Author: The Apocalyptic Optimist
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Will Winter 2026 Be Like Summer 2020?
On Wednesday, January 7th, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good was shot in the head by an ICE agent less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. While the details of the shooting are still coming out, videos by bystanders from various angles contradict claims made by members of the…
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What’s on my Radar for 2026:
What apocalyptic optimists need to be thinking about as the new year begins
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Introducing the COPOut Podcast
This weekend, I am launching the COPOut Podcast for apocalyptically optimistic climate conversations. During each episode, I will host a panel of guest experts who will share their unique perspectives on the state of climate action, the path towards more effective climate solutions, and the role that the international regime—including the annual UN sponsored Conferences…
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NoKings 2.0 Brings Joyful Resistance Across the US
On October 18th, a coalition of left-leaning political groups coordinated a second national day-of-action to declare that the US has No Kings. Almost 3,000 events took place across the US during this second NoKings Day, with early estimates predicting that over 5 million people had joined the day of action in the US (with many…
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Building Community to Push Back Against Autocracy
Yesterday, I got the opportunity to speak at the AU Walkout. It was exhilarating to join hundreds of students marching together on campus as part of the #FreeDC movement. I spent my five minutes stressing the ways that turning out en masse (as the students had) is a great way to show solidarity and build…
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What We Learned Studying the #NoKings Day Across the US
One of the challenges of studying protest in this era of distributed activism is that it’s extremely difficult to get a decent sample of who is participating across sites. When my team surveys at a large-scale protest event, like the Women’s March in Washington, DC in January 2017, we are only able to generalize our…
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The Resistance Rises to Declare #NoKings
On June 14th, while Donald Trump held a military parade in our nation’s Capitol, millions of people across the US mobilized to protest the actions of the Trump Administration and its policies during the No Kings Day-of-Action. My team surveyed participants at the flagship event in Philadelphia and hosts organizing events across the US. Here’s…
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What We Lose When America Loses AmeriCorps
Last Friday, the Trump Administration / DOGE cut about 41% of the grant funding for our national service agency, AmeriCorps, which affected an estimated 1,031 organizations, and 32,465 AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers. The cuts affect programs in every state in the US. The map above shows the programs cut and where they were geographically…
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Resistance 2.0 Rises at the #HandsOff Rallies
This weekend, a coalition of left-leaning groups lead by Indivisible, 50501, and the Women’s March coordinated the HandsOff2025 day of action that included over 1000 events in all 50 states. One of the lead organizers reported over 5 million people participating across the US. We fielded a team of 8 to collect a random sample…
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The Rising Acceptance of Political Violence Among Left-Leaning Americans Grows
Last week, I published a paper at Scientific American that summarized some of the findings from our research at the Stand Up for Science Day of Action on March 7th. One of the most notable and chilling findings was that support for political violence continues to grow among Left-leaning Americans who are participating in protests…
Dana R Fisher 