This evening Barb and I attended the University of Michigan’s annual Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom. This is, as far as I know, the nation’s longest running lecture (35 years) dedicated to academic and intellectual freedom (and I was privileged to be associated with its planning in the past).
This year’s speaker was Ruth Ben-Ghiat, speaking on “Intellectual Freedom in an Authoritarian Age.” Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University who writes about fascism, authoritarianism, propaganda, and democracy protection, and you might know her from her appearances on MSNBC and elsewhere. I won’t try to summarize her excellent talk now, or the insightful panel discussion that followed, but will post a link to the video of the lecture when it is available. It is well worth watching.
Here are a few quick takeaways:
(1) the authoritarian works toward the “moral deregulation” of society — as we see now in actions ranging from, say, Hegseth’s telling the military that they are no longer to be constrained by the rules of war to the gutting of rules, norms and regs throughout the government to the pay-for-play ethos of the Trump regime.
(2) the aim is to foment a “moral collapse” of society, a nihilism within institutions and individuals which accepts the idea that “anything goes” and that there is therefore no basis on which to resist the regime.
(3) this entails a “hollowing out” of institutions and then individuals, such that they no longer act as autonomous selves.
And we are there, in what she calls a “nascent autocracy.”
But, she also offers hope. “One of my maxims,” she says, “is never underestimate the American people.” And there are indeed signs. She points to Tuesday’s elections as well as to many general and particular points of resistance. Indeed, she sees a “global renaissance of non-violent protest,” ranging from pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses to the No Kings movement to various acts of resistance around the world. The authoritarians are rising (Trump, Putin, Orban, et al.) but so is the opposition.
Still, “the more the autocrats feel vulnerable, the more they find creative ways to suppress dissent.” So, the challenge remains to match that creativity with the creativity of resistance. As one of the panelists, Ron Suny, noted, history shows that free speech and thought cannot be eliminated. They can be hindered, suppressed, forced into the shadows — but they always find a way to go on.
Affirming Democracy, Gathering Resistance 
Gary, it’s so good to have your take-aways from Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s lecture. She is a real expert on the rise of authoritarianism, and her words reinforce the concerns so many Americans now experience about the reckless steps our government has taken. “Affirming democracy” and finding ways of resisting this devolution into an American autocracy is existentially important. Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here had similar messages. Here are a few quotes … and remember, this was 1935!
And a few more quotes from It Can’t Happen Here that ring eerily true today —
“I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and silencing them forever.”
“Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on.”
“He loved the people just as much as he feared and detested persons.”
“The Senator was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store. Certainly, there was nothing exhilarating in the actual words of his speeches, nor anything convincing in his philosophy. His political platforms were only wings of a windmill.”
“Why, America’s the only free nation on earth. Besides! Country’s too big for a revolution. No, no! Couldn’t happen here!”
“A country that tolerates evil means—evil manners, standards of ethics—for a generation, will be so poisoned that it never will have any good end.”
“There is no Solution! There will never be a state of society anything like perfect!”
“The Executive has got to have a freer hand and be able to move quick in an emergency, and not be tied down by a lot of dumb shyster-lawyer congressmen taking months to shoot off their mouths in debates.”
Thank you for this synopsis Gary. It was a very interesting & inspiring evening. There is hope as long as we do not surrender to fear!