Speaker: Marcus Board, Howard University
Abstract: As we embark on a second Trump administration which has vowed to use its power against opponents, we again arrive at a pragmatic question: how do we resist a wave of fascism that has captivated western and post-colonial nations alike? And more conceptually, given that Trump has won the popular vote, how do you fight fascism that can conceal itself behind a thin veneer of electoral democracy? Whether responding to the previous Trump or Biden administration’s dominant uses of power, or when prominent universities are firing Black presidents, calling police on students and even detaining political science colleagues - the discipline has maintained a liberal approach to include occasional statements denouncing uses of violence and above all, violation of established procedures. In this talk, as in my previous scholarship, I use both theory and positivism to highlight the anti-democratic consequences of silence and allowing silencing, per Audre Lorde’s famous Black queer feminist sentiments. As pro-democratic alternative, I conclude by pointing to community organizing as a way to build political will and organized power that is capable of both winning elections and overcoming what I regard as an ever present fascism.
Please contact James Stillwell if you are interested in a 1:1 meeting or joining a lunch discussion after the conclusion of the talk with the guest speaker.
Research Seminar Series attendance is open to all interested faculty, staff and students.