UC Berkeley (Audio)

Matt Nelson is Executive Director of Presente.org, the nation’s largest online Latinx organizing group dedicated to advancing social justice with technology, media, and culture. Born in Colombia and raised in the Midwest, Matt was the Organizing Director at ColorOfChange.org and co-founded several worker-owned cooperatives in multiple midwestern cities. He is a seasoned campaign strategist who has won dozens of local and national campaigns and a community organizer who has trained thousands of activists. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36288]

This lecture kicks off with Professor Jayaraman’s discussion of “astroturf” social movements and the growing battle around California’s Ballot Propositions 15 and 22. These propositions represent two attempts of billionaires to privatize the public-school system in California and to re-write the state’s labor laws to impose “independent contractor” status upon millions of gig workers. From there Professor Cohen takes up the main topic of voting rights and the long history of voter suppression in the United States with particular emphasis upon the Trump administration’s efforts to suppress voter turnout and challenge the election results after November 3. Remember, if your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t try so hard to suppress it. So if you have not already, go and vote early, especially in those down ballot races that really matter.

Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36513]

Zachary Norris is the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, author of We Keep Us Safe: Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities, and co-founder of Restore Oakland, a community advocacy and training center that will empower Bay Area community members to transform local economic and justice systems and make a safe and secure future possible for themselves and for their families. Zach is also a co-founder of Justice for Families, a national alliance of family-driven organizations working to end our nation's youth incarceration epidemic.

Zach helped build California's first statewide network for families of incarcerated youth which led the effort to close five youth prisons in the state, passed legislation to enable families to stay in contact with their loved ones, and defeated Prop 6a destructive and ineffective criminal justice ballot measure. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36287]

Many observers believe we need to grapple with challenges arising from the many well-established laws, regulations and policies which have been ignored or violated over the past four years. Goldman School of Public Policy faculty and former UC President and former Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, with Leon Panetta, L. Song Richardson and Eric Swalwell explore the norms, assumptions, and governmental practices that have changed during the Trump presidency and the ensuing impact on American society and democracy. Can we make our democracy stronger and better? What would a practical, yet ambitious, roadmap for reform look like? Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36471]

Chrissie Castro, Diné and Chicana, is the Chairperson of the Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission, and co-led the change to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the City and County of Los Angeles. She was a co-founder of Indigenous Women Rise, which organized the Indigenous women’s contingent of 1,000 Indigenous Women at the Women’s March in DC. She is the Network Weaver of the Native Voice Network, a national network of 35+ Native-led organizations that mobilize through indigenous cultural values; and recently launched two projects to build community and political power of Native communities – locally, the California Native Vote Project and nationally, Advance Native Political Leadership. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36286]

This lecture looks at social movements and culture in history through three theoretical models of social, political and historical change: Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism as expressed in the “base-superstructure” model, Antonio Gramsci’s theories of intellectuals and of consent and coercion in the shaping of hegemony, and Black feminism as expressed by Combahee River Collective. Marx’s theory influenced the formation of the movements of the19th century; the labor movement, the women’s suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement. Gramsci’s context of Italian fascism is discussed as is the question of historical fascism as a backlash against the gains made by the social movements that preceded it. Through the Combahee River Collective we come to see how Black feminism represents a revolutionary force not only against the systems of state and economic oppression, but against the narrowly constructed identities that shaped the previous history of social movements. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36285]

This lecture opens with the breaking news of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the super spreader event that broke out in the White House last week. From there we turn to a detailed discussion of social movements, organizing and democracy. Professor Jayaraman discusses the question of power, the elements and goals of organizing, the dynamics of social movements, and the cycles of contention through which social movements grow. She argues that the more people engage in contentious action over a sustained period of time, the more transformative change becomes possible. The discussion concludes with an analysis of how social movements can map power relations and best run campaigns to change public policy. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36283]

This lecture features Rashad Robinson, the President of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. The organization helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 1.7 million members, they move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Color Of Change uses an innovative combination of technology, research, media savvy and local community engagement to build powerful movements and change the industries that affect Black people’s lives: in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, prosecutor offices, capitol hills and city halls around the country.

This lecture ends with a brief discussion of the September 29 presidential “debate” between Trump and Biden, considering what was revealed in this event and how it will impact the ongoing campaigns.  

Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36282]

This lecture takes on the question of why we have only two political parties in the United States and how the two party system shapes our politics. Most significantly, this lecture looks at the ways in which the politics of race - Black civil rights in particular - during the Civil War, Reconstruction, the modern Civil Rights Movement and the election of Barack Obama served to shift the two political parties into new realignments. This lecture traces the transformation of the two parties over 150 years, marking the shift of the Democrats from the party of the Confederacy to the party of the New Deal and Civil Rights, and the transformation of the Republicans from the party of Lincoln and Radical Reconstruction to the White Mans Party of Trump. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36281]

Today we explore the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the consequences her death may have for election 2020. The sudden death of the 87 year old jurist and feminist icon has not only disrupted the already unprecedented election season, but it has raised the stakes for the Presidency, the Senate and the future of the Supreme Court going forward. In this discussion we try to illuminate the partisan politics behind seeking her replacement, the constituencies most committed to replacing Ginsberg as well as those most threatened by this right wing shift in the Court, while holding up the possibility of future resistance and the need to mobilize in the defense of democracy. Join us as we attempt to displace despair with hope and replace anxiety with analysis in this moment of crisis. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36279]