The struggle for voting rights in the US today
09/15/21 • 32 min
The most pernicious assault on American democracy today are the laws and measures enacted in various state legislatures under Republican control that aim at voter restriction. Among the foremost voices in the struggle for democratic rights in the United States is Stacey Abrams, U.S. politician and activist. Her campaign for protecting voting rights and resisting disenfranchisement of black and other minority voters has been central in pushing back against these insidious moves that dismantle democracy from within using formally legitimate means. We open our third series of Democracy in Question by asking Stacey to shed light on organizational and political issues around voting rights, democracy, and demography.
Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:
• Central European University: CEU
• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD
• The Podcast Company: Novel
Follow us on social media!
• Central European University: @CEU
• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre
• Our guest Stacey Abrams: @staceyabrams
Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Minority Leader: How to Lead from the Outside and Make Real Change. (2018)
Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America. (2020)
Rules of Engagement (2001)
The Art of Desire (2001)
Power of Persuasion (2002)
Never Tell (2004)
Hidden Sins (2006)
Secrets and Lies (2006)
Reckless (2008)
Deception (2009).
GLOSSARY
What is Hot Call Summer?
(00:13:20 or p.3 in the transcript)
Hot Call Summer was Abram’s ask for people to call their senators demanding they support the For the People Act. Source.
What is nativism?
(00:26:30 or p.4 of the transcript)
Nativism is xenophobic nationalism. An ideology that wants congruence of state and nation as a political cultural unit. Source.
What is the insurrection of January 6?
(00:27:30 or p.4 of the transcript)
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was violently attacked by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump. Source.
The most pernicious assault on American democracy today are the laws and measures enacted in various state legislatures under Republican control that aim at voter restriction. Among the foremost voices in the struggle for democratic rights in the United States is Stacey Abrams, U.S. politician and activist. Her campaign for protecting voting rights and resisting disenfranchisement of black and other minority voters has been central in pushing back against these insidious moves that dismantle democracy from within using formally legitimate means. We open our third series of Democracy in Question by asking Stacey to shed light on organizational and political issues around voting rights, democracy, and demography.
Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:
• Central European University: CEU
• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD
• The Podcast Company: Novel
Follow us on social media!
• Central European University: @CEU
• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre
• Our guest Stacey Abrams: @staceyabrams
Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Minority Leader: How to Lead from the Outside and Make Real Change. (2018)
Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America. (2020)
Rules of Engagement (2001)
The Art of Desire (2001)
Power of Persuasion (2002)
Never Tell (2004)
Hidden Sins (2006)
Secrets and Lies (2006)
Reckless (2008)
Deception (2009).
GLOSSARY
What is Hot Call Summer?
(00:13:20 or p.3 in the transcript)
Hot Call Summer was Abram’s ask for people to call their senators demanding they support the For the People Act. Source.
What is nativism?
(00:26:30 or p.4 of the transcript)
Nativism is xenophobic nationalism. An ideology that wants congruence of state and nation as a political cultural unit. Source.
What is the insurrection of January 6?
(00:27:30 or p.4 of the transcript)
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was violently attacked by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump. Source.
Previous Episode
Can the concept of "fascism" be used to understand the pathologies of US politics, past and present?
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The current rise of right wing populist leaders in democracies around the world, from Donald Trump to Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, has led to a debate on the fuzziness of these new regimes that are eroding liberalism by incorporating totalitarian features. Some argue that the term ‘fascist’ would be useful in understanding the nature of politics in these countries, while others warn against an inflationary use of the term. We close the second season of the podcast by asking Professor Jason Stanley (Yale University) whether the term ‘fascism’ helps us understand what is happening in the US and how this ideology is seeping into democracies the world over.
Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:
• The Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna: IWM
• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD
• The Excellence Chair and Soft Authoritarianism Research Group in Bremen: WOC
• The Podcast Company: Earshot Strategies
Follow us on social media!
• Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna: @IWM_Vienna
• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre
• Our guest Jason Stanley: @jasonintrator
Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Jason Stanley. (2020). How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them.
• Jason Stanley. (2016). How Propaganda Works.
• Arjun Appadurai. (2006). Fear of Small Numbers.
GLOSSARY
Who was Charles Lindbergh?
(00:06:00 or p. 5 in the transcript)
Charles Lindbergh was celebrated as an American hero when he piloted the Spirit of St. Louis from New York to Paris in 1927, the first person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic. Learn more.
What the German-American Bund?
(00:06:00 or p. 5 in the transcript)
The German-American Bund, also called (1933–35) Friends Of The New Germany, was an American pro-Nazi, quasi-military organization that was most active in the years immediately preceding the United States’ entry into World War II. The Bund’s members were mostly American citizens of German ancestry. The organization received covert guidance and financial support from the German government. Military drill and related activities were provided for adults and youths at Bund-maintained camps. Source.
Who was Henry Ford and what is “The International Jew” about?
(00:06:00 or p. 5 in the transcript)
Henry Ford (1863–1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, and founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production.
Ford’s antisemitism became public knowledge soon after he purchased the Dearborn Independent, a newspaper, which in May 1920 launched an antisemitic series titled “The International Jew: The World’s Problem” that continued for several years. The articles were later compiled into a book and sought to bring attention to an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews were plotting to take over the world. Learn more.
What is the Ku Klux Klan?
(00:06:00 or p. 5 in the transcript)
The Ku Klux Klan is either of two distinct U.S. hate organizations that employed terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. One group was founded immediately after the Civil War and lasted until the 1870s. The other began in 1915 and has continued to the present. Learn more.
What was the New Deal?
(00:06:00 or p. 5 in the transcript)
The New Deal was a domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industr...
Next Episode
Language and public discourse in the success of right-wing political movements
What is the nature of the linguistic and discursive repertoires of contemporary right-wing mobilizations in Europe? In this episode of Democracy in Question, presenter Shalini Randeria continues the conversation about the rise of radical right-wing political movements in recent years across the world with Ruth Wodak, Emeritus Distinguished Professor at Lancaster University, and visiting professor at CEU. Together they explore the role of language and public discourse in the scheme of things, asking how this increasingly vitiated public discourse promotes the cause of a politics based on fear.
Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:
• Central European University: CEU
• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD
• The Podcast Company: Novel
Follow us on social media!
• Central European University: @CEU
• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre
Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean by Ruth Wodak (2015)
Methods of Critical Discourse Studies by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer (2015)
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Politics by Ruth Wodak and Bernhard Forchtner (2017)
Österreichische Identitäten im Wandel:Empirische Untersuchungen zu ihrer diskursiven Konstruktion1995-2015 (German Edition) by Rudolf de Cillia, Ruth Wodak, Markus Rheindorf and Sabine Lehner (2020)
The Politics of Fear: The shameless normalization of far-right populist discourses (Second Edition) by Ruth Wodak (2020)
GLOSSARY
What is “Right-wing Populist Perpetuum Mobile”?
(00:3:56 or p.1 in the transcript)
Theory that refers to the strong interdependence between media and parties, where media (and politicians) fall into the traps set by right-wing parties in the form of discursive strategies of provocation, exaggeration and scandalization, helping these parties to frame the agenda and appear on the front page in the news. Source
Who was Jörg Haider?
(00:4:02 or p.1 in the transcript)
Controversial Austrian politician, a charismatic and a skillful orator, who served as leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (1986–2000) and Alliance for the Future of Austria (2005–08) and as governor of the Bundesland (Federal State) of Kärnten (1989–91; 1999–2008).Haider virulently denounced immigration and opposed the expansion of the European Union to the east—positions that were applauded by a wide spectrum of Austrians. Particularly controversial were the number of statements he made about Hitler and the Nazis. Source
What is Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreich or FPÖ)?
(00:4:11 or p.1 in the transcript)
The populist Freedom Party of Austria, sometimes referred to as the Liberal Party, was founded in 1955 as a successor to the League of Independents. Initially drawing the bulk of its support from former National Socialists, the party’s fiercely right-wing views had been largely moderated by the 1980s, and it participated in a coalition government with the SPÖ. In the late 1980s that ideological swing was reversed party leader Jörg Haider, who brought the FPÖ unprecedented electoral success with a Euroskeptic platform that capitalized on anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment. An internecine feud in 2005 caused Haider to leave the FPÖ and form a new party, the Alliance for the...
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