Warning Signs for Philanthropy: The Authoritarian Crackdown on Social Movements

For over 50 years, there have been growing, multifaceted authoritarian attacks on our intersectional freedoms perpetrated by a network of federal, state, and local elected officials, prosecutors and judges, right-wing media outlets, and Christian nationalist movements. They have centralized and concentrated government power through the courts, gerrymandering and voter suppression, public narratives and culture wars, and of course, devastating attacks on social movements for justice and equality.

The investigation detailed—for the first time in history—how law enforcement and elected officials use policy, training, practice, and culture to retaliate against people engaged in political speech.

However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released a scathing report stemming from a three-year investigation into the Phoenix Police Department and the City of Phoenix. The DOJ determined that Phoenix police routinely use unnecessary lethal and nonlethal force, engage in a practice of racially profiling Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people, and regularly violate the constitutional rights of people experiencing homelessness. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke acknowledged the findings of the report as “historic…mark[ing] the first time that the Justice Department found violations of the civil and constitutional rights of people who are homeless.”

Amid findings of deep misconduct, the report offers the broader field another strategy to intervene in and advocate against discriminatory and violent behavior by the police. With the report’s findings, we can chart a clearer path of these authoritarian attacks from media strategies to criminalization to militarization to the final weaponization of law enforcement and prosecutions against the state’s perceived political opposition. These acts of political violence against social justice movements are not only pervasive, but they are also sanctioned by both Republican and Democrat elected officials.

What Does It Mean?

The DOJ’s findings present a critical insight into the modern authoritarian playbook of political repression intended to weaken our social movements for a multiracial democracy. The investigation detailed—for the first time in history—how law enforcement and elected officials use policy, training, practice, and culture to retaliate against people engaged in political speech through unjustified force and by targeting lawful protestors for false arrest and prosecution.

Now is not the time for a multiyear philanthropic learning journey or oversimplified solutions such as just “getting out the vote.” It’s too late for that.

The DOJ also found overwhelming evidence that the Phoenix police systematically used “indiscriminate force against protestors, falsified allegations to arrest protest leaders, retaliated against people critical of the police, and prevented people from lawfully recording police conduct.”

The report went on to describe “a culture in which sworn officers flaunted their hostility toward protestors without recourse. While on duty and responding to protests, officers made malicious and demeaning statements about protestors, cheered the use of force, and celebrated their success in suppressing speech.”

This culture of hostility, disdain, and criminalization of protestors by police is widespread and generational. It is a culture captured on video during the Civil Rights protests in the 60s that continues today against movement groups and activists in Atlanta’s Stop Cop City movement, Dakota Access Pipeline protestors, and students and professors protesting the war on Gaza on dozens of college campuses this spring.

Now is not the time for a multiyear philanthropic learning journey or oversimplified solutions such as just “getting out the vote.” It’s too late for that. The early warnings from Black, Latinx, and Indigenous leaders were not heeded. Instead, philanthropy has, by and large, watched the authoritarian milestones click by without regard for casualty or consequence. Today, we are left with the repercussions of that inaction and underinvestment.

At this crossroads for our nation, when so many of our basic rights are under attack, and the indicators of rising authoritarianism are all around us, philanthropy must do two things to defend the intersectional social movements that are the last best hope to realize our nation’s unfulfilled promise of a multiracial democracy: act boldly and go quickly.

In other words, funders and philanthropic organizations must move past their risk-averse nature and bet big on the leaders and social movements that are leading the charge against political repression.

Act Boldly

We must stand in solidarity with those facing unjust persecution and support those on the frontlines defending our democracy. This includes supporting the free press and strategic communications to counter disinformation and the abuse of power.

If you fund work in communities that are being criminalized—such as trans people, abortion seekers, and migrants—or if you fund movement formations that are challenging the state’s power to perpetuate the climate catastrophe, gut democratic institutions, or enable a genocide, then we must work together to redouble our commitment to defend these social movements from state repression.

If you do not fund communities or movement formations under attack, then you owe it to those who do to invest in the critical infrastructure necessary to counter emerging assaults against social movements. Follow the leadership of practitioners and funders already mobilizing resources to protect the very engine of our democracy. This includes safety and security infrastructure like a robust legal ecosystem capable of defending movement against ever more severe, complex, and multijurisdictional criminal investigations and civil actions—such as SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suits.

Above all, be loud and bold in calling this injustice what it is: political repression.

Go Quickly

Regardless of the results of our upcoming presidential and local elections, the authoritarian onslaught against social movements will continue. We must be preparing for what lies beyond November.

Follow the leadership of practitioners and funders already mobilizing resources to protect the very engine of our democracy.

The authoritarian movement will continue to divide and rule by fomenting mistrust and fear, spreading lies and conspiracies, and undermining the public’s belief in truth. They will continue to expand criminalization and unleash enforcement as the mechanism to crush social movements—and, in the process, usher in a proto-fascist state.

Once that happens, progressive philanthropy—no matter how mainstream or risk-averse—will be next. The Phoenix political prosecutions, the Stop Cop City RICO investigation in Atlanta, and the joint investigations between the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Education and the Workforce that authoritarians are coming after the money.

It’s simple: if the money stops flowing or even slows to a trickle, the infrastructure of social movements will be severely weakened and vulnerable to brutal attacks that send a clear message to any future dissenter against the growing fascist state.

As funders, it is our responsibility to ensure that an intersectional ecosystem of organizers, communicators, and lawyers have the resources to go on the offensive against authoritarian advancement and defend our social movements against attack.

The Good News

For all of its disturbing details of police misconduct, brutality, and rights violations, the DOJ report on the Phoenix police is a story of triumph and hope for the future.

The Phoenix Police Department’s politically motivated violence and prosecutions described in the report were met with a comprehensive formation for movement defense that included street medics, physical security, legal observers, bail funds, and a team of dedicated criminal and civil rights lawyers, community organizers, and digital and traditional media communicators. These movement guardians saved lives—on the streets and in the courts, with over 150 serious felony charges against protesters dismissed.

Moreover, they racked up political wins—the chief of police and county attorney resigned, whole units in both institutions disbanded, police officers were subject to criminal investigations, and one prosecutor lost their bar license. Those legal and political wins triggered the DOJ investigation, which will help protect protestors and social movements nationwide.

The takeaway is clear: organizers and movement lawyers can take decisive action to defend our people and our civil rights while driving up the political costs of launching attacks.

The question remains: will philanthropy act boldly and quickly to fulfill our commitment to justice and multiracial democracy? We believe the only way forward to defeat authoritarianism is together, in deep solidarity with each other and with social movements. Because solidarity in action is our best collective defense and our only hope for the future.