How to Stand Up to a Dictator

The Fight for Our Future

De: Maria Ressa

Narrado por: Maria Ressa, Rebecca Mozo

From the recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize comes an impassioned and inspiring memoir that chronicles her career fighting fascism, filled with insights and advice for standing against authoritarian bullies and confronting disinformation and lies. It includes a foreword by Amal Clooney.

Maria Ressa is one of the most renowned international journalists of our time. For decades, she challenged corruption and malfeasance in her native country, the Philippines, on its rocky path from an authoritarian state to a democracy. As a reporter from CNN, she transformed news coverage in her region, which led her in 2012 to create a new and innovative online news organization, Rappler. Harnessing the emerging power of social media, Rappler crowdsourced breaking news, found pivotal sources and tips, harnessed collective action for climate change, and helped increase voter knowledge and participation in elections.

But by their fifth year of existence, Rappler had gone from being lauded for its ideas to being targeted by the new Philippine government, and made Ressa an enemy of her country’s most powerful man: President Duterte. Still, she did not let up, tracking government seeded disinformation networks which spread lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate. Hounded by the state and its allies using the legal system to silence her, accused of numerous crimes, and charged with cyberlibel for which she was found guilty, Ressa faces years in prison and thousands in fines.

There is another adversary Ressa is battling. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is also the story of how the creep toward authoritarianism, in the Phillipines and around the world, has been aided and abetted by the social media companies. Ressa exposes how they have allowed their platforms to spread a virus of lies that infect each of us, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hate, and how this has accelerated the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world. She maps a network of disinformation—a heinous web of cause and effect—that has netted the globe: from Duterte’s drug wars to America's Capitol Hill; Britain’s Brexit to Russian and Chinese cyber-warfare; Facebook and Silicon Valley to our own clicks and votes.

Democracy is fragile. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is an urgent cry for Western listeners to recognize and understand the dangers to our freedoms before it is too late. It is a book for anyone who might take democracy for granted, written by someone who never would. And in telling her dramatic and turbulent and courageous story, Ressa forces listeners to ask themselves the same question she and her colleagues ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Maria Ressa (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Wow

It’s been a really long time since I’ve walked away from my book both admiring the person who wrote it, and being energized to continue to fight for social justice. I also have not learned so much from a book in a very long time. Although I grew up in the world of Facebook, I really had no idea the impact it has had. I didn’t listen to the news as it came out. Read this book or listen to it. It is amazing.

Inspiring

Maria’s fortitude and moral compass shine through. She also shares surprisingly personal stories. Is humble and yet focused throughout. Hearing it in her unique and delightful voice and clear TV reporter delivery drives the message home.

Powerful story and cautionary tale

I was not fully aware of what the war on journalists meant until I listened to this book.

If you want democracy to survive, read this book.

It is often the things that are written least about that are the most intriguing. For instance, in this book, Maria Ressa barely mentions the Russian funded troll group that was attacking her or the Chinese disinformation that was closely tied to Duterte. What we do learn, is that these deliberate actors have been very good at manipulating all of us all through Facebook whether we are conscious of it or not. The book ends with suggestions for change that may require being reread over and over again in order to fully comprehend the solution.

Scary facts

Well written and presented. It gives us hope
And a way forward. I’m thankful for Maria

a must read

Absolutely loved each moment of the adventure. A must read for concerned about democracy

An important guide for Americans today.

Great biography showing how we must continue to stand up to fascists around the world.
Always resist and tell the truth.

Fact-based, on point, and timely!

Maria Ressa brings clarity to the monster of social media and its impact on diminishing the availability of fact-based news and truth. Social Media can readily be weaponized and allows oligarchs, dictators, and the powerful to manipulate public opinion while financially benefiting the shareholders of these platforms. The algorithms that drive traffic are designed to amplify hate and bias, generating hits through sharing and resharing, and driving ad revenue. Social media has become a threat to truth and democracy, and Maria Ressa's history and clarity bring into focus the dangers that result.

Must read for all concerned about our democracy

For anyone who is concerned about the state of democracy in the United States and how long it can survive, this is a must read. This book was excellent.

Necessary read for anyone committed to Justice

Maria Ressa outlines in great detail the playbook for combatting tyranny and hatred. Journalists like her are the he unsung heroines and heroes in the fight for truth, Justice, and democracy. This book highlights just how deserving her Nobel Peace Prize was and inspires readers to hold the line. Maraming Salamat Maria Ressa!