Rules for Resistance: Advice from Around the Globe for the Age of Trump

by David Cole (Editor), Melanie Wachtell Stinnett (Editor)

Some of us have been here before. Many people living today in America and around the world have direct experience with countries where an autocrat has seized control. Others have seen charismatic, populist leaders come to power within democracies and dramatically change the rules of the road for the public, activists, and journalists alike. In Rules for Resistance, writers from Russia, Turkey, India, Hungary, Chile, China, Canada, Italy, and elsewhere tell Americans what to expect under our own new regime, and give us guidance for living—and for resisting—in the Trump era.

Advice includes being on the watch for the prosecution of political opponents, the use of libel laws to attack critics, the gutting of non-partisan institutions, and the selective application of the law.

A special section on the challenges for journalists reporting on and under a leader like Donald Trump addresses issues of free speech, the importance of press protections, and the critical role of investigative journalists in an increasingly closed society. An introduction by ACLU legal director David Cole looks at the crucial role institutions have in preserving democracy and resisting autocracy.

A chilling but necessary collection, Rules for Resistance distills the collective knowledge and wisdom of those who “have seen this video before.”

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Essays

240 pages, Paperback

Published May 23, 2017

Reviews

[Leslie (updates on SG) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I appreciated this collection of essays because I am not a political junkie and therefore not aware of how authoritarian populists have been dealt with elsewhere. In a weird way, it was heartening to know that Trump is not unique in the world, and I liked the essays that offered lessons rather than warnings. One disadvantage of this collection, however, is that many of the essays were originally published before Inauguration. Thankfully, some of the warnings have not borne out, but we should still be alert.

Some of my favorite insights:
- "Populists govern by swapping issues, as opposed to resolving them." - Miklos Haraszti (Hungary)
- "Berlusconi and Trump have benefited, in part, from a balkanized media environment where many separate parallel information universes exist." - Alexander Stille (Italy)
- "Likud has proved that what anxious voters from the majority want is paternalistic action, and they don't want the government promising broad measures that seem to advance minorities at their expense." - Bernard Avishai (Israel)
- "Don't hate people for voting for Trump. Understand them, engage with them today, understand your own impulses. Don't force fence-sitters to jump on the side of the bigots by you calling them so." - Satyen K. Bordoloi (India)
- "So what can those of us who are outraged about Trump do? We need to reclaim control of the story, to look past the numbers and rescue the true story from the false story. But for that we need candidates who can tell the truth with equal passion, directness, and narrative appeal...We need to give Americans a sense of confidence in the world, not a fear of it; a sense of pride in what the country has become under Obama - a chance of greatness for all Americans, not just the white ones." - Suketu Mehta (India)
- "A lot of people are living really unwealthy lives so they have to work not one but two jobs, so they don't have time to analyze and check facts, and you cannot blame them...[and after the promise benefits of globalization have not borne out] they don't trust bureaucrats, they don't trust politicians, and they don't really trust media." - Nadya Tolokonnikova via Jim Rutenberg (Russia)
- "The Kremlin's goal is not merely to create national bifurcation. The goal is to create confusion of allegiance, of trust, of truth, loss of faith in the open society, in the very epistemology of empirical fact...The implied message [of Putin] goes something like...'Here's our pact: you stay entertained but confused, paranoid even. That's why you need me.' " - Melik Kaylan
- "It's not that Trump supporters are too stupid to see right from wrong: it's that you're more valuable to them as an enemy than as a compatriot. Your challenge is to prove that you belong in the same tribe as them - that you are American in exactly the same way they are...Recognize that you're the enemy that Trump requires. Show concern, not contempt, for the wounds of those who brought him to power." - Andres Miguel Rondon (Venezuela)

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me a while to work through, because it can be hard to read. But, like many things in this day and age, it should be required reading for everyone. For those of you with family members (I count myself here) who doubt the level of problem we're dealing with, you'll find plenty of essays in here that you could send to them as one-offs so as to avoid a "Rules for Resistance" cover.

Here are some of the ones that had me most furiously circling or writing in the margins:

-Miklos Haraszti, "I Watched a Populist Leader Rise in My Country. That's Why I'm Genuinely Worried for America" (Hungary)
-Anne Applebaum, "Advice from Europe for Anti-Trump Protesters" (Poland)
-Alexander Stille, "Donald Trump, America's Own Silvio Berlusconi" (Italy)
-N. Turkuler Isiksel, "Prepare for Regime Change, Not Policy Change" (Turkey)
-Bernard Avishai, "What Americans Against Trump Can Learn from the Failures of the Israeli Opposition" (Israel) [for the last paragraph]
-Satyen K. Bordolio, "Surviving Trump: Tips from the World's Largest Democracy to the Oldest" (India)
-Andres Miguel Rondon, "In Venezuela, We Couldn't Stop Chavez. Don't Make the Same Mistakes We Did" (Venezuela)
-Alexey Kovalev, "A Message to My Doomed Colleagues in the American Media" (Russia)

If you aren't sure where to start even of those, start with Rondon and Applebaum. And all these essays were published elsewhere first, so you might be able to find them through a search.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended read for all those that want to effectively influence the politics around them. The tips from man people around he world - that have experienced similar situations - are very valuable. But what I liked most was a list of actions to influence you local politician that was composed by a group of staff members of politicians. If anybody know how to do it, they do. I learned a lot about how much a political really does care about certain things that are very much in control (or can at least be significantly influenced) by local constituents. These ideas are very empowering. The authors write: "I don't know any politician who is not borderline compulsive about their reputation." That book contains many ideas how you can help your local politician with his reputation...

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this reminded me of showing up to an Al-Anon meeting. When you are dealing with an addict everything feels so random and insane, but when you meet others who have been through the same experience you realize that there is a pattern to the behavior of an addict and their erratic behavior isn't hard to anticipate once you have freed yourself from denial. Authoritarian populist demogogues behave in a way that seems random and insane as well, but as you hear from people around the world who have lived through authoritarion populists coming into power, you start to see the pattern. At least a third of our country is still in denial.
Yes, I am implying that if you are a Trump supporter you are in denial. This is a short book, I suggest reading it before you try to disagree with me.

[atom_box Evan G · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the essays I read in *Rules for Resistance* were excellent.

You don’t need to read this book cover to cover. Just reading any half dozen essays will be worthwhile—and it won’t take much time, as they were originally published as newspaper Op-Eds. Each essay takes about 30 minutes to read and reflect on.

Most unusual perspective:
Ai Weiwei, *"Remarks on Erasure"* (China)

Best Throughline, from Reagan's FCC Policy to Today:
Alexander Stille, *"Donald Trump, America’s Own Silvio Berlusconi"* (Italy)

If you only read one:
Andres Miguel Rondon, *"In Venezuela, We Couldn't Stop Chavez. Don't Make the Same Mistakes We Did"* (Venezuela)

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essays of advice from multiple sources all experienced in the ways & methods of recent authoritarian, populist demagogues in places such as Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Hungary, The Phillipines & China. Also recommendations for survival of the profession from journalists with similar exposure. Taken one source at a time, most of this advice seems cogent but so much advice, not always complimentary, makes one think of the axiom that goes: a person with a watch always knows the time but a person with two watches never does.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to say that I "liked" the book. I did appreciate the collection of essays that helped to put the election of Trump in perspective. The two biggest lessons I learned from this was not to let his supporters polarize us more and engage people with opposing political and ideological views in conversation without contempt.

[Jordan]

Eon if you see this I'm sorry it took me a million years to read this. Your hold is now available lol