Research

Christian Reconstructionism

Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence

Overview and Roots The Christian Right has shown impressive resilience and has rebounded dramatically after a series of embarrassing televangelist scandals of the late 1980s, the collapse of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, and the failed…

The Hunt for Red Menace

How Government Intelligence Agencies & Private Right-Wing Groups Target Dissidents & Leftists as Subversive Terrorists & Outlaws

In this report, former PRA senior analyst Chip Berlet exposes the extensive and oftentimes illegal activities of the Right’s counter subversion movement in the United States throughout the 20th century. Rooted in conspiracist and anti-communist…

Black Conservatives: Part Two

A black and white photo of a Black man in glasses, and a black man in a suit.

In order to understand Black conservatism, it is important to understand the character of the Black bourgeoisie. Developing as it did within the context of white cultural oppression, it is not surprising that the values identified by Black…

Article

Confessions of a Religious Defender

Person's hand turning a page of a Bible.

Reading Stephen Carter is a frustrating exercise. His points are argued in reasoned tones, without the bombast or rhetoric of so many Black conservatives. In fact, he argues that he is not a conservative. He frequently assures the reader that he…

Article

Black Conservatives: Part One

A Black man in a suit, and a Black woman in a dress and a hat

For most African Americans the notion of a Black conservative is an oxymoron. The overwhelming majority of us reject conservative political positions because we understand in concrete, everyday, practical terms what conservative policies are and who…

Article

Buchanan, Fulani, Perot, & the Reform Party

The Repressive Side of Right Wing Populism What can possibly explain the Reform Party and the discussions about recruiting Pat Buchanan, that include possible support from H. Ross Perot, and Lenora Fulani? We think the rhetoric of right…

Article

The Wise Use Movement

Right-Wing Anti-Environmentalism

A red and white sign that says "capitalism is killing the planet!"

In the last days of the 1992 presidential campaign, George Bush Sr. denounced “environmental extremists” who sought to lock up natural resources and destroy the American way of life. At the heart of this imagined green conspiracy was the “Ozone…

Article

Environmental Justice

Grassroots Constituencies Criticize the Movement

A protestor's hand holding a sign that says, "Climate Justice Now!"

For many years, the large, mainstream environmental organizations such as The Audubon Society, the Wilderness Society, and the Sierra Club exercised hegemony over the environmental debate in legislation, the media, and publishing. In the 1980s and…

Article

Constructing Homophobia

Colorado's Right-Wing Attacks On Homosexuals

Two trans people in a park, looking at each other, laughing.

An eerie unease hangs in the air in Colorado. For lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, nagging questions pervade everyday life: did the kindly person who just gave me her parking place vote for Amendment 2? Did my landlord vote for the amendment,…

Article

Overcoming Violence

Pride Becomes a Movement

Group of people holding large pride flag above street at pride parade.

Readers who want to defend and advance the gay and lesbian rights movement will find these three recent books particularly helpful. They document the conditions under which lesbians and gay men struggle for liberation. To read about those condi…

Article

Theocracy and White Supremacy: Behind the Culture War to Restore Traditional Values

The first version of this article appeared in December 1992, and reviewed the role of Dominionism inside the Christian Right. To understand the Tea Party of today, it helps to see where the trend emerged. As the United States slides…

Fascism!

Article

Attacks On Greenpeace and Other Ecology Groups

Environmental activists over the past few years have reported a series of incidents involving surveillance, police overreaction, and harassment that lead them to believe they are being targeted by a campaign to discredit them and hamstring…

Article

The Mapplethorpe Censorship Controversy

Chronology of Events: The 1989-1991 Battles The National Endowment for the Arts was established in 1965. President Lyndon Johnson said upon signing the enabling legislation for the NEA, “We fully recognize that no government can call artistic…

Some Notes on the European “New Right”

Article

Fascism Wrapped in the American Flag

A Political Research Associates Briefing Paper In Three Parts Part One Outside the Boston federal courthouse a photographer discretely snaps pictures of certain persons entering the building. In the echoing halls, private security guards…

Report

Cadre or Cult?

Gino Perente, NATLFED & the Provisional Party It’s Northern California in early 1971. On an island in the Feather River, about thirteen people are busy with shovels and picks digging a deep hole. The purpose of their endeavor is to enable…

Search

Research