Hello Indivisibles,

It is shaping up to be a busy fall.  Before we jump in, I want to give you a little insight into what we are doing, why we do it and how it leads to the changes we need.  I realize that we all come from different levels of experience with grassroots movements like ours (I had almost none before March).  I am not an expert; I am learning along with you.  Members frequently ask me “how will this make a difference?” and they sometimes say they feel discouraged.  I believe that if they understand more about what we are doing and why, they will be able to have more confidence in why what we ask them to do will make a difference.  

RULE #1: Alone, we have little power.  Together we have enormous power.  The movement to stop the Authoritarian take-over of our government is growing every day as more people realize the threat to their freedom and way of life and understand that they, themselves, have to DO Something.  This is a big success.  But the movement is not big enough yet to achieve our goal and we have to actively get more people to join in and take action.

THE FOE:  An Authoritarian Break-through is happening right now – today.  We are standing up to our waists in History and if we don’t shore up the dam soon, our Democracy will drown.

There are well known steps to mount an Authoritarian take-over of a Democracy.  The playbook has been used successfully many times by the likes of Hitler in Germany, Orban in Hungary, Putin in Russia, Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela and several more.  It can take several years or happen suddenly.  Authoritarians do this by undermining Democratic norms and institutions meant to protect democratic government. 

But, there are also many other examples where the assault was not successful; stopped by the People of the country.

The Authoritarian Playbook includes several steps such as:

– Spread Disinformation

-Suppress civil liberties and human rights

-Identify a group to blame and hate

-Manipulate elections or suppress voting

-Disable the Free Press

-Attack and undermine Universities, Courts, Lawyers, Elected Officials

-Install officials loyal to the wanna-be regime in positions of power

-Quash protests and silence political opponents

-“Disappear” resisters 

-Create an aura of fear

-Deploy the military domestically

etc.

Sound familiar??

THE RESISTANCE

There are several examples of countries that have resisted attempts at authoritarian take-overs or have thrown off an authoritarian government and regained their democratic governments, such as Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, Bulgaria, Thailand, etc.  But let’s be clear, democracy is always under threat and must be continually guarded and defended.

Successful resistance to authoritarian takeover is almost always driven by mass organization and demands of the people being governed.  They build robust coalitions of non-violent resistance, they support the democratic institutions that are the basis of their freedoms, they expose and ridicule lies and misinformation, they defend and demand the rule of law, they take to the streets and demand their rights, they boycott and strike against corporations that support the authoritarian, they vote, they enlist their neighbors and communities to join the struggle.  And more.  They succeed when the movement is too big to resist, is organized, and offers a vision for the future.  They fail when the People do not join in resisting, when the misinformation overwhelms the truth, and when elected officials fail to defend the democracy.

I recently read an article in the July-August Harvard Magazine that got into the research and science of how resistance movements work and succeed or not. It also talks about the person who identified the 3.5% rule.  Here’s the link if you want to read it.

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/07/erica-chenoweth-democracy-data-harvard

Indivisible Champlain Islands has many tools in our toolbox that we use to build the movement and participate in the struggle to stop the Trump authoritarian take-over.  We support elected officials when they take effective action.  We call them out when they fail.  We mobilize voters in special elections in other states (postcards, phone banks, calling friends/family who live there). We protest to let our neighbors know they are facing a crisis and need to take action. We educate the community about what is really going on, we hold events to educate and bring in more people to the movement, we try to give you, our members, as many ways as possible to take action.  We suggest how you can support those on the front lines (like donating to Vermont Immigrant Legal Defense Fund or the ACLU to pay for the expensive lawsuits against illegal actions).  We take actions to recruit new members and grow the movement.  We support our neighbors when they have been negatively impacted by the Trump agenda, budget cuts and mass firings.  We will eventually be supporting more boycotts, like the Tesla Takedown and the Avelo deportation airline.  We are looking for more ways to combat disinformation and refute the lies.  And we have just begun.  This will be a long struggle.  We are in it until we succeed.  We are at all times dedicated to non-violence.  

If you have read this email, you have made my day!  Thank you.  If you have not participated in any other way yet, it is time to decide what you can do to help.  I hope to see you at a protest or a members meeting or community event.  Or you can join our postcard group or sign up for phone banks.  You can write a letter to the editor or FPF (which welcomes pro-democracy posts).  You can talk to your neighbors, co-workers, friends and let them know that the time to “tune-out” is past.  Today is a time to take action.  Urge them to find a group to join.

I, and our whole Leadership Team, cannot tell you how much it means to us to have your support.  We can only do this if we know we are in this struggle together, not just sitting alone in fear and rage.  

And today, we can still find a place in our lives to go out and enjoy this fantastic fall weather.

Many thanks to all of you,

Marilyn Lagrow