In an increasingly polarized political climate, traditional methods of pushing for change, such as mass public demonstrations, direct legislative lobbying, or high-level political meetings, face growing friction, institutional pushback, and heightened safety risks for vulnerable communities. Yet, sustainable peace cannot exist without structural justice, making advocacy an indispensable component of the peacebuilding toolkit. This cross-sector panel brings together community organizers, academics, and practitioners working across advocacy, peacebuilding, and social justice to examine how advocacy itself is shifting.
Panelists will speak to specific ways their tactics have changed in response to today's constraints, from quieter community-based networks to digital tools and narrative strategies, favoring approaches that build power and protection quietly rather than through visible, public-facing action. Across their varied fields, advocacy is decentralizing, diversifying, and moving toward strategies that protect both practitioners and the communities they serve from unnecessary risk, all while keeping the cause moving forward rather than letting it stall under current limitations.
Rather than dwelling on the obstacles behind this shift, panelists will focus on what these adaptations make possible, sharing the lower-risk paths and tools that are allowing their work to continue and even grow under pressure. Attendees will walk away with a practical understanding of how advocacy is being reshaped in real time, concrete ideas they can apply to their own work, and a clearer sense that advocacy has not disappeared. It has adapted, and it remains a vital, evolving force for structural change.
Speakers:
- Supriya Baily, PhD, Associate Dean for Academic Administration, Professor, & Co-Director, Center for International Education, Carter School, George Mason University
- D. Wes Rist, Esq., Deputy Executive Director, Genocide Prevention Program, & Ph.D. Candidate in Atrocity Prevention, Carter School, George Mason University
- Madeline Vellturo, Visiting Fellow & Advisor, Strategic Stabilization Advisors, & Director, Former Feds & Friends
