Emergencies of Authoritarianism

Statement by the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs on the recent attacks on academic freedom @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
criticaltheoryconsortium.org/announcement...

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Emergency Call with YoNoFui

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

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Dispatch Rosaura Martínez Ruiz

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...

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Dispatch Rosaura Martínez Ruiz

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...

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Dispatches of Authoritarianism: Zeynep Gambetti

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

“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.”

#306 Tommie Shelby: "Only grassroots solidarity can stop the march of authoritarianism" Politics for the rich, blatant discrimination against minorities and attacks on basic rights: How can we build new forms of solidarity against the creeping authoritarianism in the United States and el...

If 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

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Authoritarian Times: Crisis and Utopia, English Version

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....

In the Midst | Blog - Critical Times Title of Blog Post Input your text here! The text element is intended for longform copy that could potentially include multiple paragraphs.Title of Blog Post Input your text here! The text element is ...

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 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.

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Emergency Call with Detention Watch Network, Silky Shah

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...

After Liberal Democracy - Critical Times Reflections on Authoritarian Times Trump’s win surprised few political realists. What has taken nearly everyone by surprise is the rapid rollout of chaotic authoritarian governing facilitated by a de...

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...

The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism - Boston Review A debate is roiling about the aptness of comparing Trump to European fascists. But radical Black thinkers have long argued that racial slavery created its own unique form of American fascism.

“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.”

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Dispatches of Authoritarianism: Gisela Catanzaro on Milei´s 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...

YouTube video by Emergencies of Authoritarianism Dispatches of Authoritarianism: Debaditya Bhattacharya on India as a Custodial State

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...

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.

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.

Mutual Aid in the Age of Fascism - Boston Review As people are being deputized to do violence, building connections is political resistance.

Under 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...

The rise of end times fascism The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

@astra.bsky.social and @naomiaklein.bsky.social on Fascism as supremacist survivalism. Good weekend read!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Gender and Authoritarianism Annie Wilkinson provides a framework understanding the rise of anti-gender movements across the globe as part of a wave of autocratization.

"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...

The Chainsaw International - Boston Review From Trump to Milei, the far right is betting that spectacles of revenge will compensate for steep economic sacrifice.

Milei’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.

Poster for the Event Authoritarian Times

Authoritarian Times: Crisis and Utopia
April 24, 2025/ 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm / Buenos Aires

A panel discussion with Zeynep Gambetti (Istanbul), Rosaura Martínez (México), Daniel Loick (Amsterdam), Paula Biglieri (Buenos Aires), moderated by Gisela Catanzaro (Buenos Aires)

Welcome to the Bluesky Account of Emergencies of Authoritarianism. We are an international & interdisciplinary research project investigating global authoritarianism & searching for political responses. Follow us for critical analyses and interventions.
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org