Mark Engler is a writer based in Philadelphia and an editorial board member at Dissent. Paul Engler is founding director of the Center for the Working Poor, in Los Angeles, and a co-founder of the Momentum Training. They are co-authors of This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century (Nation Books), and they can be reached via the website www.democracyuprising.com.
Feature
Democrats Hold Trifecta Power in Over a Dozen States. Will They Actually Use It?
Republicans have used legislative majorities at the state level to undermine their opposition, but the Democratic Party has often failed to fight back. This is a chance to change that.
Viewpoint
Lessons From the U.S. Left on Taking Power Vs. Organizing on the Outside
As social movements move beyond the default anarchist sensibility that prevailed through Occupy, they must still reckon with hard questions about bureaucracy and cooptation.
How to Fight Mass Incarceration and Win
Criminal justice reform advocates in Los Angeles have amassed some impressive victories—laying out a model for reducing incarceration and providing care.
Feature
What If America Had Six Political Parties?
Understanding the warring factions within the Democratic and Republican Party coalitions is critical for progressives who want to build power.
Interview
What U.S. Organizers Can Learn From Brazil's Landless Workers Movement
In an interview, Rebecca Tarlau explains that 40 years of struggle by Brazil's landless workers movement offers lessons on engaging the system without being co-opted.
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What Happens After Movement-Backed Politicians Take Office
As the “co-governance” model gains traction, here’s a look into the promises and pitfalls—and how organizers are reimagining electoral politics.
Viewpoint
Disrupt or Anchor the Democratic Party? Why Not Both?
Political scientists Frances Fox Piven and Daniel Schlozman offer key perspectives on whether movements should put pressure on political parties from the outside, or focus on gaining insider power themselves.
Viewpoint
Joe Biden’s Progressive Economic Turn Was Shaped By Social Movements
Years of grassroots organizing helped create the conditions for Biden to embrace bold policies on government spending.
Viewpoint
Why the Left Sees an Opening for a ‘Realignment’ in U.S. Politics
Left-wing groups such as the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats are reviving the old idea of realignment, with hopes of provoking new political transformations.
Viewpoint
Joe Biden Should Be Made to Fear Social Movements
History shows that politicians fear the disruptive power of a mobilized base, even when it helps them succeed.
Feature
The Immigrant Rights and Climate Justice Movements are Impractical—And That’s a Good Thing
Now what we need, more than ever, are social movements that challenge the notion of what is possible
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The Recipe For A Successful Protest Movement
It's much more than a sheer numbers game: movements need a combination of mass disruption and sacrifice in order to take off.
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Reagan and Gorbachev Didn’t Tear Down the Berlin Wall
Don't be fooled by the mainstream narrative: The 1989 revolutions weren't just byproducts of extraordinary historical circumstances. Change happens when activists seize a moment and escalate.
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Lessons for Today’s Social Movements from Gandhi’s Salt March
At the time of Mohandas Gandhi's salt satyagraha, he was accused of a major strategic blunder. But the action was actually hugely successful—and offers lessons for movements today.
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How To Duplicate the Sweeping Victory of Gay Marriage
Other social movements can use a similar 'civil resistance' strategy.
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Should We Fight the System or Be the Change?
The strengths and weaknesses of prefigurative politics.
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Rethinking ‘Rules for Radicals’
In 2014, would Saul Alinsky himself even be playing by the book?
Feature
Before King Was Pacifist
MLK's embrace of nonviolent protest was the result of a complex moral evolution.