June 11, 2024
Philanthropy Must Safeguard Our Right to Protest, a Key Pathway to Progress
In a new opinion piece for Inside Philanthropy, Philanthropy Must Safeguard Our Right to Protest, a Key Pathway to Progress, Solidaire Network Executive Director Rajasvini (Vini) Bhansali calls on funders to actively defend our fundamental rights to free speech and assembly, noting that “philanthropy cannot leave front-line organizers with the burden of safeguarding our civil liberties and collective safety.”
The piece explores the alarming rise of political repression, including over 300 anti-protest laws introduced since 2017, and attacks against nonprofits and educational institutions where legislation threatens their very existence and academic freedom. Vini uplifts the powerful work of our movement partners leading efforts to protect our movements and highlights our Janisha R. Gabriel Movement Protection Fund and other allies that are resourcing safety.
“Movements require an ecosystem of values-aligned service providers from and for movement organizing. The following are just a few we’ve worked with. Vision Change Win provides holistic community safety and security support, assessments and training rooted in intergenerational traditions from Black, queer, trans and feminist liberation movements. Shake Technologies, our security provider, offers digital security services, training and forensics in alignment with the values of movements for gender, disability, racial and climate justice. Equality Labs is a movement provider that takes a trauma-informed approach to digital and physical security and resilience, and is rooted in the struggle against caste apartheid, white supremacy and gender-based violence. “
— Vini Bhansali for Inside Philanthropy
Vini calls on philanthropy to step up by investing in legal advocacy and providing robust security measures to protect movements. We cannot afford to stay neutral in the face of these threats to our democracy.
“We believe strongly that funders are not just bystanders — we must act as agents to safeguard our constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly. It’s time for philanthropy to invest in the urgent security needs, long-term security infrastructure and legal advocacy of movements that enable us to protest and engage in other forms of dissent as a key pathway to social progress.”
— Vini Bhansali for Inside Philanthropy
