About Choose Democracy
The year was 2020. We were in the middle of a pandemic, heightened police violence, multiple uprisings, massive wildfires, and a federal election. Months before the election, President Donald Trump warned us that he would reject unfavorable election results.
Many people brushed it off. We didn’t. The great sage Maya Angelou warned us, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” We believed and starting as an all-volunteer team created Choose Democracy. We shared lessons evidence-based lessons about stopping a coup from movements from around the world. We trained tens of thousands on what to do if there was an election-related power grab — a coup — across the political spectrum.
We continue to house resources on stopping coups on the web: ChooseDemocracy.us
In 2024, we reformed again to shared time-tested strategy from people who have fought against autocratic uprisings. We freely share all our resources, interviews, articles, and training materials on our website.
Who developed the Choose-your-own-adventure?
Daniel Hunter (author)
In 2004, Daniel co-founded Choose Democracy to train tens of thousands about what to do in case of a Trump coup. He has trained pro-democracy movements in Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, India, and many other places.
Daniel has written multiple books: Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow, Climate Resistance Handbook, and Strategy and Soul — a thrilling personal story about community organizing and direct action.
With over three decades of activist training experience, his training tools are used across the globe for helping people fight for a better, more democratic world.
Elizabeth Beier (artist)
Elizabeth Beier is a freelance illustrator, graphic facilitator and painter. Over a diverse career she often returns to the meeting point between art, writing, and activism. From 2016-2018 she authored and illustrated political comics for The Lily, a feminist project within The Washington Post.
Her first published book, The Big Book of Bisexual Trials and Errors, was named by Advocate.com as one of the best LGBT graphic novels of 2017. She first became involved with Choose Democracy in 2020 by creating animations that illustrated tactics to stop a coup. Since 2023 Beier has contracted with the group Illustrating Progress to provide storytelling and artwork for social justice causes.