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Why Astra Taylor Calls Mark Zuckerberg a Fascist
A conversation with the former Occupy activist turned author and filmmaker about the cannibal energies of late capitalism
As impeachment hearings hit a fever pitch and new revelations surface weekly about the connections between Facebook and Republicans, the problems of our democracy on the threshold of the 2020 election couldn’t be more glaring. To get some insight into how best to confront our political morass, I caught up with Astra Taylor, a teacher, activist, and documentary filmmaker who specializes in the study of our democratic aspirations and decline. Her 2019 book Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone is less a straightforward investigation than a do-it-yourself-kit for redefining your own political views at a time when U.S. citizens are waking up to find their lifelong assumptions about government and citizenship upended nearly every day.
Taylor’s focus on participatory democracy follows from her long association with the Occupy movement beginning in 2011, when she co-edited, with Sarah Leonard of Dissent and Keith Gessen of n+1, the Occupy Gazette, a collection of writings documenting events at Zuccotti Park and analyzing their broader significance. She subsequently cofounded Strike Debt, an activist collective dedicated to working on medical and student debt issues, with a few former Occupy colleagues. A film followed in 2018, her third. What is Democracy? features dozens of casual interviews of academics, politicians, students, and people in the street, placing the question of equality not just at the center of our thinking about democracy, but showing it as the central concern of our increasingly surveilled and technologically troubled private lives.
Taylor’s new book is dedicated to her partner, Jeff Mangum, the lyricist, vocalist, and guitarist of Neutral Milk Hotel. Fans of the band may find aspects of Taylor’s vision familiar — from her playful and oblique approach to hard questions to her engaging large-heartedness. Taylor herself was born in Winnipeg in 1979, before going on to become a lifelong autodidact who’s taught sociology at SUNY New Paltz and the University of Georgia. She is, indeed, something of an outsider philosopher, and our conversation predictably ranged…
