Also: Jo-Burg Taxi War; Future Citzens. Assemble in The Gambia

Welcome to the monthly newsletter of Democracy Local, a planetary publication of stories, ideas, data, scholarship, and events about everyday people governing themselves. More about us here. Donations to Democracy International and its democracy community, which hosts our publication, can be made here. Please feel to sign up here or subscribe to our Substack. (Image credit: Created with Google Gemini.)

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WORLD WAR 3 HAS ARRIVED IN YOUR HOMETOWN

The Trump administration’s attacks on Los Angeles and California, the home state of Democracy Local founder-publisher Joe Mathews, has inspired considerable on-the-ground reporting and thinking on the subject.

In his latest column, Mathews says the Trump attacks, which include illegal use of secret police who wear hoods and masks, are actually part of World War 3.

What is this world war? It’s the relentless attacks worldwide by authoritarian national governments on their cities, towns and local communities. Turkey’s arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, the Ethiopian government’s relentless war against the city of Mekelle, and the Myanmar junta’s bombing of Mandalay are all part of this war.

Another recent column celebrates how the U.S. government has labeled almost everyone living in Los Angeles as a “criminal,” a “rebel,” and an insurrectionist. And Mathews is proud to be an outlaw. He’s also taking down the U.S. flag to fly local flags this Independence Day, since the Stars & Stripes no longer stands for independence. You might consider taking down your national flag too, he writes.

Then there’s this instant classic column from the scene of a supposed “riot” in California. Joe found it was actually a quinceañera party.

Also: At Democracy SOS, Thor Hogan writes thoughtfully about why the U.S. needs a “city-state revolution”—the creation of dozens of new states out of cities—to rebalance its republic and return to being a democracy.

IS A NEW FORM OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY BEING BORN IN RESISTANCE?

Reporting around Los Angeles in recent weeks as federal secret police grab immigrants (and brown people they think are immigrants) off the streets, I often find myself running into new entities of local self-government.

Except the everyday people in them don’t call their entities that.

Instead, they are called “rapid response networks.” Many were formed by prominent immigrant rights groups well previous to these Trump-directed immigration raids, which are supported by nearly 5,000 U.S. troops. But they’ve grown in recent weeks, and been joined by neighborhood groups.

These networks and groups track and respond to immigration enforcement, and abuses in such enforcement. But to do that work, they are also responding to neighborhood concerns about work and public safety. In Orange County recently, I met members of a neighborhood group that had put up cameras to watch for the federal secret police, and ended up catching all kinds of other problems—trash dumping, commercial trucks spewing exhaust as they idled for hours, elders wandering and looking lost.

And they were responding. These groups organize themselves online, often using common tools. And they are voting on their own internal policies, and also their priorities for their communities.

Local governments—and especially local police—say they lack authority to stop the abuses by federal immigration authorities and secret police. The governments and police are wrong about that—their job is to protect crime, and lawbreakers must be stopped by local police, even if those lawbreakers claim to work for the federal government.

But in the meantime, everyday residents in Southern California are building their own governments—for community self-defense, for immigrant and neighborhood support, and for governing in a time of undeclared civil war.

This Mother Jones piece outlines a similar unofficial government in the Western Massachusetts community of Great Barrington.

ASSEMBLE IN KEREWAN

The crackerjack Cities Programme team at Democracy Next brings word of “the first-ever citizens’ assembly with randomly-selected members in The Gambia,” a small West African nation of 2.8 million. The week-long assembly, examining land and ecosystem restoration in the North Bank Region, is scheduled to take place in the regional capital of Kerewan.

FUTURE CITIZENS, WATCH THIS

Gideon Lichfield, the former editor of Wired and MIT Technology Review, gave this thought-provoking talk recently at an event organized by PACE, a group for democracy-funding philanthropies. Lichfield lays it out on FuturePolis, his terrific Substack.

He imagines a mother in the future participating in self-governance in the near future, with “a bunch of innovations in government service delivery, legislative processes, media, digital public spaces, and civic participation.”

“Here’s the thing,” Lichfield adds, “almost all of them already exist to some degree somewhere in the world.”

LIVING ON THE EDGE IN ASIA

Asia Democracy Chronicles offers original and deep reporting from across the continents. Among the highlights this month was a report from a hamlet near the India-Pakistan Line of Control.

Also check out: Myanmar as a home for local centers of scam and fraud.

BOOK REVIEWS

Reviews are a new feature at Democracy Local. Our latest review is on Understanding Referendums, the new book from direct democracy and secession scholar Matt Qvortrup.

A small book very worthy of your time. Accept All Cookies, from University of California San Diego philosopher of technology Benjamin Bratton, founder of Antikythera, part of the Berggruen Institute.

THE TAXI WAR OF JOHANNESBURG

When localities don’t govern, conflict often fills the void. Bloomberg City Lab’s story on what happened after vandalism and theft shut down Johannesburg’s rail service offers an example. The void has been filed by private mini-bus taxis engaged in competition that can be deadly for passengers and drivers.

DEMOCRACY TYPE OF THE MONTH: Apocalyptic Democracy

Can the apocalypse and democracy co-exist?

The answer, from Joe PL Davidson writing in the Political Studies Association journal, is a surprising yes.

Sure, apocalyptic thinking, common in climate change campaigns, often argues for ignoring democracy, or at least refusing to wait for democratic institutions, because the stakes are so high. But Davidson, an early career fellow in sociology at the University of Warwick, argues that political actors can and must “embrace apocalyptic rhetoric” in service of using democracy to change the structures that threaten the climate.

READINGS

There’s a new political compass. You’re not on the left or the right anymore. You might be Up or you might be Down. Noema Magazine explains.

How to leverage AI for meaningful civic engagement? Create Conversations Networks, write Cortico’s Deb Roy, Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig, and Taiwan’s digital ambassador Audrey Tang

The Democracy Odyssey, an effort to create a European citizens assembly, has published its charter.

Let the Sunshine in! Because they’ve found the Fifth Dimension, of democracy! How do you scale up deliberation in your town or province or country, or for the world? Democracy Next has identified the “five dimensions” of scaling.

An intriguing academic paper compares the local governments of Kayseri/Melikgazi Municipality, Turkey, and Granada Municipality in Spain. The conclusion: Granada is ahead because it has more democratic tools to realize its democratic ambitions.

Would granting citizenship locally be better for democracy? This book answers that question.

Around Latin America, clientelism is a problem for local democracy, a Brazil exurb reimagines itself, and an all-too-timely look at how Brazil local governments attempted diplomacy under national authoritarianism.

WATCHING: GARDEN YOUR WAY TO DEMOCRACY

Another terrific event from the European Capital of Democracy looks at gardening and regeneration as paths to democracy:

EVENTS

June 30-July 3 in Seville Spain, #FfD4, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, a major United Nations event scheduled. This conference is a key platform for addressing the urgent need to mobilize financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reforming the international financial architecture

July 3, 5pm (GMT) Public opening keynote session of Participedia School on Democratic Innovations in Latin America! Thursday, July 3, 2025

July 8. “California and AI” conference, in person and online. Sacramento, with Capitol Weekly and the University of California Student and Policy Center.

July 19: Can Hip-Hop Be the Soundtrack of Change? Zócalo Public Square, Los Angeles, hybid.

Aug. 15: How Is Migration Woven Into America? Zócalo Public Square, Chicago.

Aug. 17. Khalistan Referendum in Washignton DC, in person, all-day

September 3. Democracy Camp in Vienna. Five-day intercultural exchange bringing together 65 young people from across Europe to explore democracy, media, inclusion and civic participation.

Oct. 7-9. Open Government Partnership Global Summit, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

October 13-19. Forum of the Student Network on Future Democracy, Eisenach, Germany,

Oct. 16-18. World Council, United Cities and Local Governments, Xi’an, China

QUOTING DEMOCRACY

“Democracy, whether in the north or south, should no longer and solely be a struggle for power but rather as a competition on providing good governance, development and delivering social services for our people and restoring the dignity and wealth of every man and woman.”

-John Garang, late president of South Sudan Autonomous Region for three weeks before his 2005 death in a plane crash.

SUGGESTED LINKS TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY RESOURCES AND PARTNERS

Democracy International and democracy.community

Asia Democracy Chronicles

Berggruen Institute and NOEMA

International IDEA newsletter

Zócalo Public Square

Democracy Next

Federation for Innovation in Demcoracy-Europe and FIDE North America

Participedia

United Cities and Local Governments

ALDA