Emergencies of Authoritarianism
international & interdisciplinary research project
analyzing authoritarianism
exploring strategies for change
A project by @ICCTP
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org
- In our series ‘Emergency Calls’, we talk to non-academic partners to ask them for advice: In this episode, we spoke with Vanja and Lidija from Re:AFK, a collective in Serbia/Croatia that engages with abolitionist feminist ideas: youtu.be/2KiHS1ZKGVA
- Finally out! Watch the video of our event earlier this month on Fortress Fascism. It is an insightful conversation between Nandita Sharma, Silky Shah, Mahamat Daoud, and Seán Binder, moderated by Esme Smithson Swain. youtu.be/8foE1RCSD0g
- In this Emergency Call, we spoke with Maisan Hamdan from Urfod – Refuse, Your People Will Protect You, a collective supporting Druze Palestinian youth in refusing conscription into the Israeli army. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTa...htt
- Join us for our next event: Fortress Fascism: Border Authoritarianism and Activist Struggle 1.12., 12.30 EST / 18.30 CET An online conversation with Nandita Sharma @nsharma101.bsky.social, Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social, Mahamat Daoud, and Seán Binder. Moderated by Esme Smithson Swain.
- Border authoritarianism is fueled by racism. The modern nation-state creates a breeding ground for fascist ideologies that feed on emotions. This international panel brings together scholars and activists resisting borders across the world to consider anti-fascist strategies.
- The video of the online conversation "Living in Authoritarian Times" that we co-organized with the April Institute and Critup is now online: Rahul Bhatia, Volkan Çidam, Mike Dele Dittrich Frydetzki, and Joseph Howley, moderated by Zeynep Gambetti. m.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1U...
- Our panelists consider the contradictions, dilemmas, and intimate aspects of authoritarianism: how it affects the way we behave, feel, and relate to each other; how it generates indignation, fear, resignation, or trauma; and how it changes what we choose to hold dear and what we find unbearable.
- The German research group "Politics and Gender" organizes a lecture series (online) on "Authoritarianism, Militarization, Fascistization – Feminist Perspectives and Analyses" www.dvpw.de/gliederung/s...
- "In the Midst", the blog of the journal @criticaltimes1.bsky.social, publishes analyses of global authoritarianisms. The newest entry is by two of our members, Rosaura Martinez Ruiz and @danielloick.bsky.social, on the role of "surplus" or "waste" populations.
- To understand Milei's midterm victory, re-watch our Dispatch with Gisela Catanzaro from May of this year, explaining "chainsaw authoritarianism".
- In the second episode of our "Dispatches", project member Gisela Catanzaro lays out the differences between the chainsaw authoritarianism of Milei and authoritarian movements in the "Global North". www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZj8...
- In this Emergency Call we spoke to Gathanga Ndung’u from the Mathare Social Justice Centre about colonial continuities and continuities of resistance, the fight against extrajudicial killings, community-based organizing and the struggle for social justice in Kenya. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI3s...
- There has been a slight change: The event will take place at 6.00 pm central European time, which is 1.00 pm East Coast time. Please register for the webinar here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
- Living in Authoritarian Times: An online conversation with Ghazaleh Alimardani (Iran), Rahul Bhatia (India), Volkan Çidam (Turkey), Maik Dele Dittrich Frydetzki (Germany), Joseph Howley (USA). Moderated by Zeynep Gambetti (Turkey). 26.10., 12.00 EST / 18.00 CEST. Live streamed.
- What wisdom would you share with your younger self?
- How is life under authoritarian conditions for you?
- What are your coping mechanisms for fascism?
- Reposted by Emergencies of AuthoritarianismLiving in Authoritarian Times: An online conversation with Ghazaleh Alimardani (Iran), Rahul Bhatia (India), Volkan Çidam (Turkey), Maik Dele Dittrich Frydetzki (Germany), Joseph Howley (USA). Moderated by Zeynep Gambetti (Turkey). 26.10., 12.00 EST / 18.00 CEST. Live streamed.
- Authoritarianism is not simply a political order, but also deeply affects the everyday: The way we behave, feel, and relate to each other. Join us for this online conversation with activists and scholars from around the world. @gambettiz.bsky.social
- Statement by the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs on the recent attacks on academic freedom @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social criticaltheoryconsortium.org/announcement...
- In this episode of Emergency Calls, we spoke with YoNoFui, an abolitionist, transfeminist, and anti-punitivist collective in Buenos Aires. They shared how they organize against 'contemporary legalized torture centers', and why we should unite against repression youtu.be/t7-7PWJFygo
- In our new "Dispatch of Authoritarianism", Rosaura Martínez Ruiz elaborates on her concept of Antigonia, which enables us to perceive the political claim to mourn put forward by the collectives of buscadoras in Mexico as an anti-authoritarian struggle. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXqF...
- Check out the latest episode of Dispatches of Authoritarianism: In this episode, Zeynep Gambetti discusses the current situation in Turkey, tracing today's configuration back to the disruptive implementation of neoliberalism and the resulting societal transformation youtu.be/JT_4XysBj0A
- Reposted by Emergencies of Authoritarianism“The politicians want to define protest as merely voicing a demand without disrupting anything; they don’t recognize the value of putting one’s body between the state & the scapegoated. There is apparently no ‘peaceful’ way to do that. What we are witnessing is not only protest; it is self-defense.”
- Residents of L.A. aren’t merely protesting ICE; they’re attempting to protect their communities from ICE’s raids. trib.al/iKKdXbT
- Reposted by Emergencies of AuthoritarianismIf you want to get a first impression of what our Benjamin Lectures next week will be about, you can listen to Tommie Shelby talk to the host Lukas Ondreka on Dissens Podcast about grassroots solidarity and resistance to today's authoritarian movements: podcast.dissenspodcast.de/306-racism
- In April, "Emergencies of Authoritarianism” organized a panel discussion in Buenos Aires on "Authoritarian Times". We are proud to anounce that the recording is online now. Check out the English version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SB4... and the Spanish version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7oQ....
- Two more contributions on authoritarianism to the "In the Midst" blog facilitated by @criticaltimes1.bsky.social, one by our project member Debaditya Bhattacharya on India and Kashmir, one by Adriana Zaharijević on Serbia: ctjournal.org/in-the-midst...
- Our colleague Debaditya Bhattacharya has written an insightful piece on the articulation of authoritarianism in India, examining the context and consequences of the recent acts of war
- "In the custodial state...the citizen enters the scene in a mode of resignation–a way of being held in perpetual custody–as the only guarantee of protection both from state power and by it." NEW from Debaditya Bhattacharya ctjournal.org/2025/05/29/w...
- Emergencies of authoritarianism require not only a precise theoretical analysis, but also an urgent political response. In our series 'Emergency Calls', we talk to non-academic partners to ask them for advice: What is to be done? m.youtube.com/watch?v=LfOl...
- In our first episode, we talk to Silky Shah, Executive Director of the Detention Watch Network in the USA, about Trump's attack on immigrant rights, migrant self-organization, and perspectives on the antifascist struggle.
- On the blog "In the Midst", facilitated by Critical Times, political theorist Wendy Brown offers some reflections on our predicament "After Liberal Democracy". ctjournal.org/2025/05/15/a...
- Reposted by Emergencies of Authoritarianism“The question is whether fascism is taking over. If by that we understand the abolition of the remnants of the constitutional state, the organization of paramilitary troops, granting the police extraordinary legal powers . . . then one can speak with complete justification of an incipient fascism.”
- In the second episode of our "Dispatches", project member Gisela Catanzaro lays out the differences between the chainsaw authoritarianism of Milei and authoritarian movements in the "Global North". www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZj8...
- Last week, gunmen killed 26 people in Kashmir. What followed was an intense crackdown on Muslims in India, especially Muslim students. In the first episode of "Dispatches", our project member Debaditya Bhattacharya situates it within a broader authoritarian framework. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVFA...
- What is the temporality of authoritarianism? Is it a depletion of the future, a nostalgia for a lost glorious past, a permanent state of exception? These were some of the questions we discussed at our 2nd exploratory workshop in Buenos Aires.
- We also visited Esma, a memorial and museum at the site were thousands were tortured and disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship. While the temporalities of authoritarianism are different in different context, the unlimited ability for cruelty seems to be the same everywhere.
- Reposted by Emergencies of AuthoritarianismUnder fascism, which breaks social ties and makes everyone fear everyone, the mere act of neighbors trusting and helping neighbors becomes radical civil disobedience www.bostonreview.net/articles/mut...
- @astra.bsky.social and @naomiaklein.bsky.social on Fascism as supremacist survivalism. Good weekend read! www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
- "Contemporary authoritarians everywhere mobilize misogyny to consolidate their power by reinforcing gendered hierarchies led by cis men while preserving racialized, economic, and geopolitical hierarchical orders." Contribution by Annie Wilkinson politicalresearch.org/2025/04/02/g...
- Reposted by Emergencies of AuthoritarianismMilei’s campaign slogan—“there is no money”—must be understood not simply as an argument for balanced budgets and inflation reduction, the “achievement” that Western media glorifies at the expense of suffering populations. It is above all a justification for sacrifice.
