iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 10h

My team at the NVA Lab has produced a new dashboard for exploring our data on US protests from Jan 2025-May 2026. This snapshot shows the 61k+ protest events (>14.6M+ recorded participants) active in the US since Trump's second inauguration. Link to dashboard in thread.

A platform displaying the data on US protests from the Crowd Counting Consortium. It includes a map of the US with counts of protest events in circular form overlaying the protests' locations. It also includes weekly tallies of protest events and participations, top protest issues, and various filters allowing users to explore events by location, issue, date, political valence, etc. The top of the image shows a total of 61,782 protests with 14,684,201 participants across 55 US states and territories from January 20, 2025 to May 31, 2026.

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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 23/09/2026

Our friend and famed social movements expert @chenoweth.bsky.social will stop by tomorrow to chat about the next No Kings on October 17, our organizing to stop election sabotage during the midterms, and your questions. Join us: www.mobilize.us/indivisible/...

(around images of Leah Greenberg, Ezra Levin, and Erica Chenoweth) WHAT’S THE PLAN?
with Leah Greenberg & Ezra Levin

THURSDAY, SEPT. 24
3PM ET / 12PM PT

WITH SPECIAL GUEST ERICA CHENOWETH

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Nora Benavidez @attorneynora.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Happening within the same 72 hours that Trump banned media from the White House — alarm bells as we hurl towards the midterms with near-daily reminders that the group of men controlling our govt & media & tech grows smaller as they glom onto power & wield increasingly authoritarian tactics.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

@stevelevitsky.bsky.social and I are back! Join us at 3pm today on The Breakdown, where we talk about the ongoing struggle for American democracy. Register here: ash.harvard.edu/events/the-b....

ash.harvard.edu

The Breakdown with Erica Chenoweth and Steve Levitsky (Eighth Session) – Ash Center

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

New, from me: This should be a clarifying moment about the relationship the Supreme Court's opposition to representative democracy in America. Lets look at some graphs that make this point. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...

donmoynihan.substack.com

Power, democracy, and clarity

What does the end of the Voting Rights Act mean?

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Bethany Albertson @albertsonb2.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

I've done this too, but we should be better at showing data - many people don't know the size of Congress.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

In its latest ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Roberts Court has inverted the Reconstruction Amendments to justify the same racist devices and practices they were adopted to dismantle (🎁) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

What Kilpatrick wanted, and what the Roberts Court is making possible, is a country where white people can maintain their political dominance at the expense of Americans who are not white. The anticaste provisions of the Reconstruction amendments, intended by their authors to reverse the “horrid blasphemy” that America was a white man’s country, are being inverted to defend that dominance. This is not the color-blindness of Martin Luther King Jr., but what the scholar Ian Haney López has called “reactionary colorblindness,” the purpose of which is to maintain racial hierarchy through superficially neutral means. It takes the view that the Constitution’s “color-blindness” renders any attempt to remedy anti-Black racism unconstitutional, because by definition that would involve making racial distinctions. Similarly, the ruling in this case does not explicitly overturn the VRA’s ban on racial discrimination in voting so much as rewrite it to allow such discrimination.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

It’s the “ill will.”

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

One reason not to allow a 9-member super-legislature to arbitrarily veto federal election legislation it doesn’t like for purely invented non-legal partisan reasons is that it creates scope for authoritarians to go the next step & simply “postpone” elections.

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Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Charlottesville used bookstore’s got game

Closeup of shelf label reading “Civil Rights or Lack Thereof”

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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

👀"We will not back down when our communities are most in need of resources to resist authoritarianism." Powerful statement from - Block & Build Funder Coalition (BBFC) a coalition of more than 500 individuals representing 225 philanthropic organizations - in solidarity with @splcenter.org

"The Block & Build Funder Coalition (BBFC), a coalition of more than 500 individuals representing 225 philanthropic organizations, issued the following statement standing in solidarity with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and its long legacy of dismantling white supremacy and fighting for justice.

These charges represent the latest front of authoritarian moves from the current administration as it continues to weaponize legal and regulatory tools to target, discredit, and repress civil society and civil rights organizations. It’s not lost on us that this administration is targeting one of America’s most prominent civil rights groups that is rooted in the South — the very region where some of the most racist and terrorizing policies in our country’s history have been piloted.

As one of our coalition partners, Muslims for Just Futures, stated, “At stake is not only the outcome of this case, but the precedent it sets. The prosecution … could reverberate far beyond a single organization, impacting the broader movement ecosystem, weakening the capacity of civil rights groups to carry out their work.”

The purpose of these attacks is to intimidate organizations, tie them up in long and costly legal fights, and pressure funders to retreat. As movement-aligned funders, we reject this effort to intimidate and discredit movement organizations.

We call on our fellow funders to join us by doubling down and investing even more deeply in movements for justice and democracy so they can not only withstand baseless attacks, but continue to work toward building a more just and liberated world.

We will not back down when our communities are most in need of resources to resist authoritarianism. We will continue to boldly fund the people and organizations doing frontline work to protect and support our communities."

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Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Climate change impacts are here, but public support for action remains polarized. Which climate messages move people? In a ~13,500-person megastudy, we tested 10 of the most-cited messages. Six increased pro-environmental attitudes in the U.S.—but only by 1–4 percentage points. 🧵

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The Leadership Conference @civilrightsorg.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

An attack on one of us is an attack on all. This administration uses racism, hate, and fear—openly and repeatedly—as tools of control. We will not be silent. Read our statement: bit.ly/4eAqjK0

civilrights.org

The Leadership Conference Condemns Attacks on Civil Rights Movement

This administration uses racism, hate, and fear – openly and repeatedly – as tools of control.

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 16/04/2026

“Rather than let a crowded field enable Orbán to retain power, parties stood down their candidate to maximize the vote behind Magyar and his Tisza party.” www.liberalcurrents.com/two-lessons-...

liberalcurrents.com

Two Lessons from Hungary for 2026 and 2028

Unity and accountability.

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

This is pure, unadulterated preference falsification under authoritarian rule — @timurkuran.bsky.social getting it right yet again… www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/o...

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A lot of Orbán's American fans are saying that this election proved he was never an authoritarian in the first place. This is completely wrong — and, in fact, betrays a complete misunderstanding of both Hungarian politics and modern authoritarianism. Here's why.

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Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

This Methodist is highly impressed by the three cardinals who took on Trump on 60 Minutes tonight--they were focused, tough, straightforward. The Catholic church is emerging as a potent center of resistance. As one said, "We're better than this." www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/were-bette...

thelettersfromleo.com

“We’re Better Than This” — Pope Leo XIV’s Top Three US Cardinals on 60 Minutes

Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin sat for their first joint interview — and credited Pope Leo XIV with inspiring them to speak out against the Iran war and mass deportations.

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alexjungle.bsky.social @alexjungle.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

There is now a massive street party with huge crowds dancing in Budapest. Hugs, tears and bottles opening. Orban is gone, Peter Magyar took power

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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Hungarians deserve every congratulations for giving Peter Magyar a bigger margin than Orban has ever gotten in all of his rigged elections - and this within the system that Orban rigged. Magyar now has a constitutional majority to undo Orban's constitutional prison and govern as a democratic leader.

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

To scholars of democratic backsliding, it is difficult to overstate how big a deal today's election in Hungary, a country of less than 10 million people, is likely to be as a narrative milestone for our age, regardless of which way it goes.

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

This is the massive turnout for last night’s “anti regime” concert in Heroes Square, Budapest, ahead of tomorrow’s crucial Hungarian elections. Tens of thousands chanted “Russians go home”. #Orban

Aerial view of enormous crowd. Haven’t managed to source picture credit. Will post when I do

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Since discovering that today is the anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution by the Nazi regime (Apr 9, 1945), I thought it would be appropriate to repost this thread of some key, and timely, lines from his Prison Letters. 🗃️

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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 04/04/2026

Host a local organizing meeting to gather newly activated people in your community and plan for what’s next after No Kings. We put together a toolkit with everything you need: docs.google.com/document/d/1FiB6mAX…

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Ben Jackson @jacksobc.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Really timely re-release of @davidmcraney.bsky.social’s brilliant You Are Not So Smart podcast with @chenoweth.bsky.social. #NoKings feels so close to 3.5%. Also makes the key point that the likes of the odious MTG opposing the US government really helps. Stoking division works both ways.

you-are-not-so-smart.simplecast.com

336 - The 3.5 Percent Rule - Erica Chenoweth (rebroadcast) | You Are Not So Smart

If you want to create a movement that can change the national status quo, you don't need half the country, you only need 3.5 percent of the population to join – but there are some caveats.

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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Excited to share new paper w/ @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social: "Veiled Power: How Rosenwald Teachers Quietly Shaped the Civil Rights Movement" The puzzle: did ~5,000 segregated schools built in rural South emphasizing “manual labor” strengthen or weaken Jim Crow? 🧵 omarwasow.com/wasow_grumba...

Veiled Power: How Rosenwald Teachers Quietly Shaped
the Civil Rights Movement

Omar Wasow∗ Jacob M. Grumbach∗

April 1, 2026

Abstract
What precipitates the collapse of seemingly durable social orders like Jim Crow? During the 1920s, approximately 5,000 “Rosenwald Schools” were built across the rural South through a partnership between philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and Black communities who raised matching funds, donated land, and petitioned local governments. Local elites saw vocational training that would preserve the racial order. We argue Black educators used this accommodationist cover to build veiled capacity: organizational infrastructure for collective action behind a veil
of compliance. Counties with more Rosenwald Schools show greater civil rights protest in the 1960s. Mediation analysis reveals that pre-existing social capital predicted protest through Rosenwald teacher placements, not enrollment. Instrumental variable models suggest the effect is not driven by community selection. Moving from no Rosenwald teachers to the 75th percentile predicts 45% more protest. The political effects of education may depend less on what elites intend than on what educators build where elites cannot see.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

This is powerful, if true. More of this. Refuse. Stand on principle.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Join @stevelevitsky.bsky.social & me tomorrow morning at 9am ET for our latest episode of The Breakdown: ash.harvard.edu/events/the-b...

ash.harvard.edu

The Breakdown with Erica Chenoweth and Steve Levitsky – Ash Center

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

The level of organizing & engagement happening in communities all across the US on a daily basis is beyond anything I have seen in my lifetime. (This is not counting actual protests, whose volume these days is also unprecedented).

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Adam Gurri @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com · 13/03/2026

Man, @donmoyn.bsky.social's substack remains one of the best places to get concrete political science insights into our authoritarian consolidation. His guest authors today talk about secret police. I will definitely be getting their book open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

open.substack.com

The Secret Police Playbook

How DHS reflects historical lessons from dictatorships

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

This interview with the great @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social was a "wow" moment for me. Thanks, New York Times and David Marchese. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m... I couldn't help noticing the question that seemed the most Times-like to me.

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ACLU @aclu.org · 10/03/2026

We the people are worth fighting for. Our training series Organizing to Protect Democracy supports your fight for civil liberties in our communities. RSVP today for our next training on March 11 at 8pm ET.

act.aclu.org

Organizing to Protect Democracy: Peaceful Mass Protest

I'm attending this event - sign up now to join me!

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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Media consolidation is bad for consumers, journalists, creators, communities - and democracy. Good to see this getting a lift from @warren.senate.gov and Committee for the First Amendment Two mega-mergers must be stopped. Ellison's Paramount-WBD Nexstar-TEGNA Contact your local elected officials.

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 07/03/2026

“Everything we can save is worth saving. Everything we can do is worth doing. We’ve already lost a lot, but we don’t have to lose everything. We don’t have to surrender.” 💯 - @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...

nytimes.com

Rebecca Solnit Says the Left’s Next Hero Is Already Here

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Rachel Maddow called Bill a genius of exposition. Which rings true to me. Who else finds such clear, concise, vivid ways to sum up where we are and where we could and should be?

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

The report highlights the grim state of freshwater ecosystems, degraded marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the risk of extinction for many species. But it also emphasizes the potential for improvement through conservation, restoration, and renewed connections between people and nature.

nytimes.com

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

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Cornell William Brooks @cornellwmbrooks.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Bernard LaFavette, voting rights advocate, non-violence theorist, & teacher has died. Another mighty oak has fallen whose legacy will fertilize the aspirations of future generations rising from the forest floor. May his memory be a blessing.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

"The Trump administration on Monday abandoned its attempts to impose potentially crippling executive orders against law firms that refused to capitulate to the president, walking away from its appeal of victories the firms had won against the White House."

nytimes.com

Trump Administration Abandons Efforts to Impose Orders on Law Firms

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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Sen. Tammy Duckworth: "If there was ever a time for Republicans to find their spines, it's now, when the Commander in Chief readily admits that he is choosing to put our troops' lives at risk without a legitimate imminent threat to our homeland or our citizens."

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 28/02/2026

My statement on President Trump’s combat operations in Iran⬇️

OCASIO-CORTEZ STATEMENT ON
TRUMP'S COMBAT OPERATIONS IN IRAN
"The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic.

"Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead.President Trump flippantly acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, stating "that often happens in war.'

"Mr. President: this was not an inevitability. This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people.

"Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran. Bombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region and this will be no different.

"In moments of war, our Constitution is unambiguous: Congress authorizes war. The President does not. I will do my part to uphold our Constitution by voting YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie's War Powers Resolution. Every member of Congress must join us in rejecting this aimless war.

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Celeste Ng @pronounced-ing.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Call your reps about this. Every time a book ban has been overturned or shut down, it's because the vast majority of people who believe in the freedom to read spoke up. Find your reps' info at reps.fyi.

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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Is it any wonder Anthropic didn't trust this Admin to decide what constitutes a "lawful use" of its products given how flippantly and egregiously the Administration is abusing its lawful authorities to now try to put Anthropic out of business?

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

The irony is stark: a private AI company is holding the line on guardrails against mass surveillance and autonomous weapons—while the federal government pushes to remove them. After revoking Biden's AI safety policies, the Trump administration is now pressuring Anthropic to abandon its own.

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Ami Fields-Meyer @fieldsmeyer.com · 27/02/2026

One thing each of us has the power to do to slow the backslide is determine what niches of society we have some influence over. Ask: What kinds of people who share some overlapping characteristics/experiences with me are naturally inclined to trust or even follow me? Start organizing there.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

"We ask that the leaders of the business world in the US--some of whom it has been our privilege to teach--speak out now, act now, in defense of democracy....[T]here is no conflict between their responsibilities as CEO and their responsibilities as citizens. The cost of silence is incalculable."

thecrimson.com

We’re 23 HBS Professors. This Is the Cost of Silence. | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

We urge business leaders to recognize that there is no conflict between their responsibilities as CEO and their responsibilities as citizens. The cost of silence is incalculable.

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awkword @awkword.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

“I’m writing this letter so that you can hear my story. I need you to help us... I cry a lot I want to get out of here go back to my school they don’t treat us Well here there are many children we are kidnapped help!” - Mathias Bermeo, Dilley detainee, 7yo www.propublica.org/article/dill...

Seven-year-old Mathias Bermeo, a detainee at Dilley wrote: “I’m writing this letter so that you can hear my story. I need you to help us I have been detained for 23 days with my mom and my 3-year-old sister. I cry a lot I want to get out of here go back to my school they don’t treat us Well here there are many children we are kidnapped help!”

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