Moment: Post-Election Debrief” on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET. Register here.

In the weeks to come it will be especially important to get clear on which side people are on. Discussing the post-election moment on the Nov. 1 episode of Block & Build, Convergence Publisher Cayden Mak and Rising Majority Executive Director Loan Tran named the vulnerabilities. If things go badly, blame will fly—most of it directed at the most vulnerable. Immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, Black and Latino people will all catch their share. Centrists will blame progressives—and some on the Left will resort to blaming each other. This makes principled discussion more important than ever, and elevates the need to beware of mis- and disinformation.

Among the many resources to combat disinformation:

• Women’s March has a Digital Defenders program.
• A cohort of immigrant rights organizations led by United We Dream Action has developed “Setting the Record Straight,” messaging guidance “to combat dangerous non-citizen voter fraud disinformation.” 

How we talk about the moment matters:

• ReFrame’s “Signals in the Noise: Election Edition” is taking a weekly scan across the narrative landscape “meant to elevate insights and opportunities.”
• Rising Majority’s Narrative Working Group has put together a comprehensive resource on messaging guidance, which includes links to messaging on specific topics.

We can build solidarity on a practice of care–helping ourselves and our families (in the big sense of the word) metabolize our feelings and stay as clear and grounded as possible. Here are just a few resources that have come to our attention:

• The Frontline Sanctuary: A Community Gathering of Care and Respite, special gathering Nov. 6, 6:30 – 7:45 ET here.
• The.Embodiment.Institute will share a post-election practice with Prentis Hemphill and Oscar Trujillo on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 9am PT/ 12noon ET. You can register here.
• Generative Somatics will host “Coming Together, Coming Apart: Politicized Somatics for Tired AF Organizers,” an online practice on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 9am PT/ 12 noon ET. Register here.
• Choose Democracy’s Daniel Hunter offers “10 Ways To Be Prepared and Grounded Now That Trump Has Won,” at Waging Nonviolence and now here at Convergence.

Blocking MAGA, defending our movements

The work of blocking MAGA will take place in many dimensions, from the polls to the courts, from the streets to the narrative field.

• The Get Ready Task Force is a short-term plan (Oct 22-Nov 19) to share resources, support on-the-ground organizing, communicate useful political analysis, and coordinate efforts across the South. 
• Vision Change Win has prepared a downloadable Electoral Safety Toolkit and is offering rapid response support. They will also be hosting a Post-Election Safety Training on Nov. 19 at 3pm PT/ 6pm ET.
• The Advancement Project, Movement Law Lab, Center for Constitutional Rights, Law 4 Black Lives, Movement 4 Black Lives, Women’s March, and other groups have issued a call for progressive and radical lawyers, legal workers, and law students,  https://lawyersmobilize.org. They “urgently need legal volunteers across the country to support organizations planning mobilizations or other activities by providing pre-mobilization legal consultation and advice;  know your rights information and trainings; assistance navigating law enforcement interactions at the polls or protests; rapid response legal research; and/or legal representation in criminal or civil rights proceedings.”
• Equality Labs has an anti-doxxing guide for activists and organizers. 

Immigrant defense:

Videos from the webinar Fighting Against Mass Raids Operations: Lessons Across Administrations are available now on Mijente’s YouTube account in English and Spanish. 

The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) organized a webinar on Mass Deportation Defense Oct. 16, with participation by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Surveillance Resistance Lab. You can access the recording here. These groups have also been using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to gather information to inform community defense.

• Using a FOIA about ICE home raids, IDP produced the Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrest Toolkit with information about how ICE chooses who to target for home raids, how they identify individuals, and the evolution of arrest tactics they have used since the G.W. Bush administration in addition to strategies for individuals to defend their right to remain in the U.S. in the wake of a raid. IDP’s ICEwatch raids map can be found here.
• The ICE Out of Courts Campaign included publication of reports about the dramatic uptick in ICE arrests in and around courthouses. 
• Tracking ICE raids in New York  formed the basis for a community education about ICE ruses and development of community KYR materials and our “Train-the Trainer” program for community leaders and organizers. 

Thanks to the Surveillance Resistance Lab for sharing this information.

Election protection:

• Grassroots groups that are mobilizing to get out the vote plan to stay mobilized to defend it. Seed the Vote is following its partners’ leads, but plans to have volunteers working on ballot curing in Arizona, Reno and possibly Pennsylvania. 
• Movement Voter Project, which resources such groups, has a full election protection plan. 
• There are also some independent election defense projects, like this one for young voters: https://www.genvote.org/defenders.html 

Direct action/ nonviolent resistance:

• Resistance Hotline – 1-844-NVDA-NOW: The Resistance Hotline is a new take on a 1-800 support line offering training and nonviolent action planning to build a strong resistance movement. Brought to you by Beautiful Trouble and BlackOUT Collective. #ResistanceHotline.
• BlackOUT Collective and the Ruckus Society will hold a Rapid Response Safety Training on November 7th at 5pm PT/8PM ET. For folks looking to learn more about what to do before, during, and after an action to protect their safety and the safety of our communities. Register at bit.ly/protectyanecktraining.
• Time to Act is offering legal and digital rapid response support for individuals, organizations and communities that experience incidents of “intimidation, provocation, surveillance, physical violence, raids, vote or voter suppression.” They also have a Mobilization Toolkit.

Organizing Against a Coup

Many networks have developed trainings and resources aimed at averting a MAGA coup and confronting political violence, among them:

• Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence (HOPE-PV), which is built on backfire principles that turn violence into a disadvantage for perpetrators by imposing social, political, and economic costs. They are hosting a public training on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 2:30PM PT/ 5:30PM ET. You can register here. (For more on HOPE-PV, listen to this episode of the Anti-Authoritarian Podcast.)
• Choose Democracy: https://whatiftrumpwins.org/  offers several downloadable training resources and an interactive tool for individuals as well as links to articles and a book. (For more on their work, check out this episode of Convergence’s Block & Build podcast.) 

If you have resources you’d like to share, please email [email protected]. We will update this list all week. 

Featured image: Solidarity in action: 91 canvassers gathered in front of the offices of Living United for Change in Arizona, ready to hit the doors. Photo courtesy of Seed the Vote.