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.
JOIN US for a TOWN HALL on Saturday, February 22nd, 3-4:30pm ET. Register here!
See our statement below discussing possible actions you can take to oppose the oligarchy taking shape in our nation!
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, we’ll get you started.
You are invited to a TOWN HALL, February 22, 3pm ET!
In this time of crisis every citizen of conscience is called to engage, resist, and push forward. The Town Hall is an open meeting for all who wish to come and discuss strategies for resisting the Trump administration and the dismantling of our democratic system, governance structure, and the Constitution. Featured speakers include former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, scholar Nancy Rosenblum, co-author of Ungoverning, Harold Myerson, editor of The American Prospect, Robert Edwards, author of Resisting The Right, and others. WDA National Steering Committee Members James Carroll and Rachel DeWoskin will host.
NOT My Presidents’ Day
February 17, 2025
Join the Presidents’ Day Protest and support Americans’ efforts to uphold our Constitution and limit executive overreach! Refuse to be complicit in the dismantling of our democratic institutions! Seek out a peaceful protest in your town or city.
Oppose the American Oligarchy!
Right now, an oligarchy is taking shape in the United States. Elon Musk, a billionaire who has no political experience, is not eligible to hold executive public office, and who has not been vetted by the FBI has been granted access to federal payment systems and the social security database. President Trump may have been democratically elected, but Elon Musk was not. We must hold our elected officials accountable to protect democracy. Use these phone numbers and call scripts to act now.
WRITERS RESIST!
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.
CALL NOW TO PROTECT EQUAL ACCESS TO EDUCATION.
Consider writing an OpEd for one of our country’s prominent online or print publications!
See The OpEd Project guidelines here.
A New Plot for America
October, 2024
Join WDA for the 1936 play “It Can’t Happen Here” adapted for our times. . .
Current Affairs
In this moment of devastation and suffering in Israel and Gaza, we turn, for words, to the voices of Israeli and Palestinian poets. . .
YEHUDA AMICHAI
Source: The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2015). Poetry Foundation.
Source: The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (© 2013, Hana Amichai & Chana Bloch, reprinted in Houston’s Favorite Poems, Calypso Editions, 2018, with permission of U California Press).
“Wild Peace”: Yehuda Amichai’s Opinion piece in response to the New York Times, December 9, 1994.
MAHMOUD DARWISH
Source: Unfortunately, It Was Paradise (University of California Press, 2003), Academy of American Poets.
Source: The Butterfly’s Burden (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), Poetry Foundation
“Who Am I Without Exile”: An Essay on Mahmoud Darwish by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha in Volume IX of the Arrowsmith Journal.
A Tribute to MOSAB ABU TOHA
Source: Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (City Lights , 2022) ; Recipient of the Palestine Book Award & the American Book Award; Poetry Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award; and most recently the recipient of the 2022 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry (Arrowsmith Press). Poetry (March 2021)
from the Gaza Notebooks (2021-2023)
My two eyes, when closed,
each see different things:
One me leaving Gaza in peace,
in one piece,
one me getting jailed at the Erez crossing point.
My head: a confused old TV channel
picking up crossed signals. . .
November 21, 2023