
Call to Action
American democracy is under attack.
As writers and citizens, we cannot stand by and see our institutions dismantled. Please join us in the battle of our lives.
Call, email, write, and show up at the offices of your elected officials. Remind them government is by the people, for the people.
Register to vote and show up at the polls, especially in special and runoff elections. Find out if there’s an election near you and vote prepared and informed at vote.org.
Consider writing an OpEd for one of our nation’s online or print publications (see guidelines below) or submit to our Substack page.
Join Writers for Democratic Action. We’ll keep you informed of specific campaigns and opportunities to volunteer locally.
Don’t have a state WDA chapter? Form one. Contact us, and we’ll get you started.
WDA STANDS WITH PUBLIC MEDIA!
Writers for Democratic Action staunchly opposes the demolition of public media in the United States under the current rescission bills put forward by the House and Senate. National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service have, for decades, provided an essential conversation for all of America on radio and television both. The news divisions of both enterprises have set the standard against which all broadcast journalism is measured.
NPR provides a free-flow of trusted information for over 30 million Americans weekly at pennies to American taxpayers. Many of those listeners are from rural and underserved communities. For over 50 years, beginning with the inception of rural land-based and university-based stations, NPR has provided the structure of true commonwealth, giving voice to the voiceless, and supplying vital knowledge about health, weather, elections, agriculture, literature and art. NPR informs, entertains, educates, and even saves lives.
For half a century, PBS has formed the heart of television at its best. PBS programming redefined what broadcast media could be for children. It remade the documentary form to center history, culture, and worthy entertainment. A nation needs a common language, common stories, and common images, and PBS has provided them. Public Broadcasting has kept the public good––not commerce––at the center of its commitment.
Without the trustworthy values advanced and protected by NPR and PBS, propaganda can replace critical thinking, and democracy itself can shrivel. Autocracy cannot tolerate the free-ranging inquiry and counter-narratives that publicly supported media make possible. The Republicans in the House and the Senate are attacking this pillar of civic virtue at just the worst time, as journalism itself undergoes a crisis of survivability, with the epidemic of newsroom layoffs, take-overs by profit-obsessed corporations, and the destruction of community newspapers everywhere.
Writers for Democratic Action calls for the renewal - not the demolition – of public media. NPR and PBS must be protected. Take one example of the stakes: In 2001, PBS featured Bob Marley on American Masters, and in 2025 honored what would have been his 80th birthday with a concert featuring his great – and ever more relevant – lyric: “Get up, stand up! Stand up for your right! Get up stand up, Don’t give up the fight!”
What a 1964 Book About American Anti-Intellectualism Can Teach Us About the Trump Era:
On Richard Hofstadter & the Current Assault on Academia
By Peter Balakian
Literary Hub, July 9, 2025
Sending our warmest thanks to the D.C. & Maryland Chapter of Writers for Democratic Action for this event held on June 13th!
TAKING HEART: DC Writers on Courage
Fri, Jun 13, 2025 , 2:00pm-4:00pm
Mason Exhibitions, 3601 Fairfax Avenue, Arlington, Virginia
Poets, novelists, essayists, and translators read texts on the theme of Courage. Participants included Stephanie Bastek, Amy Bernstein, Marguerite Feitlowitz, Lauren Francis-Sharma, Paul Jaskunas, Katie King, Leeya Mehta, and Katherine Young. The reading was modeled on the example of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova who, while, standing in a Soviet prison bread line, was asked by a fellow inmate, "Can you describe this?" "Yes," she said, "I can." A response at once humble and heroic. Brimming over with Heart and Courage.
Join Us for a TOWN HALL on Wednesday, July 2th!
Our deep thanks to the 2,100 U.S. towns and cities AND the estimated 5 million people who participated in the NO KINGS DAY protests nationwide!
NO KINGS’ DAY
JUNE 14 — NATIONWIDE
Organized by 50501 Movement
Writers for Democratic Action mobilized on Saturdays, April 5th and 19th to stop the MAGA assault on our country and Constitution. Now, please join us and millions of other Americans across the nation on Saturday, June 14th, when we will take to the streets to peacefully defend our freedoms, our rights, and our future. When those in power try to silence us, we rise louder. When they attack our communities, we fight back—together. Join us on June14th!
Find a protest in your area HERE.
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Drawing by Laurent Corvaisier @lemondefr
A Reflection on the Neofascist Character of the Trump Administration & the MAGA Movement
By Siri Hustvedt
Published in Le Monde
April 9, 2025
Stand with The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights!
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) published a new rule that gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) broad access to the immigration status of sponsors and families of unaccompanied children for enforcement purposes and removes safeguards against release denials based solely on a sponsor's immigration status.
This rule went into effect on March 25, 2025 (the same day the Rule was published) and comments are due May 27th. The Rule eliminates a provision of the ORR Foundational Rule that includes critical protections for unaccompanied children and their families. The deleted provision states that “ORR shall not disqualify potential sponsors based solely on their immigration status and shall not collect information on immigration status of potential sponsors for law enforcement or immigration enforcement related purposes. ORR shall not share any immigration status information relating to potential sponsors with any law enforcement or immigration enforcement related entity at any time.”
Federal law requires federal agencies to consider public comments submitted about these kinds of rules. That's why we need as many people as possible to send in unique comments opposing this rule. You can use our template language, set up in the form by clicking below. You can also submit a comment directly through the government website. (One note: while we encourage you to share personal experiences that are relevant, please do not share any names or identifying information about clients.)
Thank you for standing with immigrant children and their families!
UPDATE
Mahmoud Khalil released from Ice detention after more than three months (The Guardian, June 21, 2025)
We Stand with Mahmoud Khalil and Condemn the Criminalization of Constitutionally-Protected Activism.
Writers for Democratic Action condemns the illegal arrest and attempted deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist and legal U.S. resident. The disappearance of Khalil from his Columbia University housing, in front of his pregnant wife, at the hands of unnamed plainclothes agents, is a chilling escalation of state repression—one that evokes the darkest chapters of history, where unaccountable forces abduct dissenters under the cover of “un-American activity.” The constitutional right to protest is at the core of what it means to live in America.
This is not just an attack on Khalil; it is a warning to all who dare to speak out against injustice. It is an act of intimidation meant to silence those who stand for Palestinian rights, for justice, for freedom. We refuse to be intimidated. We refuse to be silent.
These are dangerous times, in which Gestapo-style tactics are being normalized in the United States. If we do not resist, if we do not demand accountability now, then we accept a future in which no one is safe from the State’s unchecked power. We demand Mahmoud Khalil’s immediate release. We demand transparency, due process, and the protection of all those targeted for their political beliefs. And we demand an end to the criminalization of constitutionally-protected activism.
See our DEMOCRACY THEATER PROJECT page for details on our April 19th event:
Paul Revere Resists
“Reimagining Paul Revere’s ride to address Trump-era threats” by Renée Loth, April 17, in The Boston Globe!
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See our DEMOCRACY BOOK CLUB page for details on our March 30th event:
Seeking Sanctuary: Refugees, Migrants, Immigrants and the Protection of Human Rights
Consider writing an OpEd for one of our country’s prominent online or print publications!
See The OpEd Project guidelines here.
Oppose the Attack on Education!
Donald Trump and his administration have drafted an executive order to eliminate the US Department of Education, which was created in 1979 to coordinate most financial assistance to education. The Department's mission is to serve America's students by ensuring equal access. Make no mistake: this is an attack against the marginalized. This is an attack against literacy. This is an attack against our fundamental rights.