ourVoices is a podcast from openDemocracy which explores the ongoing crisis of our economic system – and promotes intelligent debate about what should replace it.
We bring together some of the most exciting thinkers from around the world, and give a voice to those who are putting new economic ideas into practice from the ground up.
The violent scenes in Washington, DC this week risk overshadowing Georgia's historic election result. The Democrats' victory in this Deep South state holds vitally important lessons for the future of US democracy.
Biden's party may now have a slim majority in the US Congress, but the country remains bitterly divided and – as this week demonstrated – support for Trump is not going away.
Some suggest Trump’s persistent false claims of election fraud hurt the Republicans in this election. But, as Mary Fitzgerald and Aaron White learned travelling across Georgia, the Democratic victory here didn't happen overnight.
They spoke to dozens of voters and activists on the ground, as they watched an ambitious, long-term, grassroots operation help turn this traditionally red state blue.
Just as in the 1960s with the Civil Rights movement, activists and organisers from Martin Luther King’s home state are once again sending leaders in Washington a powerful signal of where things need to go next. But will they listen?
3 Jan 2021
Andra Gillespie on Georgia’s Senate runoffs
Andra Gillespie is a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.
openDemocracy’s editor in chief Mary Fitzgerald spoke with Andra for the recent ourVoices documentary episode on the Georgia Senate runoff races (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/podcast-who-will-win-georgias-senate-races/).
Their extended conversation dives into the political history of Georgia and why it is suddenly competitive after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1992.
19 Dec 2020
Who will win Georgia’s Senate races?
On 5 January, a special Senate run-off election in the ‘Deep South’ state of Georgia will determine the future of Biden’s presidency. Will the new president be able to pass badly needed COVID relief; take action on climate change, racial justice and much more?
The voters of Georgia will decide the crucial power balance in the US Senate – and right now, the polls are neck and neck.
Ahead of the vote, we’ve been talking to friends, family, political experts and regular people across the state. They’ve told us how record-breaking sums of cash are piling into Georgia; of fierce battles over voter suppression, corruption and dirty tricks – and of how millions of Black, Brown and younger voters are mobilising in this historic race.
We’ve spoken with the trailblazing Nse Ufot of the New Georgia Project about how grassroots organisations like hers have registered millions of new voters. Investigative journalist Greg Palast has told us about how he uncovered documents showing widespread voter suppression.
We’ve heard from Republican lawyers waging war on the state’s voting system; from elusive ‘swing voters’ – and from citizens just struggling to survive.
As we’ve been discovering, the story of Georgia is both a story of what’s deeply broken in American politics – and of how dramatic change is possible, fast.
And follow us on Twitter @maryftz (https://twitter.com/maryftz) and @aaronwolfwhite (https://twitter.com/aaronwolfwhite) to get our latest updates from the ground, as we travel across this new battleground state during the final crunch days of this race.
This episode was produced by Freddie Stuart. Special thanks to Penny Dale
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