Countering American Fascism: Lessons from Organizing in the U.S. Heartland
The Institute for Policy Studies, the Wallace Global Fund, and The Nation Present: The First Annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium, with John Nichols, Sulma Arias of People’s Action, a Tennessee UAW member, and Tope Folarin.
Date
July 25
Time
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm EDT
Website
Venue
The Institute for Policy Studies, the Wallace Global Fund, and The Nation Present:
The First Annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium
featuring John Nichols, Sulma Arias of People’s Action, a Tennessee UAW member, and Tope Folarin.
Eighty years ago, the New York Times published an article by the sitting vice president, Henry A. Wallace, on “The Dangers of American Fascism.” Wallace defined a fascist as one whose “lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.” For democracy to crush fascism, Wallace warned, “It must put human beings first and dollars second.” Join us for a discussion on the challenges confronting American democracy in the face of rising fascism. How are social movements working to counter this dangerous force by building an alternative vision of a multi-racial democracy and an economy that works for us all? What lessons can we learn from organizing in rural communities and from union campaigns in southern states? This symposium is a capstone event of the Henry A. Wallace Fellowship Program at the Institute for Policy Studies, which is supported by the Wallace Global Fund. Speaker Bios- John Nichols is a National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation and the author of many books, including The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace's Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics (Verso Books, 2020).
- Sulma Arias is the Executive Director of People’s Action, where she brings over 20 years of organizing experience on issues such as immigrant rights, voting rights, and economic justice.
- Tope Folarin is the Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of the Whiting Award-winning novel A Particular Kind of Black Man (Simon & Schuster, 2019).
