The Counterpublic Papers vol. 9 no. 16

Author

Lester Spence
February 22, 2025

I’m going to see if I can push this out quickly. 

Like today (2.22.25) quickly.

I am giving a talk in a few hours that will likely be the basis for a longer zoom lecture. It’s part of a broader effort to develop a rapid response network. If you’re in Baltimore come to 2640 Saint Paul at 4:30pm, particularly if you’re looking to plug in and be involved. I can’t say this enough—being of service in this moment is not just good for democracy, it’s good for you. Working towards a worthy cause (one larger than all of us) reduces anxiety, forges durable bonds of solidarity, and makes the days pass quicker. 

Compare that to time lost doom scrolling and it seems to me the choice is an easy one. 

….

I’m working with the Damon Keith Center at Wayne State on a survey instrument designed to assess the impact of Trump administration policies on communities in Baltimore and Detroit. The plan is to use this instrument as proof of concept to get more resources for a bigger project. One of the things we’re going to need is data. 

If you know people in Detroit and Baltimore who might be affected, please use and share the following link: http://bit.ly/beconproj

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A couple of colleagues have written a report on pro-democracy organizing in the US and what it should look like. Abstract below:

Many groups in the US are focused on preventing the further rise of authoritarian forces by raising alarms about authoritarian power-grabs in key states; by building financial, legal, and electoral strategies to advocate for democratic practices and outcomes in state and national politics; and by scenario-planning responses to contested election outcomes in 2022 and 2024. This urgent and important work must continue and intensify in the coming months. This report aims to expand the conversation to also prepare for effective organizing and mobilizing in the aftermath of a nationwide authoritarian transition, should one occur after the 2024 election.

This report proposes nonviolent resistance strategies and support systems that could be relevant for protecting local communities and subjugated groups, and for informing a broad-based pro-democracy struggle under a hypothetical authoritarian administration. We suggest some immediate investments in infrastructure that could support effective pro-democracy organizing and mobilizing, both today and in the event of authoritarian decline or consolidation across all branches of government.

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Last Friday the Trump administration proposed using the Dept. of Ed to attack institutions that not only had DEI administrative units, but educational units and faculty that teach DEI related work. Yesterday a Baltimore court blocked this proposal. I’ll come back to this but I’ve two quick thoughts. 

First that this shows that the courts can function as a check on the administration. We don’t know yet whether the administration will follow the ruling, but even if he doesn’t, this potentially gives the progressive tendencies within university administrations more ammunition to argue that universities should organize against the administration rather than comply in advance.  

Second though, it strikes me that university faculty have a two pronged mission ahead of us. 

First to organize faculty. At places like Hopkins we’ve been in a long term struggle against university administrators for faculty governance—I tend to believe that faculty make better decisions related to what I believe to be the university’s core mission than administrators. But structurally speaking even though the university administration is heterogenous, consisting of at least a few people who have more progressive interests, it makes more sense to organize the faculty for something like a general strike sometime in the future, than in thinking that administration is going to make the tactical decision to support democracy even if in the narrow ways that Ron Daniels suggests in What Universities Owe Democracy.

 Next to build organizing capacity outside the university, through hosting a series of lectures and discussions in public spaces. Doing so can not only build support for higher education, support that I think has been waning over the past few decades, but it can increase civic knowledge. There are three excellent county libraries near me and I’m convinced that there are enough people concerned about what’s happening to fill them for a lecture if faculty decided to do so. So alongside the zoom lecture I’m committed to giving, I’m going to reach out to the Pikesville, Owings Mills, and Randallstown libraries to see if I can give talks there. Maybe if there’s enough interest we can have a series of them. 

That’s it—I wanted to get this in your hands before tonight’s event. Hope to see some of you there.