2024 US Election: Where to Next?

Introduction

A round up of some of the best articles and guides to help you process the 2024 US election outcome, consider options for moving forward, work with others, and take strategic action. If you have a resource you’d like us to include on this page contact the Commons Librarians.

Resources

Reflections & Insights

A New Wave of Movements Against Trumpism is Coming, Mark Engler and Paul Engler
Translate outrage over Trump’s agenda into action toward a truly transformational vision.

How we can meet the challenges of authoritarianism, Maria J Stephan, Waging Nonviolence
This is not our first rodeo with authoritarianism. Americans have collectively risen to seemingly impossible challenges in the past, and we can do so again.

‘The writing was on the wall’, Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Leah Wright Rigueur, Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
Five insights on race, class, and gender in the 2024 presidential election.

What Trump’s Re-Election Means for Democracy: A Call for Transformation, Not Just Defense, Duncan Autrey, Omni-Win Project
As Trump returns to power, we face more than two choices. We can defend a broken status quo or dismantle it. We can also transform it into something stronger.

On the Paradox of Democracy, Transformation, and Accepting the Darkness Ahead, Ned Howey, Tectonica

We cannot assume democracy’s value is seen, we cannot demand faith in it, and we certainly cannot market and message our way back to belief in democracy. We can only rebuild democracy by practicing it. – Ned Howey

How to hope even now: On a dark day for democracy, the wisdom of Rebecca Solnit, Anand Giridharadas

The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love. – Rebecca Solnit

A Reckoning for the Pro-Democracy Community, Stanford Social Innovation Review
In the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election, four recommendations for leaders dedicated to reconstituting and strengthening democracy in the United States.

What have you read that helps you understand the 2024 Election? Convened by Eli Pariser
A crowdsourced list with many articles and reports.

Holding Space & Grieving

What next? Activists on how to move past the grief of defeat. How to take care of your mental health and regain a sense of purpose after the election, Heather Kelly, The Washington Post

Election Grief Is Real. Here’s How to Cope, Scientific American

‘Don’t burn out’: nine activists and therapists on coping with post-election overwhelm, The Guardian
How activists and therapists across the US are dealing with the news of Trump’s win and how they plan to take action.

“Worth Fighting For” Community Gatherings Facilitator’s Toolkit
This guide offers a structure for how to hold a space for yourself and fellow activists to process, strengthen community, and begin to ready ourselves for the future.

Grieve, Connect, Act, Reflect, Correct. (Repeat), Deepa Iyer
Offerings based on the Social Change Ecosystem Map

Preparing

What if Trump (or Harris) wins? What will you do? Daniel Hunter, Choose Democracy
A book and a “pick-your-own-pathway” activity for individuals and groups. Even though the election outcome is now known, these materials are still valuable for working through different strategies and their potential consequences.

20 Books to Help Prepare for Trump 2.0, The Good Men Project
Whether primers on environmental activism or a series on resisting autocrats, these books offer a chance to study up for the bumpy years ahead.

Training Agendas for a Trump Era, Choose Democracy
Workshop plans and slide decks for a range of training including:

• Strategic Escalation in a Trump Era
• Sense-making and Vision: how did we get here?
• Action Security and De-escalation
• How to talk with people you might disagree with
• Mutual Aid 101
• Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence

On Understanding Authoritarianism: Resources From Experts In The Democracy Reform Field, Scott Nakagawa
Anti-authoritarians need to get into field-building mode, investing in skills and resources necessary to create a strategically aligned and effective field of resistance to repression, violence, and the corruption of democratic institutions. Here is a curated list of essential resources on authoritarianism created by experts in the field.

Authoritarianism: How You Know It When You See It, Horizons Project
Understand the key attributes of authoritarian systems, how authoritarians wield power, and ways to counter it.

Taking Action

10 Ways to be Prepared and Grounded now Trump has Won, Daniel Hunter
The key to taking effective action in a Trump world is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation. Listen to Podcast.

Fear breeds distance. We have to consciously break that distance. In Chile they organized under the guise of affinity groups. This was, as its name suggests, people who shared some connections and trust. Finding just a few people who you trust to regularly act with and touch base with is central… Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. – Daniel Hunter

Pro-Democracy Organizing against Autocracy in the United States: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations, Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks
This 2022 study explores nonviolent resistance strategies that could be relevant for protecting local communities and groups under a hypothetical authoritarian administration. The study delves into the next phase of pro-democracy struggle and recommends a four-pronged strategy that can ensure ongoing, effective pro democratic mobilization even if a nationwide authoritarian transition takes place.

Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence, Hardy Merriman, 22nd Century Initiative andHorizons Project
The HOPE guide is designed to help people counter political violence. It aims to empower individuals and strengthen communities to make political violence backfire against those who incite, threaten, and enact it.

Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy, Hardy Merriman, Ankur Asthana, Kifah Shah, Marium Navid
Learn what “red lines” needed to be held during elections, step-by-step information for organizing in your community, and lessons from the field of civil resistance that can be applied to make change on a range of issues.

Farmworkers Are Organizing to Resist Trump’s Attacks on Immigrant Workers: Organizers from Florida, Vermont and Washington discuss the rising exploitation and rollback of protections ahead, Derek Seidman, TruthOut

This is a difficult moment, but it also opens up the possibility of new organizing strategies and new energies. People’s lives are at risk, and we need to fight even harder on all levels — on the policy front, in the streets and in the workplace. Trump won a lot of the working-class vote, but we know he won’t deliver for workers. We need to push for things like rent control and child care and a higher minimum wage. We shouldn’t be watering down our demands now. We should be even bolder. There are different ways of participating in democracy that go beyond voting, whether that be workplace organizing, marching and protesting, or community assemblies. – Derek Seidman

Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, Erica Chenoweth
Overview of civil resistance movements around the world that explains what they are, how they work, why they are often effective, and why they can fail.

Resistance Guide: How to Sustain the Movement to Win, Paul Engler, Sophie Lasoff
Written during the last Trump presidency, this guide draws from decades of experience in social movements to equip you with the essential tools and strategies to shift public opinion, change laws and decisions, and elect new leaders. Resistance Guide is an essential road map for anyone who wants to understand how movements succeed and how we can use this knowledge to fight for a better America.

Recommendations for Anti-Authoritarian Resistance, Scott Nakagawa, Anti-Authoritarian Playbook
We Must Adapt, Not Assimilate

Defending Democracy with Humor and Dilemma Actions Tactics, Democracy Resource Hub
Explore how humor and dilemma actions empower pro-democracy movements by exposing authoritarian absurdities and fostering community resilience.

Support, Solidarity and Community Care

Mapping Community Ecosystems of Collective Care Toolkit, Interrupting Criminalization

As communities face increased policing, criminalization, and organized abandonment; mounting state violence, repression, and authoritarianism; escalating white supremacist, homophobic, and transphobic violence; and climate collapse, building skilled, coordinated, expansive, and robust ecosystems of collective care is only becoming more and more essential to our collective survival. – Shannon Perez-Darby and Andrea J. Ritchie

We must fund grassroot feminist groups to withstand Trump setback, Jess Tomlin, Context

Lessons from Solidarity Networks in Chile for Today’s Anti-Authoritarian Organizers, Scott Nakagawa, The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook

Examples of How Democracy has been Protected Before

Serbia – Overcoming Despair and Apathy to Win Democracy, George Lakey, Ivan Marovic
Lessons on movement building from one of the founders of the Serbian student movement that brought down dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

Brazil – The Fall of Bolsonaro: How Brazil’s Civil Society Mobilized to Protect Democracy, Scott Nakagawa
Tactics, strategies and lessons learned in the fight against authoritarianism in Brazil.

Brazil’s response to Bolsonaro’s authoritarianism underscores that defending democracy is a collective effort. Lula’s victory wasn’t just a win for progressive politics—it was a testament to the resilience of Brazilian civil society and its commitment to democracy. But as the close results remind us, the fight for democracy requires constant vigilance. The movement’s success lies in the power of unity, mobilization, and institutional safeguards—a blueprint for resisting authoritarianism anywhere. – Scott Nakagawa

South Africa – From apartheid to democracy: lessons on defeating authoritarianism from South Africa, George Lakey
Janet Cherry was a student leader in the anti-apartheid movement. Here she discusses the importance of vision, strategy and conviction in the fight for a better future.

Mongolia – Authoritarianism to Democracy: The Story of Mongolia, Daniel Hunter
Learn about the story and the tactics (protests, hunger strikes) that led to Mongolia’s change from authoritarianism to democracy.

You win by using a range of tactics. You escalate so that you keep applying more force on your opposition. You win by ignoring the people who say you can’t win. You organise allies, you sacrifice, and you keep active. – Daniel Hunter

Poland – Poland Shows That Autocracy Is Not Inevitable, The Atlantic
The ruling party tried to use the Polish state to hold on to power, but voters rejected the effort.

India, USA, South Africa, Denmark, Poland and Chile – A Force More Powerful, ICNC Films
A documentary series on one of the 20th century’s most important and least-known stories: how nonviolent power overcame oppression and authoritarian rule. It includes six cases of movements, and each case is approximately 30 minutes long. (India, USA, South Africa, Denmark, Poland and Chile). The film is available to watch in many different languages.

USA, Brazil, Nicaragua – Organizing in Increasingly Repressive Environments: Pushing Against Criminalization, Democracy Resource Hub
With the global rise of authoritarianism, civil society is experiencing an unprecedented crack down. Lessons from organizing against repression in Florida, Brazil, and Nicaragua.

The Checklist to End Tyranny: How Dissidents will Win 21st Century Civil Resistance Campaigns
This book is designed to help opponents of autocratic regimes become more strategic and more skilful in their struggle for democracy.

Explore Further

• Movement Offerings – several US activist training organisations
• Strengthening Democracy: A Democracy Resource Hub Guide
• Power-Building and Nonviolent Action: A Democracy Resource Hub Guide
• Democracy Undone: The Authoritarian’s Playbook
• A Community Guide for Opposing Hate
• Democracy Resource Hub Collection
• Daniel Hunter Collection