Right to Democracy focuses on three key strategies for confronting and dismantling the undemocratic colonial framework in U.S. territories: Participatory Advocacy, Narrative and Cultural Change, and Ecosystem Building.

Participatory Advocacy

The colonial framework governing U.S. territories was created by all three branches of the federal government, and it will take engagement by all three branches to dismantle it. That is why our advocacy focuses on driving change and accountability not just through the courts, but also through participatory advocacy in Congress and the Executive Branch. We also work to bring together leaders in U.S. territories and throughout the United States to press the federal government to finally address the problem it created.

Narrative and Cultural Change

Central to solving the colonial problem in the United States is getting the United States to recognize there is a colonial problem to begin with. We leverage our advocacy to work with journalists, educators, artists, and others to engage people in the United States and each of the territories to shift the status quo narrative and cultural normalization of the undemocratic system governing U.S. territories.

Ecosystem Building

The last 125 years have demonstrated that the colonial framework governing U.S. territories will not be dismantled in the absence of any real people’s movement to do so. We work to facilitate and support a multisectoral network of leaders - including civil society, community-based organizations, national civil rights groups, academia, philanthropy, and government - to co-create and build this movement. With a real ecosystem and movement behind it, the systemic change that has long been elusive can become a reality.