Mark Engler

i think jesse jackson was one of the most important american political figures of the post-war era and i think that his 1984 and 1988 campaigns for the democratic nomination still have a great deal to teach about forging a path to a more egalitarian world. RIP.

How Myles Horton Built a Social Movement Institution The founder of the Highlander Center’s life and writing contain crucial lessons for building long-lasting institutions—ones that support organizations and everyday people through the peaks and valleys...

Great @markengler.bsky.social article about one of my movement heroes: Highlander Center founder, Myles Horton.🤩

"It’s only in a movement that an idea is often made simple enough and direct enough that it can spread rapidly..."

Check it out in @convergencemag.com #PeoplePower #ChangeTheStory

We published this is conjunction with the release of the new 10th anniversary edition of our book! Check it out here:
tinyurl.com/uprisingbook

On the power of mass non-cooperation, from our latest in The Guardian. Check it out!

Link here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Thanks for the note, Brad, and nice song! I'm from a family of Iowa Englers, and a transplant in PA.

This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century

Or here: bookshop.org/p/books/this...

Book here: tinyurl.com/uprisingbook

The key to defeating Trump? Mass non-cooperation | Mark Engler and Paul Engler Our studies in civil resistance offer insight into the level of popular organizing needed to repel assaults on democracy

Minneapolis Has Shown Us the Power of Mass Non-Cooperation

Our latest, now up at the Guardian, draws from the new preface to our just-released 10th anniversary edition of This Is an Uprising. Check out the article below and the book here!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Tenth Anniversary Edition of This Is An Uprising now available! We are excited to announce the release of a new and expanded edition of our book on the power of mass mobilization.

We are excited to announce the release of a new and expanded edition of our book on the power of mass mobilization!

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/tenth-anni...

"THIS IS AN UPRISING: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century," the modern classic of social movement organizing by @markengler.bsky.social and Paul Engler, is now available in a tenth-anniversary edition!

Learn more: bit.ly/4c5agCE/

Minnesota Is in Revolt Against Tyranny A first-person account of living through a movement whirlwind.

In our latest dispatch: a first-person account from the revolt against tyranny in Minnesota...

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/minnesota-...

How Myles Horton Built a Social Movement Institution The founder of the Highlander Center’s life and writing contain crucial lessons for building long-lasting institutions—ones that support organizations and everyday people through the peaks and valleys...

Now up at Convergence Magazine: How Myles Horton Built a Social Movement Institution!

convergencemag.com/articles/myl...

Celebrating King, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Art of Organizing The MLK Day holiday also provides an occasion to hold up some of the great leaders of the civil rights movement.

MLK Day provides an opportunity to reflect not only on the legacy of King himself, but also to hold up other heroes of the civil rights movement. In our latest, Whirlwind analyst Miles Goodrich reflects on two greats: Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer.

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/celebratin...

From No Kings to the World’s Poorest President, Highlander’s Hillbilly Radical to Japan’s Marxist Innovator – A Year of Protest and Writing Here at the Whirlwind Institute, we are looking forward to an exciting 2026 with the launch of several new projects.

In our latest dispatch, we recap work from Whirlwind Institute's 1st year! Links to some cool articles and podcasts you may have missed, from Paul and I talking Iowa upbringing to articles on Hillbilly Radicals, World's Poorest President & more...

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/from-no-ki...

Learning from Myles Horton’s legendary career in social movements The famed educator and Highlander Folk School founder offers insights on living through the ups and downs of movement cycles.

"We Make the Road By Walking” is a fascinating dialogue between popular educators Myles Horton and Paulo Freire. Very fun to reflect on it:

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/learning-f...

Learning from Myles Horton’s legendary career in social movements The famed educator and Highlander Folk School founder offers insights on living through the ups and downs of movement cycles.

Sometimes referred to as a “hillbilly radical” or “hillbilly intellectual,” Horton spent his life navigating the ups and downs of social movements and developed important insights into the cycles of mass mobilization and patient preparation:

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/learning-f...

Learning from Myles Horton’s legendary career in social movements The famed educator and Highlander Folk School founder offers insights on living through the ups and downs of movement cycles.

Myles Horton’s autobiography, The Long Haul, is a great read on a life spent in social movements!

Learning from Myles Horton’s legendary career in social movements The famed educator and Highlander Folk School founder offers insights on living through the ups and downs of movement cycles.

My latest, now up at Waging Nonviolence: What we can learn from famed educator and Highlander Folk School founder Myles Horton about living through the ups and downs of social movements!

wagingnonviolence.org/2025/12/myle...

What social movements can learn from the ‘innovator’s dilemma’ Considering how we can encourage new and creative strategies for making change.

In our latest post below, Paul writes about the need to incubate new experiments in progressive movements. Check it out!

"Thinking through the innovator’s dilemma helps us to find new pathways for experimentation, escalation and risk."

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/what-socia...

The Radical Legacy of the “Poorest President in the World” Whirlwind Institute senior research associate Guille Bervejillo examines what we can learn from the life of Uruguay’s former president Pepe Mujica.

Our latest dispatch: The Radical Legacy of the “Poorest President in the World.”

Great stories from Uruguay's Pepe Mujica and lessons for US activists. Check it out!

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/the-radica...

The Radical Legacy of the “Poorest President in the World” What we can learn from the life of Uruguay’s former guerrilla and leftist president Pepe Mujica.

The Radical Legacy of the “Poorest President in the World”

In the latest from our new think tank, the Whirlwind Institute, Senior research associate Guille Bervejillo writes on what we can learn from the life of Pepe Mujica. Great lessons for inside-outside politics!

jacobin.com/2025/10/pepe...

We Desperately Need Maximum Wage Laws With wealth inequality and billionaire control over American society growing ever more obscene, it’s well past time to implement a maximum wage limit.

Happy to see that Jacobin has picked our story on Maximum Wages from Whirlwind research analyst Celeste Pepitone-Nahas! Check it out (reprinted from In These Times):

jacobin.com/2025/10/maxi...

Using a “Maximum Wage” to Combat Billionaire Power Whirlwind Institute analyst Celeste Pepitone-Nahas looks at steps toward capping executive pay.

Our latest from the Whirlwind Institute, the new think tank that Paul and I are launching!...

Could a “Maximum Wage” Combat Billionaire Power?

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/using-a-ma...

What Can Zohran Accomplish? - Dissent Magazine What distinguishes Zohran Mamdani's socialism is not its aims. It’s his willingness to take seriously the problem of how to get there.

My friend @jwmason.bsky.social at Dissent Magazine on what Zohran can accomplish.

www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

Is Trump co-governing with the billionaire class? Politicians regularly partner with business, when they should collaborate with grassroots movements.

My latest with brother Paul: "Politicians regularly partner with economic elites. What would it mean if elected officials actually governed hand-in-hand with social movements as partners instead?"

wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/is-t...

Trump Is Inspiring a Historic Wave of Protests There's no need to wait for resistance. It is happening now.

My latest post: On the scope of protests emerging against Trump.

"All those who have been wondering when mass resistance to Trump 2.0 would materialize need wait no longer. It is here. It is happening. It is now."

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/trump-is-i...

Trump Is Inspiring a Historic Wave of Protests There's no need to wait for resistance. It is happening now.

My latest dispatch: Trump Is Inspiring a Historic Wave of Protests

There's no need to wait for resistance. It is happening now.

whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/p/trump-is-i...

Pepe Mujica: My Generation Made a Naive Error The late Uruguayan statesman José “Pepe” Mujica argues that capitalism is not just property relations but a set of cultural values that the Left must confront with a culture of solidarity.

More here: jacobin.com/2025/05/pepe...

RiP, the great Pepe Mujica:

"My generation... believed that social change was only a matter of challenging modes of production and distribution in society. We did not understand the immense role of culture.... We are in a struggle between a culture of solidarity and a culture of selfishness."

Could we be entering a 'movement moment' against Trump? How to recognize the characteristics that make for powerful whirlwinds of protest against injustice and tyranny.

“History tells us that, even as authoritarians deploy “shock and awe” campaigns to cause confusion and demobilization, they consistently underestimate the ability of movements to break out in opposition.”

@markengler.bsky.social @wagingnv.bsky.social

wagingnonviolence.org/2025/04/coul...