Resource Hub
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This collection of resources offersinformation about safety and security for protesters. It includes everything from a digital security checklist and instructions for creating a safety plan, to information about your rights and risks in interacting with law enforcement. We hope that working through this guide helps you minimize risk exposure and build confidence for when you hit the streets!
NOTE: We’re pointing you towards some online resources to get you started. There’s likely already a wealth of protest know-how in your community. Ask around, join local chapters of organizations, and seek out in person trainings! Learning from other activists is necessary and invaluable.
This training syllabi features:
Which types of protests have the strongest First Amendment protections?
Safety steps
Know Your Rights
Taking photos at protests
What happens if things go wrong?
How do I continue movement building beyond attending a protest? Finding and joining organizations.
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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You’re building a movement and want to skill up! This section covers the tough stuff: nuts and bolts of vetting (building your org or action squad), creating security and de-escalation teams for protests, and planning non-violent direct actions. It also covers permitting, organizing protests, and tips on how to successfully grow a group or organization. Our hub focuses on opsec, security, and resilience against state repression, rather than, say, creating comms or honing protest demands, so we encourage you to also seek out other resources! And remember - in-person trainings will always be the best bet to get engaged and increase your knowledge. (Note: This work requires digital security know-how. Check out Syllabus 4 to brush up your skills!)
We’re pointing you towards some online resources to get you started. There’s likely already a wealth of protest know-how in your community. Ask around, and seek out in person trainings!
This training syllabi features:
If you have 5 minutes
Know Your Rights, make a safety plan, and recognize common police tactics
Organizing protests
Growing as an organization
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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Regardless of immigration status, you have rights! And if you’re an ally, you always have choices. Here are know your rights resources for immigrants, response options for activists, and a guide to navigating immigrant aid for nonprofits. As always - your safety and comfort are top priority.
This training syllabi features:
Know Your Rights for immigrants and allies
How can I help, and what is my organization allowed to do?
What to do about EO’s targeting foreign nationals?
Travel advisory for forieng nationals
Aiding immigrants while minimizing legal exposure
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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Digital security keeps our movements safe. The following resources cover how to assess your risks, harden your digital defenses, and engage in surveillance self-defense.
This training syllabi features:
Why do I need digital security?
Have 5 minutes?
Principles of creating a security plan
Threat modeling
Attending a protest on the ground
Planning non-violent direct action
Self-defense: encrypting your devices
If your devices are confiscated
Keeping profiles separate on the internet
Avoiding doxxing / dealing with online harassment
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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Even if you’re under arrest or agents are knocking on your door, you have rights and you have choices. Here’s who to contact in a crisis, a roadmap to your choices in the criminal legal system, and how to respond to subpoenas, warrants, and door knocks.
This training syllabi features:
Who to contact in a crisis
Know your choices once arrested
If you’re being investigated
If there’s an agent at the door
Lawsuits
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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The right to protest is under siege. “Copycat” anti-protest bills are sweeping through state legislatures, corporations are trying to sue activists into silence, and penalties are increasing for protest-related offenses. Here are trackers and big-picture guides for journalists, policymakers, and researchers.
This training syllabi features:
Criminal
Anti-boycott legislation
Civil lawsuits against activists
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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Building legal infrastructure can build organizational muscle, unlock fundraising capacity, and help you expand your work. There are many options for setting up a nonprofit, bail fund, or mutual aid network, and these guides run you through the pros and cons of various legal structures.
This training syllabi features:
Can my tax-exempt status be revoked?: What to know about IRS attacks on 501(c)3 status
Hardening your organization against political investigations
Legal considerations for mutual aid funds
How to protect your nonprofit
Fiscal sponsorship models
Aiding immigrants while minimizing legal exposure
Setting up organizational legal structures
Click Learn More on the right for more information
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In the summer of 2025, President Trump sent federal troops and National Guard units into Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — turning military power inward on the American people. By fall, he extended this dangerous pattern, deploying troops to Memphis with the consent of the Governor, and attempting to send forces into Chicago and Portland until he was blocked by federal courts. Now, he’s threatening to do the same across the United States.
These deployments are illegitimate, dangerous, and undemocratic. Using the military to police our communities is an abuse of power that endangers lives, escalates violence, and erodes our freedom.
This resource exists to help communities push back — to know their rights, expose the truth, and organize against this unjust military intervention in our cities. Together, we can defend our democracy and protect our right to protest, assemble, and live free from government intimidation.
This training syllabi features:
What is the National Guard?
Historical Use of the National Guard
Can the National Guard be deployed in my state?
What to do if the National Guard is deployed in my state?
What are the risks to protesting while the National Guard is deployed?
Click Learn More on the right for more information
We hope that these resources provide useful direction. Unfortunately, we are not your lawyer, and this hub is not intended to provide direct legal advice or representation.
These resources were collected with input from protest defense networks. The organizations whose resources we’ve included do not necessarily endorse every other resource included, and the endorsers of the Free to Speak Bill of Rights do not have a stance on endorsement of the resource hub.
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