Exploring Utopian Ideals and Real-world Challenges in Autonomous Zones

9min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Delving into the belief that people are inherently good but are corrupted by societal forces, this chapter discusses the implementation of autonomous zones in cities where borders created power vacuums leading to conflict. It explores the emergence of competing security forces like community security, antifa soldiers, and private security within these zones. The narrative questions the efficacy of violence prevention units as an alternative to traditional policing and raises concerns about the safety of unarmed community members in violent situations.

Yascha Mounk and Nellie Bowles discuss her career at The New York Times and reporting on the ground from urban “autonomous zones” in 2020.

Nellie Bowles is a writer and reporter and the head of strategy at The Free Press, where she writes the TGIF column. Her book is Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Nellie Bowles discuss how she came to chafe against the institutional culture of The New York Times and why she left; how new power hierarchies arose within media and institutions where small groups came to wield outsized power; and how the transformative ideas about power and society that became dominant in 2020 continue to hold great influence.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarit y .

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: podcast@persuasion.community

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

Spotify | Apple | Google

Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices