About Us

Dispatches from the Whirlwind is a newsletter providing articles, updates, and analysis from the Whirlwind Institute, a social change strategy center directed by Mark and Paul Engler. The institute’s website is launching soon and we will post more details here as things develop!

In the meantime, you can view an archive of our writing at DemocracyUprising or visit our book website at ThisIsAnUprising.org.

We are movement strategists, theorists, and practitioners who have been writing about organizing and progressive politics for more than two decades. (You can read more about Mark here and Paul here.) In this newsletter, we offer thoughts about how social change works, lessons from social movement history, and methods for tracking the impact of mass protests and activist campaigns. We may also take the opportunity to occasionally send random thoughts on politics and culture, nerd out about movement theory, and highlight people we run across who are doing inspiring work in our world. We hope you will enjoy it, and we love hearing back from you!

Why subscribe?

Dispatches from the Whirlwind is a reader-supported newsletter, and we rely on the kind donations of subscribers to continue our work. Our aim is to offer this content for free so that anyone, anywhere in the world, can learn about strategies for social change. If you value our writing, we encourage you to subscribe below and to donate at any level you are able.

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Articles from Mark and Paul Engler on social change, lessons from movement history, and how we can win.

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