Emergencies of authoritarianism require not only a precise theoretical analysis, but also an urgent political response. In our series ‘Emergency Calls’, we talk to non-academic partners to ask them for advice: What is changing under authoritarian rule, especially for marginalized and vulnerable groups? What are the international connections of different authoritarian conjunctures? And above all: What is to be done?

In our first episode, we talk to Silky Shah, Executive Director of the Detention Watch Network in the USA, about Trump’s attack on immigrant rights, migrant self-organization, and perspectives on the antifascist struggle.

Silky Shah is the Executive Director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition building power to end immigrant detention in the United States, and the author of Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition. She has been working as an organizer on issues related to racial and migrant justice for over two decades and has appeared in numerous national and local media outlets, including The Washington Post, NPR, and MSNBC.

Photo credit: Detention Watch Network