What Cities Can Do: Remembering David Morris

Building Local Power

Here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we recently received some shocking news as we learned of the sudden passing of our beloved co-founder, David Morris. A giant in the antimonopoly field, an innovative thinker ahead of his time, and a crucial mentor to so many of us here at ILSR, David will be missed. I imagine I wasn’t alone in diving into ILSR’s archives to understand and revisit David’s work and legacy in the wake of his death. Reading David’s work from the last 50 years reminded me just how much he deeply understood about building local power, often well before political discourse arrived at the same conclusions. That’s the inspiration for this week’s episode of Building Local Power. Today, we’re revisiting episode 22 of Building Local Power, a 2017 interview between David Morris and ILSR's Community Broadband Initiative director, Chris Mitchell. What struck me about this interview was how much of it could be said today and how much David anticipated our current moment. In the interview you’re about to hear, when asked about the source of local power, David explained that the communal nature of cities has had massive power since medieval times. In doing so, David lauds the value of so-called “Sanctuary Cities,” asserting that the term really means mutual protection against a faraway federal government that doesn’t necessarily act in the city’s interest. Such thoughts are almost painfully relevant in the wake of June 14th’s “No Kings” rallies, as those in power cynically exploit tensions about the alleged dangers of cities. There are those who say cities should not be sanctuaries. One of the many pieces of wisdom we have from David Morris’s long career runs counter to that: cities have dramatic potential for their residents to protect each other, and to act in each other’s best interest. That’s how local power is built. I hope you enjoy revisiting this 2017 interview as much as I did. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-what-cities-can-do