A Race to Mobilize the Power of the People with the One Million Rising Movement

In Case You Missed It, the first of the three-part series, One Million Rising, presents a vision for dealing with the authoritarian regime in power.

By Catherine Coleman

As I clicked on the link to attend the Indivisible zoom training on July 16, I was excited. I thought about how my sister and I have attended multiple protests, “Stand Outs” on bridges with our creatively made signs, sent post cards, written letters, and made phone calls, and yet … We have felt no closer to ending this administration’s attacks on our rights and democratic institutions, nor on the cruelty we see being inflicted on our fellow community members. My sister observed, “It seems like all the events and actions are separate, but how do they work together?” I believed that this Zoom meeting was going to help answer this question, and it did.

Indivisible held the first of a 3-part series of online meetings called “One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism” on July 16. The Zoom room filled very quickly to capacity with 20,000 participants from across the country. Since 130,000 registered, many of us watched the livestream on other platforms.

The One Million Rising Project will train and mobilize one million Americans to stand up to the increasingly aggressive attacks on democracy being waged by the current administration. The stated goal is to train folks “in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation, as well as the basics of community organizing and campaign design.”

The One Million Rising Movement is using a train-the-trainer model. All of us on the Zoom call and watching on You Tube (and even those reading this) are potential trainers in our own communities. There is great potential for exponential growth. In fact, that’s the plan.

In Session #1, our hosts covered:

• The Urgency of the Moment: The rise of authoritarianism in the US

• Authoritarianism 101

• An Orientation to Strategic Non-Cooperation

• A Preview of Next Steps & Ways to Get Involved

Three points stood out to me.

1. An Authoritarian Breakthrough

If you are following the news, you know that the United States is facing an onslaught of actions that are authoritarian in nature. From violating due process to deploying the military domestically, we see signs of autocracy every day. None of these is unique to the US or to this moment. As our hosts pointed out, this is happening in many places in the world, and we have allies around the world from whom we can learn. Studies have shown that with a sustained civil resistance movement, there is a far greater chance of preventing an authoritarian take over. The message to me as a participant was we are not doomed! They described our current moment in America as “An Authoritarian Breakthrough” which they defined as “A short window in which a would-be authoritarian regime attempts to consolidate power, eliminate checks on their power, and operate with impunity.” This is where we are now.

2. Sustained Strategic Non-Cooperation to Avoid the Consolidation of Power

Our task is to build a sustained movement. That movement has already started in a myriad of places in a myriad of ways. Our goal is to build this movement by greatly increasing the number of people participating in the resistance, expanding the repertoire of non-violent tactics, and shifting the pillars of support which hold up a regime like this. They talked about six pillars which hold up authoritarian regimes. (See image above.) Regimes crumble when these pillars crack and shift. We need to work to shift the loyalty of key holders of these pillars. Through non-violent strategic action, we can seek to influence these pillars. Pillars can move based on various incentives. For example, consumers can influence business and labor pillars and shift loyalty away from the authoritarian regime.

3. Defiance

In order to effect change and resist authoritarianism, we are going to need action both from within institutions and from without. Working from the outside becomes especially important when institutions are under assault and are being run by the hand-selected leaders from within the regime. This is going to require ongoing mass defiance by both institutions and everyday people. Not allowing the normal course of things to play out; refusing to do what is expected of you; withdrawing your cooperation with illegal, unjust policy. Enough non-compliance will cause the pillars upholding the regime to shift. This is what we need. Rallies and protests are just some acts of non-cooperation.

Our facilitators, Daniel Hunter from Choose Democracy, Maria Stephan from the Horizons Project, and Ashley Woodard Henderson, Co-Executive Director of Highlander Research & Education Center, gave several examples of non-cooperation including the Dodgers refusing to allow ICE in their stadium, ongoing protests against the airlines transporting ICE detainees to foreign prisons, and a successful effort by Naval Academy grads to return removed books by BIPOC to the Naval Academy after they were removed at the demand of the federal government.

So what now? Many of us are exhausted, anxious, or depressed. Those feelings are heightened by isolation. But isolation only helps the regime as people then tend to feel resigned and disengage. To counter the isolation AND train people at the same time, our next step is holding gatherings for the purpose of teaching and strategizing around taking actions of non-cooperation. The organizers asked for 1,000 people in the Zoom meeting to commit to host one gathering over the next few weeks. Before the end of the session, they had over 5000 attendees commit to doing this. They suggested each gathering involve 8-10 people. They’ve created a fantastic tool kit to help train people in non-violent acts of non-cooperation. The next session of this 3 part series is on July 30^th and will focus on using the tool kit. All are welcome to register at this link Register for One Million Rising July 30 Online Event. You can also watch the recorded session of the first session, which I highly recommend.

I walked away from One Million Rising on July 16^th feeling more hopeful than I have in a very long while. Although we are facing one of the most challenging moments in American history, I believe that there are many more of us who want a thriving, free democracy than who want the authoritarian government we have begun to become. We have tools. We have each other. We have a plan! We will not give up because we CANNOT give up. We will choose courage over comfort. We will talk with others and we will engage more of us in these efforts. We can do this. Now is our moment.

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Catherine Coleman is a long time adult educator committed to helping America live up to its ideals of equality and justice for all.