Defending Democracy with Courage and Joy

What does it take for ordinary people to protect democracy when institutions falter and political intimidation enters public life?

Drawing on her experience as a military intelligence analyst, political strategist, and national leader in the 2020 Election Defenders coalition, Pamela Campos-Palma will examine how communities prepared to prevent violence, counter intimidation, and protect participation during one of the most consequential elections in modern American history. She will explore why democracy’s most important guardrails are ultimately people—and how trust, preparation, moral courage, celebration, and disciplined joy can interrupt fear and create the conditions for collective action and civic victory.

At a time of renewed authoritarian pressure, this presentation offers both lessons from the recent past and an invitation to reconsider what each of us can do to make American democracy more resilient, humane, and worth defending.

Pamela Campos-Palma is a national security strategist, international organizer, and political architect working to democratize foreign policy and build multiracial, working-class power. A former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst and Working Families Party Director of Peace and Security, she has spent the last decade building national political programs activating veterans as catalysts for change and leading movements and impactful campaigns across the United States to counter political violence and corruption, while advancing human rights, peace, and justice.