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Hi friends, Over the last month, I’ve had the chance to talk to, and see many of you, as we all grapple with and reorient towards the work that is needed to make American democracy more responsive, representative, and effective. I'm thankful for all the efforts to mitigate harm and protect vulnerable communities and I am inspired by the amount of energy being invested in long-term democracy work, understanding that these questions and problems will not be resolved in one or even two election cycles. To that end, I wanted to put two events from Democracy 2076 on your radar for the new year. First, in a few short weeks, Democracy 2076 will be releasing our full report with Harmony Labs to share insights from our research, Imagining 2076, on depictions of democracy and the future in film and television. This report discusses: Our learnings from our research about the quantity of pro-democracy, pro-topian stories in mainstream film and television; The different types of democracy and futures stories being told; The stories that resonate most with audience members who hold different sets of values; and The impact those stories have on audience attitudes about democracy, the future, and their own agency.
RSVP here to join us for a virtual briefing on January 14th at 12 PM ET/9 AM PST where we share our findings, answer questions, and co-create our next phase of research and advocacy. Second, on January 16th at 12 PM EST/9 AM PST we will gather for our first debrief of our upcoming work on political realignments, Pro-Democracy Political Coalitions for 2076. This is part of our efforts to understand the new political axis emerging and ensure that all political coalitions over the next generation are committed to democracy. Democracy 2076 and Horizon 2045 will share our plans for using strategic foresight tools to understand how political parties are likely to realign over the next 30 years and how various stakeholders in the democracy ecosystem can recognize authoritarian sliding and/or signs of improvement in our democracy.
This briefing will also be an opportunity for attendees to give feedback on our research plan and input on potential partners. You can register for the Pro-Democracy Political Coalitions for 2076 briefing here.
Looking forward to having you join us and wishing you a restorative end to the year. Below is a poem that helps me with resilience in moments like these. In gratitude for our collective work to make this place beautiful, Aditi
Good Bones by Maggie SmithLife is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.
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