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Political Research Associates (PRA) is an independent non-profit research group located in Somerville, Massachusetts, which studies the U.S. political right wing, including white supremacists, anti-Semitic groups, and paramilitary organizations. It was founded in 1981 by Dr. Jean V. Hardisty, and has a full-time staff of six. The director is Katherine Hancock Ragsdale. Chip Berlet is the group's senior analyst. Researchers include Pam Chamberlain. According to PRA's most recent Annual Report, 70% of its expenses are for general administrative and staffing salaries, with only 18% allocated to "programs".
PRA publishes a journal, The Public Eye, three times a year, which reports on specific movements or trends, and also produces special reports, past examples of which include "Calculated Compassion," which details attacks on gays and lesbians, and "Decades of Distortion," about the scapegoating of welfare recipients.
The group provides public speakers, and has staff on hand to answer queries from journalists, researchers, and activists.
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."
Critics include Daniel Brandt, the founder of Google Watch, who has described PRA as a "private intelligence agency," a type of organization that will "generally inbreed with their adversaries and mutate into a peculiar political animal." . David Horowitz's right-wing DiscovertheNetworks.org (DTN) accuses PRA of engaging in "smear tactics" and promoting a "hard-left agenda." According to DTN, PRA promotes the Marxist doctrine of "dialectical materialism," supports what DTN calls "Palestinian anti-Semitism," discourages political cooperation between liberals and conservatives "regardless of the underlying cause," calls for the end of policies that discriminate against immigrants "passed on the basis of legal status in the wake of September 11," seeks to combat "conspiracism," and promotes "progressive internationalism."
PRA funding is derived from foundation grants, individual contributions, and the sale of research materials. Among its major donors are the Public Welfare Foundation, Peter Edelman, the Ford Foundation, and Barbra Streisand.
References
- Website of Political Research Associates
- PRA 2004 Annual Report, p. 16 (PDF).
- "Cyberspace Wars: Microprocessing vs. Big Brother" by Daniel Brandt, Namebase.org
- Political Research Associates profile on DiscovertheNetworks.org