Social Movements & Activism – LPE Project https://lpeproject.org The Law and Political Economy Project Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:59:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://lpeproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-LPE_Favicon_512px_BlackBG-450x450.png Social Movements & Activism – LPE Project https://lpeproject.org 32 32 Solidarity during the Second Red Scare: The Lessons of Thomas Emerson https://lpeproject.org/blog/solidarity-during-the-second-red-scare/ Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11734 Thomas Emerson is best known today in the legal academy as perhaps the foremost scholar of the First Amendment of his generation. Yet this self-described “legal liberal” and “general socialist” has a much more significant and often neglected legacy: his refusal to be silenced by the forces of repression during the Second Red Scare. At a time when the academy was being ruthlessly purged of those...

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]]> Beyond The Ballot: Building The Movement Democrats Won’t https://lpeproject.org/blog/beyond-the-ballot-building-the-movement-democrats-wont/ Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11706 Six years ago this month, in the middle of the first Trump administration, I quit my job and launched a campaign for Congress against a Democratic incumbent in the city where I was born and raised – Columbus, Ohio. I ran because Donald Trump posed a clear threat to the stability of the United States, and I knew fending off his growing Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement would take a different...

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]]> Outrage and Resistance: Abolitionist Lessons for the Present Crisis https://lpeproject.org/blog/outrage-and-resistance-abolitionist-lessons-for-the-present-crisis/ Mon, 19 May 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11580 Since President Trump’s inauguration in January, US immigration authorities acting on behalf of his administration have arrested people without warrants. They have detained people in ways that prevent their access to legal counsel. And, in defiance of court orders, they have sent people to foreign prisons where they have been pressed into hard labor. This assault on due process is premised upon...

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]]> When It Comes to Free Speech, Dark Money Often Speaks Louder Than Words https://lpeproject.org/blog/when-it-comes-to-free-speech-dark-money-often-speaks-louder-than-words/ Thu, 15 May 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11577 In September 2024, an anonymous donor gave $100 million to the University of Chicago to establish the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, tasked with “promot[ing]…free and open discourse at the University of Chicago and beyond.” Since the donation’s announcement, the Forum’s website credits several conservative billionaires and family foundations for their “leadership support.” The contribution...

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]]> When Freedom is Illegal: Black Queer Solidarity, Poverty & Gang Policing https://lpeproject.org/blog/when-freedom-is-illegal-black-queer-solidarity-poverty-gang-policing/ Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11480 “I’ve been stabbed ten times, I’ve been shot.” “You get beat the fuck up. You will have no chance.” “Until you start hanging around us.” These are snippets of conversations featured in a documentary about members of Check It, one of the first Black LGBTQ+ “gangs” in Washington, D.C. Check It’s experiences illustrate how systemic oppression, rooted in American slavery, adapts through new technology...

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]]> Labor Organizing In a Time of Legal Chaos https://lpeproject.org/blog/labor-organizing-in-a-time-of-legal-chaos/ Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11508 Over the past two months, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has followed the Silicon Valley mantra of “move fast and break things” to the letter. And one thing it has been trying to break quickly is public sector unions. In early March, for instance, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) unilaterally terminated the collective bargaining agreements between it and airport...

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]]> A Call To Defend Free Speech From Weaponized Allegations of Terrorism Ties https://lpeproject.org/blog/free-speech-weaponized-allegations/ Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11501 Today, the Trump Administration is engaged in a broad assault on campus life, with repression of speech in defense of Palestinian rights as the tip of the spear. This includes arresting, detaining, and threatening with deportation members of university communities for speech the government opposes. In this climate, many institutions of higher education are trying to keep their heads down, or worse...

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]]> Why Labor Can Defeat Trumpism https://lpeproject.org/blog/why-labor-can-defeat-trumpism/ Tue, 01 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11463 Our best bet for beating back and defeating Trumpism lies in a revitalized labor movement. Thanks in part to an inspiring surge in workplace organizing in recent years, organized labor is one of the few social forces with the legitimacy, resources, and leverage to expose and fight back against Trump’s sham populism. But can workers and unions continue their forward momentum under the new...

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]]> Trump’s Strategy to Undermine Court Rulings and the Rule of Law https://lpeproject.org/blog/trumps-strategy-to-undermine-court-rulings-and-the-rule-of-law/ Mon, 31 Mar 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11458 During the first two months of his second term, Donald Trump has frequently deployed the power of the executive branch to attack those who stand in his way. He has, for instance, sought to financially cripple law firms that have previously opposed him, opened investigations into media companies whose coverage he views as unfavorable, retaliated against citizens and institutions in states whose...

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]]> Eight Legal Experts on Trump’s Assault on Higher Education https://lpeproject.org/blog/eight-legal-experts-on-trumps-assault-on-higher-education/ Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:50:00 +0000 https://lpeproject.org/?p=11442 Since Inauguration Day, the Trump administration has waged open warfare on higher education. The speed, scope, and volume of executive orders and agency actions have been overwhelming. If the goal was to create chaos and “flood the zone,” the president has delivered. The entries that follow—which cover the administration’s assault on federal grant funding; on trans students...

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