Project South Is Fighting to Deliver Systemic Change in the Black Radical Tradition

Project South is a movement-building organization based in Georgia with a history rooted in progressive politics that aims to give people the tools they need to make change at home and in their communities. “Our mission is rooted in the Black radical tradition of the principles of long-term organizing,” said Project South’s legal and advocacy director, Azadeh N. Shahshahani.

Project South was founded in 1986. Then named the Institute to Eliminate Poverty and Genocide, the organization has been committed to the education and advancement of the people of Georgia and the uplifting of marginalized communities in the state. 

“Our focus is on the U.S. South and so we have various projects,” said Shahshahani.

Taking the fight to the power

Those projects include shutting down immigration detention centers, ending local police coordination with ICE and ensuring immigrants have access to basic human rights—all-important initiatives during the Trump administration’s war on immigrants. 

“We support social justice movements around the region,” Shahshahani said.

The group works with a wide variety of organizations around the progressive world, making Project South a launching point for grassroots initiatives aimed at effecting change throughout the South. By spearheading a number of initiatives with a local to regional scope, Project South has opened the door for other groups to plan and implement their strategies. 

“We’re looking to these traditions of universalism to develop internal resources,” Shahshahani said.

Funding sources

Project South's top funder in recent years has been the Marguerite Casey Foundation, a progressive foundation based in Seattle, WA that backs movement building organizations. Other backers include the NoVo, Kellogg, Surda, and Libra foundations. But the group has also been working to build a base of smaller donors and members. 

Project South came to national attention in September after a whistleblower told them about a doctor performing forced hysterectomies at the ICE facility in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. Working with Georgia Detention Watch and the Government Accountability Project, Project South got the story out to reporters and exposed the extent of the practice. 

A number of approaches to change

That’s part of how Project South operates—using a number of approaches to effect change, said Shahshahani.

“We employ a variety of strategies, from impact litigation to studies, publishing reports, advocacy and organizing, training lawyers, developing community-based education on defending rights, and hearing from the global South,” she said.

The organization has also worked alongside the Black Lives Matter Movement to combat institutional racism in policing and the treatment of Black people in the criminal justice system. Mutual aid is a big part of that effort, Shahshahani said. 

“Sometimes it makes sense to go to courts, but we should not rely on them for liberation,” she said.