Everything about Political Research Associates totally explained
»
Political Research Associates (PRA) (formerly Midwest Research, Chicago, 1981-1987) is a non-profit research group located in
Somerville, Massachusetts.
Mission
PRA studies the
U.S. political
right wing, as well as
white supremacists,
anti-Semitic groups, and
paramilitary organizations. It has a full-time staff of six. The director is Rev. Dr.
Katherine Hancock Ragsdale. Dr. Jean V. Hardisty was the director from 1981 to 2004.
Chip Berlet is the group's senior analyst. Researchers include Tarso Luís Ramos and Pam Chamberlain.
PRA publishes a journal,
The Public Eye, three times a year, which reports on specific and current movements or trends within the U.S. political Right, and also produces special reports, past examples of which include "Calculated Compassion," which details attacks on
gays and
lesbians, and "Decades of Distortion," which alleged
scapegoating of welfare recipients.
The group provides public speakers, and has staff on hand to answer queries from journalists, researchers, and activists. Its annual funding of approximately $700,000 per year comes from foundation grants, individual contributions, and the sale of research materials. Expenditures are directed toward staffing, general & administrative expenses, programs and fundraising. . Among its major donors are the
Public Welfare Foundation and the
Ford Foundation.
PRA is supported by a number of
progressive and
liberal activists, including Anne Braden of the
Southern Organizing Committee, and Suzanne Pharr of the
Highlander Research Center. Pharr has written that PRA "sets the standard for researchers and political analysts of integrity," and describes the group's research as "thorough, thoughtful, carefully researched, and presented within a broad context of understanding of the complex relationships and activities of the Right." PRA responded to Kurtz by stating that the report was "a serious study of the Dominionist Christian Reconstructionist movement."
The
David Horowitz Freedom Center accuses PRA mainstay
Chip Berlet of engaging in "smear" tactics and accuses PRA of promoting a "hard-left agenda." The article on PRA at Horowitz'
Discover the Networks (DTN) site says the organization's purpose is to promote the
Marxist doctrines of "
dialectical materialism" and "progressive internationalism." It says PRA endorsed the adoption of the Plan of Action from the 2001 UN
World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, "largely a forum for anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric."
Professors of
sociology Betty A. Dobratz, PhD (
Iowa State University) and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile, PhD (
University of Nebraska-Lincoln), authors of
The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride” wrote about Political Research Associates and several other “watchdog” groups: “What the ‘watchdog’ groups focus on is at least partially influenced by the fact that these organizations depend on public financial support, and the public is likely to contribute to groups that they perceive are struggling against some major threat to America. We relied on
SPLC and
ADL reports for general information, but we've noticed differences between ways events have been reported and what we saw at rallies.”
Further Information
Get more info on 'Political Research Associates'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://political_research_associates.totallyexplained.com">Political Research Associates Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
