November 2nd, 2020, 19 – 20h, zoom. Online-Panel conversation between political artist Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor (Mississipi/Oslo) and Marc Berthold (HBS, Berlin), moderated by Ulrike Liebert (Bremen).
Videomitschnitt der Veranstaltung
The US 2020 Presidential Elections - Overcoming the autocratic challenge? - Heinrich Böll-Stiftung Bremen
Direkt auf YouTube ansehen
Barack Obamas’ presidency (2008 – 2016) has been celebrated as an era of progress - with epic advances for African Americans’ representation, for migrants’ integration, for middle class’ health care coverage, for multilateral cooperation and, not least, for climate protection. Donald Trump’s presidency has kicked-off a dramatic backlash on all these fronts. Still in 2016, many observers believed the American state institutions would be stable enough to hold such rightwing-nationalist, populist attacks. Yet, the past four years have put this hope to a reality test. There exists hardly any realm in American cultural, social and political life that would not have suffered from the counter tide of autocratic abuses, from the media and the public sphere to the Republican Party, from the Executive Agencies to the Congress and Supreme Court.
Given this state of play, the 2020 presidential elections are an event of historical dimensions. Their outcome will shape more than the future U.S. Administration’s policies. In particular, the issue of continuity or alternance in power of the president will deeply impact three fields of struggle: First, the role of the U.S. in the world: Against attempts to further exacerbate international conflict and undermine international institutions, including the European Union, how can they adapt and change? Second, the culture war provoked by male white supremacy: In which new ways do women and minorities articulate their voices, empower themselves, advance towards equal rights? And, third, the fate of democracy: How could liberal democracy possibly survive autocracy and even fascist tendencies?
In their conversation, the panelists address these fields. They take stock of the backlashes under the Trump presidency and assess Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ campaigns – which potentials and limits do they bear to survive the backlashes, to turn the tide?
Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor is an artist, filmmaker, writer and community organizer. Taylor's work manifests through performance, text, dialogue and community building for Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Raised in Florida on former Timucan land, she calls Berlin home and is newly based in Oslo. Marc Berthold heads the European Union – North America Unit of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin. As a political scientist specialised on foreign and security policy he has worked for the HBS office in Tel Aviv and as a program coordinator for the transatlantic climate dialogue in Washington DC. Ulrike Liebert has taught EU-US comparative politics at Cornell University (Ithaca NY) and at Bremen University.
Die anstehende Wahl des US-Präsidenten hat historische Dimensionen, von ihr hängt weit mehr ab als allein die weitere Ausrichtung der US-Politik. Die Böll-Stiftung Bremen veranstaltet daher am Vorabend der Wahl ein Online-Panel, das eine Analyse der politischen und gesellschaftlichen Ausgangslage versucht.
Unsere auswärtigen Gäste sind die aus Mississippi stammende politische Künstlerin und Autorin Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor und der Politikwissenschaftler Marc Berthold, der bei der Böll-Stiftung für transatlantische Beziehungen zuständig ist. Aus Bremen nimmt Prof. Dr. Ulrike Liebert teil, die u.a. vergleichende Politikwissenschaften an der Cornell University (Ithaca NY) lehrte und auch die Gesprächsleitung übernimmt.
Um Zugang zu der englischsprachigen Zoom-Konferenz zu bekommen, schreibt eine E-Mail mit dem Betreff "The US 2020 Presidential Elections" an kontakt@boell-bremen.de und erhaltet den Zoom-Link und unsere Datenschutzhinweise.
