Zócalo Public Square

Few Californians pay attention to state government (much less visit the state Capitol), and few of us even bother to vote in elections for our weak local governments. So our officials are often elected by the campaign dollars of rich people, powerful developers, and a handful of labor unions. But when crisis hits California—as it so often does—we are quick to demand action and to lash out at politicians whose names we barely know. What can we reasonably expect from California leaders when crisis strikes this sprawling, dysfunctional, and disengaged state? What are essential demands in an emergency, and what is too much to ask? And what lessons do previous crises—giant recessions, earthquakes, wildfires, blackouts, the 1992 riots—hold for today’s leaders?

Antonio Villaraigosa, who served as speaker of the California state Assembly from 1998 to 2000 and as mayor of Los Angeles during the Great Recession, visited Zócalo for a blunt back-and-forth on why leaders falter in crises, and how they might succeed. This Zócalo online event was moderated by Saul Gonzalez, KQED correspondent and co-host of The California Report.

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3oAs3Xc

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The conventional American narrative since the civil rights era has been that states tend to violate our rights, and the federal government intervenes to protect people. But much of American history runs the other way, offering numerous examples of states acting to protect the rights of their people—notably Indigenous peoples, African Americans escaping slavery, and undocumented immigrants—from federal authorities. What’s more, state constitutions, which are relatively easy to amend, typically grant citizens far more rights than the much more difficult-to-amend U.S. Constitution. Are our state capitals better suited than Washington, D.C., to defend our freedoms? What will happen if a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority turns more debates over rights into questions for individual states? Do today’s bitter disputes over election and voter suppression at the state level suggest that it’s time to revisit the Voting Rights Act of 1965—or finally add the right to vote to the U.S. Constitution?

UC Riverside Center for Social Innovation founding director and "Citizenship Reimagined" co-author Karthick Ramakrishnan, Cornell University government professor Jamila Michener, and Cynthia Buiza, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, visited Zócalo to consider the past, present, and future of human rights in the 50 United States. This Zócalo/Center for Social Innovation online event was moderated by Richard Kreitner, contributing writer at The Nation and author of "Break It Up."

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/31FfJvf

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The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 proclaimed that celestial objects are “the province of all mankind.” But so far, space travel has been a costly and exclusive province (fewer than 600 people have been in orbit). Today’s headlines about space are dominated by billionaires who dream of escaping their Earth-bound lives or providing new tourist thrills. And the biggest space travel successes in recent memory belong to robots rather than humans. How can we better use space exploration in service of all humanity, not just a favored few? What sorts of social structures and governance practices might make possible greater exploration or even colonization of space? And how might the challenges of traveling through the void of space help us survive an increasingly inhospitable climate here on our home planet?

Analog astronaut and geoscientist Sian Proctor, designer and co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture Melodie Yashar, and Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of the NASA Psyche Mission and director of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, visited Zócalo to discuss the next generation of space exploration and its implications for Earth. This Zócalo/ASU Interplanetary Initiative event was moderated by Lisa Margonelli, senior editor at Issues in Science and Technology.

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3nXND7E

Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.

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Many Americans of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian heritage have thrived in the U.S. through perseverance, resilience, education, and upward mobility, despite waves of discrimination both overt and hidden. Now, COVID-19 has escalated xenophobia and anti-Asian prejudices—from references to “Kung Flu” or the “Chinese virus” to acts of violence across the country. What strategies and tools can help combat this new wave of racism and help prepare the nation for the next wave, which will also likely be triggered by a moment of fear or panic? Can we find inspiration for preventing anti-Asian violence and building a more inclusive culture from diverse communities within the U.S. and around the world?

United States Senator Mazie Hirono, Chinese for Affirmative Action Executive Director Cynthia Choi, USC historian and Two Faces of Exclusion: The Untold History of Anti-Asian Racism author Lon Kurashige, and Karthick Ramakrishnan, political scientist and director of the UC Riverside Center for Social Innovation, visited Zócalo to contextualize pandemic-inspired racism and share new ways of fighting back against it. This event was moderated by Sewell Chan, editor of the editorial pages at the Los Angeles Times, and was presented in partnership with the Daniel K. Inouye Institute.

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/34BLTs5

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The United States—once revered for its political stability—now seems gripped by political mania. American discourse, particularly around government and elections, is full of conspiracy theories, paranoia, xenophobia, and overheated denunciations. Such hysteria might be the product of more recent economic dislocation, failed wars, the digital revolution, or divisive elected officials. But perhaps it has deeper roots in America’s imperial history, and the contradictions within the country’s concept of itself. What explains the demented politics of the United States, and other countries in the West? Are the leading thinkers and policymakers of the West, who portray themselves as fighting political fanaticism, making any real progress—or are they making things worse?

Essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra, author most recently of Bland Fanatics: Liberals, Race and Empire, visits Zócalo with Ronald Brownstein, Atlantic senior editor and author of The Second Civil War, to discuss whether the United States has lost its political mind.

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Across the world, elite politicians, militaries, and powerful business and political groups appear to have a monopoly on representative democracy. By exploiting the resulting discontent, populists and authoritarians have created an international narrative of democracy in decline. But in many regions and countries, including some ruled by autocrats, citizens are collaborating with local and provincial officials to expand participatory and direct democracy so that residents can make decisions themselves. What is the relationship between the seemingly opposing trends of authoritarian nationalism and stronger local democracy? How are people using participatory tools to change their communities, and the world? And what are the future possibilities and perils of direct citizen decision-making?

Participatory Budgeting Project executive director Shari Davis, political scientist and “Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy” author David Altman, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy senior fellow and former Taiwan foreign vice minister Michael Kau, and Mexico City-based youth participation expert and Ollín president Greta Rios visited Zócalo to consider how direct and participatory democracy might counter autocracy. This Zócalo/Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy online event was moderated by “Noema Magazine” Executive Editor Kathleen Miles.

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3n7Evgo

Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.

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Since 1964, more women than men have voted in every United States presidential election. Yet we still don’t have a woman president or vice president; California, one of the first states to give women the right to vote, is one of 20 states that still hasn’t had a female governor, and Los Angeles has never had a female mayor. Why do women remain much less likely than men to run for office, despite the fact that they win elections at comparable rates (and that in some cases, women have an edge)? What would it take for women to achieve political power equal to that of men both locally and nationally?

One hundred years after the U.S. ratified the 19th Amendment, which was meant to guarantee American women the Constitutional right to vote, Johns Hopkins University historian Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, Institute for Women’s Policy Research president C. Nicole Mason, California State Senator and author of the California Fair Pay Act Hannah-Beth Jackson, and Rosie Rios, the 43rd Treasurer of the United States, visited Zócalo to discuss the impact a century of women voting has made on representation in America, California, and Los Angeles. This discussion was moderated by KQED correspondent Marisa Lagos, and was co-presented with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on September 16, 2020.

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Imagine a society where truth and knowledge have no value, people are glued to their screens, and world war feels imminent. Or think of a place enraptured by the seductive promises of a carnival-hawker con man. Sound familiar? The first, of course, is the dystopia of Fahrenheit 451, the story of a firefighter charged with burning books in order to destroy knowledge. The second is the fictional Green Town, Illinois, the setting of Something Wicked This Way Comes, the story of a sinister traveling carnival leader and the young boys who thwart his plot to enslave their home. They are two of the most famous novels by one of the most brilliant and beloved science fiction writers of all time: Ray Bradbury. The author, who saw the dangers inherent to the modern world, used a variety of genres, including fantasy, horror, and science fiction, to illuminate pressing issues like censorship and xenophobia.

Author Lilliam Rivera, Arizona State University Center for Science and the Imagination professor Michael Bennett, and Jonathan R. Eller, Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University, visit Zócalo in honor of what would have been longtime Angeleno Bradbury’s 100th birthday, to discuss what he would make of 2020, and what his work can teach us in the current moment. This discussion was moderated by ZYZZYVA managing editor Oscar Villalon, with opening comments by actor Joe Mantegna, and was co-presented with the Fowler Museum at UCLA on August 27, 2020.

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There are few forces of nature more formidable than a group of women fed up with the status quo. From the French Revolution—which was sparked in part by a 7,000-woman march from Paris to Versailles—to Black Lives Matter—which was founded by three women—some of the most important protest movements in global history have been women-led. In addition to organizing many of summer 2020’s continuing marches, over the past century women have taken to the streets to rally for voting and equal rights, to condemn sexual and gun violence, and to stand against the sitting president. But protest has taken other forms too, including the #MeToo movement, anti-colonial mobilizations from Ethiopia to Southeast Asia, women taking the wheel in Saudi Arabia to demand the right to drive, and boycotts and strikes like the Women’s Political Council Montgomery bus boycott. How have women risen up collectively to create change—and influenced broader movements in the process? What has made women particularly effective protesters, and what ideas have women come up with that have changed the art of protest?

USC labor historian Francille Rusan Wilson, Northeastern University feminist sociologist Valentine Moghadam, UCLA gender studies professor Ju Hui Judy Han, and Rinku Sen, co-president of the Women’s March Board of Directors, visited Zócalo to discuss the power of women saying “no” throughout history. This discussion was co-presented with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and streamed live on August 20, 2020.

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What is the relationship between American economics and American racism, and can it be severed? How will systemic racism, past and present, slow our emergence from the current downturn? New York Times journalist Eduardo Porter, author of the new book American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise, visited Zócalo with historian and writer Cynthia Greenlee to discuss economic disparities that have been centuries in the making. This discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

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