Democracy Forum on WERU FM Community Radio

Recent Topics Archive

The League of Women Voters-Downeast in cooperation with WERU FM produces a monthly radio program on topics in participatory democracy. It's called the Democracy Forum.

Broadcasts may be heard from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on the third Friday of the month at WERU Community Radio, 89.9 FM. Listen on the web at WERU FM. The show can also be heard in the Portland area at 2 p.m., the first Sunday of the following month, at WMPG Community Radio, 99.9 FM, streaming at wmpg.org

In September, 2018, the Democracy Forum won top honors from the Maine Association of Broadcasting for public affairs radio.

Broadcasts are available as a podcast from WERU FM.

Here is information about our upcoming broadcast.

June 18 -- Protest: Good Citizenship at Work?

This new episode will be pre-recorded on June 16; no listener calls will be taken. Comments and questions may be emailed to news@weru.org with Democracy Forum on the subject line.

“To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy."  Thurgood Marshall

We'll talk about whether protests are a legitimate, if not necessary, form of civic participation. Are protests good citizenship or are they civil disorder? Is protesting effective in changing public policy? What's the difference between protest and insurrection? Are nonviolent actions more effective than those that involve violence? What different forms can these actions take: demonstrations, strikes, riots, occupation, boycotts, divestment, disengagement? What are some examples where protest movements succeeded?

Special Guests: 

• Doug Allen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Maine, author of the book, Gandhi after 9/11: Creative Nonviolence and Sustainability (Oxford 2019)

• Erica Chenoweth, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard Kennedy School and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, author of the new book, Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford, 2021)

To learn more, follow these links to related content:

• "What Anti-Protest Bills Reveal About The State Of U.S. Democracy," OnPoint, WBUR, April, 2021

• Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, Erica Chenoweth, March, 2021

• "The Myth of the Silent Majority: Americans have learned the wrong lessons about the political consequences of protest," Daniel Gillian, The Atlantic, September, 2020. 

• "Protesting is as important as voting," Andre M. Perry and Carl Romer, Brookings, August, 2020

• "The Future of Nonviolent Resistance," Erica Chenoweth, Journal of Democracy, July, 2020.

• "Why protests matter in American democracy," Daniel Gillion, Princeton University Press, June, 2020

• Gandhi after 9/11: Creative Nonviolence and Sustainability, Douglas Allen, April, 2019