PRACTICING DEMOCRACY EVERYDAY TOOLKIT

This toolkit is a working document. We will continue to add tools and resources.

ABOUT THIS TOOLKIT 

For the past eight years, Women’s March has answered the call to resist in the face of the threat of fascism in this country. We have moved people into action through marches, direct action, civic engagement, and more.

In 2025, that fight has become more dire. A second Trump administration has been marked by increasingly more drastic attempts to dismantle our government, attack the most marginalized, and undermine democracy. With right-wing control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government, we have seen moderate and liberal politicians effectively stand down and give in to inaction. The impact of this has been the enactment of tremendously harmful actions and policies, including the mass firing of federal employees, the targeting of the administration’s political opposition, and the erosion of the social safety net.

In short, we are witnessing a fascist takeover in real time, and our elected officials have done nothing to stop it. But here’s the thing: fascism cannot thrive when we are actively practicing democracy.

In communities across the country, everyday people from both sides of the political spectrum are holding politicians’ feet to the fire. And they are cowering in fear. Right-wing legislators are so afraid to face the wrath of their constituents that they are not showing up for their own townhalls. We can beat back fascism if we remember that the practice of democracy does not start or stop at the ballot box; we must be practicing democracy every single day. 

The Invitation

We believe that we must rebuild our appetite and muscle for taking democratic action if we plan to win. This toolkit is designed to help you and your community do just that. Throughout the toolkit you will find examples of ways you can be in the practice of democracy in your life, in your community, every day.

On March 13, Congresspeople leave DC and return to their districts. Let them hear us make noise. Let us show love to those who have remained accountable, who have worked hard on our behalf. Let us light a fire under those who have stood idly by and capitulated in advance as our rights were eroded. And let us bring fire to those who have actively participated in that erosion.

At the same time we invite you to extend that practice of democracy beyond Congress, beyond the federal government, and beyond even elected officials. Take this toolkit and build democracy at the neighborhood level, the municipal level, the state level. Use this toolkit as a guide and an inspiration.

Drop your actions on our map at action.womensmarch.com to get others involved and stay connected to others practicing democracy across the country. Email WM Organizingfor more information and support.

ADVOCATING WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS

There are many ways to advocate directly with your elected officials. Below are just a few examples of how you and your community can hold your elected officials accountable. We encourage you to utilize the tactics that make sense where you are. Be creative and culturally relevant. Think about which tactic will be the most impactful for the issue as well as for the targeted elected official. Also, think about your path to escalation. If one tactic doesn’t work, how do you increase the pressure?

Townhalls

We are seeing townhalls be very effective across the country as a way to bring pressure and accountability, especially with those politicians who have supported, or at the very least not vocally opposed, harmful actions and policies. Many politicians organize townhalls when they return to their districts. Keep an eye on the calendars and social media of your local elected officials so that you can be aware of when they are hosting townhalls. Here are some steps you can take when there is a townhall in your district.

1. Pack the townhall. Share the information for the townhall with your networks, and get them to share in their networks as well. Post on social media, text in the group chat, call your folks. The goal is to get as many like-minded people as possible to show up. You might create an event page so people can RSVP and get reminders and updates. Think of something you all can do to identify yourselves as being on the same side. Maybe you pick a color that you all wear. Or maybe you set up a table outside of the venue and pass out buttons or ribbons. Be sure to remind people as the date gets closer. Encourage people to carpool, or offer support to folks who are interested but might have obstacles to attend.

2. Push the conversation. Whatever the driving issue is for your community, make sure it’s raised and addressed in the townhall. Encourage all of your people to sign up to speak. Offer talking points and fact sheets to help people prepare their comments. Ask hard questions, and have subsequent speakers be prepared to ask follow ups, correct misinformation or disinformation, and comment on responses. Prepare signs that spread your message. If you have time, you could even make t-shirts or buttons. Prepare chants and identify chant leaders ahead of time with a plan for when and how to disrupt.

3. Spread the word beyond the room. It’s important to ensure that what happens in the townhall does not stay in the townhall. Consider drafting a press advisory and release and sending out to local media outlets to encourage them to attend the townhall. Be sure to let them know that residents will be showing up in force. Media coverage is more likely if they have a strong hook, so think about what kind of spectacle you might be able to create. Maybe this is a banner drop, or a sea of pregnant people coming out in support of Medicaid access. Maybe it is the visual of large numbers of people in one color lined up to enter, or the audible spectacle of chanting. Maybe all of your people stand at once in a chant in the middle of the townhall. Make noise. Make yourself seen and heard.

Don’t solely rely on media outlets to spread the word for you. Invite local content creators to attend. Designate people to take pictures and film content. Have some people go live from their social media accounts. Encourage folks to post live updates from the townhall. Get as many eyes on the room as possible.

4. Keep the momentum going. Don’t let people walk away from the townhall without some way to keep fighting. Have some way to collect contact information for people who want to stay involved. We encourage you to bring out the paper and pen to ensure that people of all ages and levels of access have a way to plug in. It might be handy to already have something planned that you can invite people to before they leave. If so, have something ready that you can put in their hands.

Some of you may be in districts where your elected officials are avoiding holding townhalls. In that case, we encourage you to organize your own townhalls. You might even invite other elected officials to speak. A few Congresspeople have offered to attend townhalls in other districts. Or, you can invite state legislators to speak to the issues as well. Alternatively, you might invite advocates who are working on the issues that are important to you.

Blitzes

Another common way of holding legislators accountable is through a blitz. This is especially useful when there is a specific vote or piece of legislation that is timely. You can organize your networks to do a phone and/or email blitz of your legislator’s office. Find their number and/or email address on their official website and share alongside info about the issue/vote/policy. You should offer a sample script, talking points, and even fact sheets or explainers about the issue for those who want to get more information. Encourage people to leave messages if they cannot get through. Develop a hashtag, and invite people to post on their social media when they have made a call or sent an email and what the results were. You might partner with an existing organization, as some organizations may be able to provide you with a tool that you can share with your networks that prefills emails and makes it easier to send them en masse.

Petition Campaigns

You might also think about launching a petition campaign. Online petitions are very popular and can be effective if used properly. Women’s March offers a tool that allows you to easily create and share an online petition. You should consider what your numerical goal is; how many petitions would be an impactful amount for your community? Develop a plan to deliver the signatures to your legislator. This is an opportunity to think about what escalation might look like. For instance, maybe you work to set up a meeting where you can deliver the petitions alongside a group of your neighbors. If your elected official denies or will not respond to requests for a meeting, then you might attempt to deliver the petitions at a townhall. If they dodge the townhall then perhaps you stage a protest or a direct action at their offices to deliver the signatures. And so forth. Think of the petition as an avenue to pressure them into a response, not as a goal in and of itself.

BUILDING COMMUNITY

So much of democracy is about civic participation. How do we build shared space to discuss what is important to us? Where do we gather to work through our issues? Much of what we have to be up to in these coming days is building our capacity to advocate together, to have the hard conversations, to shape our communities. Here are some ways that you can build democracy through building community.

Pancakes and Politics

One of the most foundational ways of being in community together is to gather over food.  Many communities use that as an opportunity to learn and debate together.  Organize a gathering over a meal. Invite your friends, neighbors, your facebook group, whatever makes sense for you. Think ahead about a theme or topic for discussion. Develop a simple agenda to include introductions (if you are mixing networks), the discussion itself, and potentially an action that you can take together, like writing emails to elected officials or making protest signs. It may be useful to develop a few discussion questions to get you started. If you decide to do a regular gathering, consider rotating hosts and locations, and expanding your invite list each time.

Book Clubs

Political study is a vital part of organizing. There is so much that we can learn from what has been researched and theorized and written already. But political study in community has been and continues to be a hallmark of feminist organizing. Organize a book club in your community. Reach out to your local library system; they may be able to help you get copies of the books and even may have meeting space available. Do a small group with your network, or organize a larger group for your broader community. Share out the book title a few weeks in advance to give people time to read the book. Develop some discussion questions for when you gather. If you’d like to go deeper, you might consider breaking the book into smaller parts and actually reading the book aloud together. This allows for people to be able to participate and learn from each other across literacy and comprehension levels, and builds a deeper shared understanding of the text. In your discussion, be sure to apply the content to your own context, i.e., what does the analysis offer to help you better understand what you are seeing locally or across the country?

PARALLEL GOVERNANCE

One way to build our capacity for democracy, and truly to practice the kinds of governance we want is to participate in parallel governance. In many movements that advocate for self-determination of oppressed groups (the Black liberation movement, for example), parallel governance is a key strategy for decision-making and accountability. We can think of parallel governance as movements and everyday people taking on (and sometimes displacing) the functions of the state. It is a strategy for both responding to the gaps and crises of government, and envisioning and creating the kinds of infrastructure we want and need. Below are some ways you can practice parallel governance in your community.

People’s Assemblies

People’s assemblies have been used across the globe as a practice of direct democracy to identify issues within a community, and develop and execute solutions. In some places, they have ultimately resulted in processes to elect and hold accountable people’s candidates for office.  There are a number of resources online on how to organize People’s Assemblies. In the US, the People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) process has been developed through the US Social Forums as a resource for social movements. Here is a guide to organizing a PMA from Atlanta-based organization Project South.

Mutual Aid Projects

Mutual aid is also a practice of parallel governance. Organizer Mariame Kaba writes, “Mutual aid is a practice and politic that emphasizes solidarity rather than charity.” Mutual aid projects have sprouted across the country in the years since the emergence of COVID-19. They have served as a vital mechanism to fill the needs of the most marginalized and at-risk, as well as to build community and connection. Women’s March is launching trainings and infrastructure to support mutual aid projects in the Spring. Email WM Organizingto be put on the list to receive information when those dates are finalized.