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Political Research Associates (PRA) (formerly
Midwest Research, Chicago, 1981-1987), named and known on the Web as
PublicEye.org, is a non-profit research group
located in Somerville,
Massachusetts.
Mission
PRA studies the U.S. political right
wing, as well as white supremacists, 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. [1]
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.[2] . 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." [1]
PRA is likewise criticized by conservative groups. Stanley Kurtz
of the conservative magazine National Review described PRA's
researchers as "conspiracy mongers" for a 1994 report on the
religious right, and claims that PRA used guilt by association
techniques to associate conservative Christians with theocratic Dominionism.[3] 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 criticizes PRA for endorsing the
Plan of Action from the 2001 UN World Conference against
Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, which the Freedom
Center considers to be "a forum for anti-American and anti-Israel
rhetoric."[4][5][6]
PRA responded to Kurtz by stating that the report was "a serious
study of the Dominionist Christian Reconstructionist movement."[7]
See also
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