On May 2, 2022, Politico published a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and thereby reopen the door to abortion bans in the United States. Across the country, activists immediately took to the streets. In this episode, host Jay Ulfelder talks with two of the people at the heart of the DC-area actions about the what, how, and why of their protests, and about the nature and intensity of the backlash they received.

About this week's guests

Rune, they/them, is an activist in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. They are engaged in communities fighting for trans and reproductive rights and continue to educate themself on every intersection in the movement for liberation.

Nadine Seiler, she/her, has fought for countless causes, including the current Palestinian liberation struggle. She is a t-shirt designer and former home organizer who began protesting at the Women's March in 2017 and then continued consistently at the White House from 2018. In 2020, Seiler became a self-appointed curator, guardian, and archivist of the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence at DC's Lafayette Square and has since brought together a team of archivists dedicated to ensuring that it will survive as a collective artifact from those historic racial justice protests. Her efforts and work have been covered by The Washington Post, DigDC Oral History Collaborative, and various other publications.

About the Show

The Nonviolent Action Lab Podcast brings you the latest research, insights, and ideas on how nonviolent action can — or sometimes fails — to transform injustice. Each week we welcome experts from the field, scholars, organizers, and advocates to discuss nonviolent movements around the world.

About the Lab

Nonviolent resistance movements defended democratic values and institutions throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. However, the trend seems to have shifted. Over the past decade, authoritarian backsliding has occurred across the globe and mass movements demanding democracy have been defeated in about 90% of cases since 2010.

The Nonviolent Action Lab, led by Professor Erica Chenoweth and housed at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, is an innovation hub for activists, researchers, and supporters who share common goals around defending and advancing democracy worldwide through nonviolent movements.

Learn more about the Nonviolent Action Lab at ash.harvard.edu/nonviolent-action-lab

Music Credit: Inquisitive Explorer Documentary - Pond5

About This Week's Guest

Désirée Weber is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Political Science at the College of Wooster. Dr. Weber’s expertise includes modern and contemporary political theory, with a particular focus on language, discourse and argumentation in political thinking. Her area of specialization is the influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein and other language philosophers on political understanding and judgment. She teaches a variety of political theory courses.

She is currently working on a monograph about the role of teaching and learning in Wittgenstein’s biography and later work – and the implications for understanding our capacity to make meaning as well as judgments about meaning. In collaboration with renowned contemporary artist Paul Chan, she has contributed a critical introduction to a new edition of Wittgenstein’s Wörterbuch für Volksschulen [Dictionary for Elementary Schools] which appeared in November 2020.

Additional Resources

Learn more about the Wayne County protests: https://www.the-daily-record.com/story/news/local/2023/02/26/daily-blm-demonstrations-reach-1000-days/69940317007/

About the Show

The Nonviolent Action Lab Podcast brings you the latest research, insights, and ideas on how nonviolent action can — or sometimes fails — to transform injustice. Each week we welcome experts from the field, scholars, organizers, and advocates to discuss nonviolent movements around the world.

About the Lab

Nonviolent resistance movements defended democratic values and institutions throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. However, the trend seems to have shifted. Over the past decade, authoritarian backsliding has occurred across the globe and mass movements demanding democracy have been defeated in about 90% of cases since 2010.

The Nonviolent Action Lab, led by Professor Erica Chenoweth and housed at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, is an innovation hub for activists, researchers, and supporters who share common goals around defending and advancing democracy worldwide through nonviolent movements.

Learn more about the Nonviolent Action Lab at ash.harvard.edu/nonviolent-action-lab

Music Credit: Inquisitive Explorer Documentary - Pond5

About This Week's Guest

Erica Chenoweth is the Academic Dean for Faculty Engagement and the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard Kennedy School, Faculty Dean at Pforzheimer House at Harvard College, and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute. Chenoweth studies political violence and its alternatives. They have authored or edited nine other books and dozens of articles on mass movements, nonviolent resistance, terrorism, political violence, revolutions, and state repression, including the recent Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know (2021) and On Revolutions (2022).

Chenoweth’s current book project, The End of People Power, investigates the puzzling decline in the success of civil resistance movements in the past decade, even as the technique has become more popular worldwide. Along with Zoe Marks, Chenoweth is also the author of the forthcoming book Bread and Roses: Women on the Frontlines of Revolution, which explores how women's participation impacts mass movements.

At Harvard, Chenoweth directs the Nonviolent Action Lab, an innovation hub that uses social science tools and evidence to support movement-led political transformation. There they maintain the NAVCO Data Project, one of the world’s leading datasets on historical and contemporary mass mobilizations around the globe; the Women in Resistance (WiRe) Dataset, which catalogues the gender composition of such movements (with Zoe Marks); and the Crowd Counting Consortium, a public interest and scholarly project that documents political mobilization in the US (with Jeremy Pressman).

At Harvard, Chenoweth is a Faculty Affiliate at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, and Women in Public Policy Program. They are also a Faculty Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, where Chenoweth and Zoe Marks co-chair the Political Violence Workshop.

Before coming to Harvard, Chenoweth taught at the University of Denver and Wesleyan University. They hold a Ph.D. and an M.A. in political science from the University of Colorado and a B.A. in political science and German from the University of Dayton.

About the Show

The Nonviolent Action Lab Podcast brings you the latest research, insights, and ideas on how nonviolent action can — or sometimes fails — to transform injustice. Each week we welcome experts from the field, scholars, organizers, and advocates to discuss nonviolent movements around the world.

About the Lab

Nonviolent resistance movements defended democratic values and institutions throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. However, the trend seems to have shifted. Over the past decade, authoritarian backsliding has occurred across the globe and mass movements demanding democracy have been defeated in about 90% of cases since 2010.

The Nonviolent Action Lab, led by Professor Erica Chenoweth and housed at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, is an innovation hub for activists, researchers, and supporters who share common goals around defending and advancing democracy worldwide through nonviolent movements.

Learn more about the Nonviolent Action Lab at ash.harvard.edu/nonviolent-action-lab

Music Credit: Inquisitive Explorer Documentary - Pond5