March for solidarity

Saturday,  12/20/2026, at 11:45 AM 

Organizer: Peoples’ resistrance Marching Band 

Location: Whetstone Pathway by the COOP 

 The People’s Resistance Marching Band will be parading through downtown Brattleboro Vermont distributing leaflets of this bit of writing on December 20, 11:45-1:00. We would love to have you join us, parading with a sign or instrument, or helping to distribute the leaflets to folks on the street. This will be a buoyant event, energized by  music and solidarity.
Even if you can’t join us in Brattleboro, please consider printing out Nashashibi’s words and distribute them wherever you go: among friends, at events or on bulletin boards.

Four ways to resist authoritarianism – Rami Nashashibi TheGuardian.com

Disrupt. Authoritarian regimes depend on control. Disruption interrupts the machinery of oppression through non-violent civil resistance, collective non-cooperation, and public actions that expose contradictions within the system. Spiritually, disruption is a sacred refusal, the prophetic act of saying no to Pharaoh and grounding protest in spiritual discipline. With this in mind, I offer the first R: resonance. While disruption shakes structures of domination, resonance rebuilds the bonds of belonging. Resonance awakens the heart of the people through music, testimony, sacred gatherings and storytelling. It turns protest into poetry and solidarity into song, tuning our hearts to the same divine frequency.

Delegitimize. No authoritarian system survives without legitimacy. Delegitimization exposes corruption, violence and moral bankruptcy at the system’s core. Its sacred roots lie in truth-telling, naming false gods, stripping power of its sacred disguise and asserting that divine authority belongs to justice, not domination. To deepen this work, I offer the second R: reignite. To reignite is to revive the moral and spiritual flame that sustains organizing, multifaith mobilizations and our commitment to justice and mercy.

Cause defections. Systems collapse when their pillars of support crumble. Strategic defections persuade insiders to withdraw cooperation and shift loyalties. Spiritually, defections are moments of moral awakening that transform insiders into allies of justice guided by conscience rather than fear. The third R is reclamation. As pillars fall, movements must reclaim the sacred center. Reclamation brings forth ancestral traditions and resists the distortion of faith that has long been tied to oppressive regimes.

Develop alternatives. Resistance must not only dismantle tyranny but cultivate the world that comes after it. The work of building alternatives is itself a sacred act, rooted in love, compassion and the prophetic imagination. The fourth R is radical re-imagination. To radically re-imagine is to remember that our sacred traditions expand our sense of what is possible. Radical re-imagination fuels cooperative economies, creative sanctuaries and artistic interventions that refuse to capitulate to evil.


 

Contact: 1dandewalt@gmail.com