No More Learning

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? Power, Publics, and the Rhetorical Uses of Democracy
Candice Rai
"The Rhetoric must lead us through the Scramble, the Wrangle of the Market Place, the flurries and flare-ups of the Human Barnyard, the Give and Take, the wavering line of pressure and counter pressure, the Logomachy, the onus of ownership, the Wars of Nerves, the War. "1
In this essay, I argue that rhetorics, specifically rhetorics of democracy, can be turned on their head, picked up and used to support diametrically opposed agendas. I understand democratic rhetorics as comprised of a tangled discur- sive web of commonplace myths, symbols, stock tales, and contradictory blue- prints for the good life that we collectively associate with democracy. This includes the arsenal of topoi that embody democratic ideals, such as freedom, equality, and liberty. The flexible uses of democratic rhetoric is possible be- cause its topoi function as persuasive rhetorical engines that proliferate mean- ing and mobilize action by activating discourse already circulating in the social imagination. Kenneth Burke referred to such topoi as "god-terms" be- cause they are capable of "transcending brute objects" and of doing the work of gods by providing the "ground of all possibility; substance . . . truth . . . ideal, plan, purpose. "2 I contend that the "public sphere," one of democracy's core topoi, crystallizes the hopes and ideals, as well as the limits and contra- dictions, of liberal democracy. The public sphere is predicated on the power- ful faith that rational deliberation among private citizens about matters of public concern will produce a more inclusive, empathetic, and just society. The sheer moral force of these promised public goods is capable of obscuring gaps between democratic ideals and material realities, eliding the inherent contradictions within the democratic project, and legitimizing arguments that make use of democratic rhetorics, regardless of content or social consequence.
Whatever it is we imagine democracy to mean, we can be sure that our neighbors will have a very different understanding. That both conflicting claims, mine and my neighbor's, can be theoretically legitimate within a single
40 Candice Rai
democratic framework means that determining the content of "democracy" might be more a matter of raw power and rhetorical savvy than about whose argument is more rational, just, or better equipped to secure public goods and increase neighborliness. Since democratic ideals can inspire action toward very different ends, it is dangerous to equate democracy with social justice or to presume that democracy alone can mitigate human suffering and violence, and further, it suggests that democratic politics cannot be comprehended strictly from a god's-eye view.
I situate these arguments, therefore, within fieldwork conducted between 2005 and 2008 in Uptown, a gentrifying Chicago neighborhood, to consider how stakeholders use democratic rhetorics to argue about the future of their neighborhood. 3 I begin by discussing the public sphere, as the conceptual model of democracy, arguing that although the transcendent ideals repre- sented in the model are capable of inspiring conviction and action, the sub- stance of these ideals remains elusive until they are put to use in concrete situations. I then examine the uses of democratic rhetoric in debates over affordable housing in Uptown to consider how democratic rhetorics are used to support very different investments.
One can travel to Uptown's central hub from downtown Chicago by taking the redline train due north for five miles to the Wilson stop. Since its annexa- tion to the city in 1889, Uptown has served as a port of entry for African, Latin American, Asian, and European immigrants and refugees; African Ameri- can and white Appalachian migrants from the South; and Native Americans displaced by the Relocation Act of 1956. 4 An economically and ethnically diverse population crosses paths while going about their business on Wilson Avenue. The neighborhood's population ranges from the very affluent to the very poor--with people in the upper quintillion of income sharing blocks with people in the lowest. Visitors would immediately face the material evi- dence of gentrification as they left the train: a new condominium flashes its bronze facade next door to the Wilson Hotel, infamous for housing transient "undesirables. "
In the heart of Uptown, there is a five-acre empty lot known simply as Wil- son Yard, which stands literally at the crossroads of affluence and decay. There is nothing particularly striking about the lot: it lies sandwiched between the El train and a strip of hodgepodge businesses. The lot made its public debut in 1996 when a fire destroyed a repair shop owned by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). The controversial public debates over what to build in this lot have been ongoing since 1997 when the CTA sold the land to the city, prompting Uptown's alderman Helen Shiller to initiate a community-driven, "democratic" planning process to collectively design a project at Wilson Yard. 5 The eventual outcome was to represent the will of the people and stand as a material monument to the ability of inclusive dialogue in the public sphere to create the greatest good for all.
Power, Publics, and the Rhetorical Uses of Democracy 41
The hotly contested Wilson Yard plan includes a Target, street-level retail, and two ten-story publicly subsidized affordable apartment buildings. One building includes ninety-nine units for low-income seniors, and the other-- which lies at the center of this controversy--will house eighty-four units for households making no more than 60 percent of the area median income. 6 Beginning in 1998, dozens of organizations and hundreds of Uptown stake- holders have evoked democratic rhetoric in public discourse and at commu- nity meetings to justify and support arguments both for and against affordable housing at Wilson Yard;7 to both slander and support public officials; and to both legitimate and blast the processes of gentrification. I am interested here in how two such different investments--one claiming that creating affordable housing on behalf of those at risk of being displaced by gentrification is demo- cratic, and the other claiming that such a move is undemocratic because it favors the poor, silences the voices of property owners, and unjustly reappro- priates taxes--could both be supported using democratic rhetoric. Many peo- ple are invested in Uptown, just not in the same outcomes. To help elucidate these investments, I turn to a description of the contention at Wilson Yard, and to a consideration of how competing publics in Uptown illustrate the theoretical and practical contradictions within the democratic project.
Democratic Theory, Power, and the Limits of the Public Sphere Trope
By analyzing Uptown's emergent public in action, one bears witness to what Chantal Mouffe calls the "paradox of democracy. " Mouffe articulates this "paradox" as the incompatibility between political liberalism (which fore- grounds a politics of liberty and individual rights) and democracy (which foregrounds a politics of equality). Arguing that this paradox is an inherent and valuable feature of democracy, she advocates "agonistic pluralism," a poli- tics that secures contestation as a permanent and foundational condition of democracy. In rejecting the possibility of "establishing a consensus without exclusion," agonistic pluralism calls for the maintenance of democratic insti- tutions and processes that keep "democratic contestations alive. "8 Compelling in theory, "agonistic pluralism" presents serious limitations in the material world where concrete, timely, and compromised decisions must finally be made. In Uptown, something must be developed at Wilson Yard despite what could be an infinite debate over what should be built. There is much to be learned from the stalemate of competing rhetorics in Uptown, in that even- tually, public policy must act, and often act in ways that some part of the con- stituency may deem "undemocratic. "
Alderman Shiller has publicly referred to Wilson Yard, which still awaits construction in 2009, as a "virtual basket" because its design emerged from ostensibly democratic, community-driven planning processes. Rather than something like a public park, which would certainly be easier to claim as a
42 Candice Rai
universal public good, the development is a pastiche that represents a bit of everyone's interest while simultaneously fulfilling no one's. With a Target, a large parking structure, and two mid-rise affordable apartment buildings jammed into a five-acre lot, one can see how Wilson Yard earned the name "Franken-development" from an Uptown dissenter. In the following ethno- graphic scene, which recounts the public unveiling of Wilson Yard on Sep- tember 8, 2004, Mouffe's "democratic paradox" can be empirically observed not only in the tension between stakeholders but also in the competing inter- ests that are captured in the literal design of space. A six-year "democratic" process preceded this meeting in which multiple spaces where these and other adversarial positions about the future of the neighborhood were vetted.
Over 600 Uptown stakeholders crowded into Truman College's cafeteria to hear about the Wilson Yard plan. The room was electric with tension. The sound of buzzing chatter and metal chair legs scraping on waxed linoleum punctuated the palpable anticipation of the homeowners, renters, community organizers, urban planners, city officials, business owners, religious leaders, and journalists who gathered. It was apparent on which side of the affordable housing controversy people stood. Those who opposed it were primarily mem- bers of the Uptown Neighborhood Council, which was formed explicitly to oppose low-income housing at Wilson Yard. These activists wore bright orange T-shirts that read "Unite Uptown" on the front, and "Build a Better Commu- nity through the Arts" on the back. The "Orange Shirts," as they are known, argued that if affordable housing must be built, and they would prefer that it was not, that it should be reserved as an artists' residence. Those who favored affordable housing at Wilson Yard wore green stickers that read "Uptown Sup- ports Affordable Housing. " This contingency represented a variety of political agendas that converged around the support of affordable housing as a means of counteracting gentrification, and included longtime Uptown residents and members of a diverse array of neighborhood organizations such as Jesus People, Queer to the Left, Organization of the North East, and Coalition of Uptown Residents for Affordability and Justice (COURAJ). Shouts and counter- shouts were blurted throughout the meeting in an effort to discredit speakers. Those in orange shouted things like: "This development will concentrate poverty. We have enough subsidized housing in Uptown! " "We don't want our tax money to be spent on this. " "This isn't democracy. I didn't want this. " Those in green shouted: "This represents all of our interests. We need afford- able housing. Uptown needs to take care of all of its citizens! " After the for- mal presentation, things became so raucous that, at one point, the president of Truman College came to the microphone with great exasperation to tell the crowd to calm down or she would have to end the meeting.
The rather unruly "public" that emerged on this evening is a far cry from idealized images of citizens engaged in empathetic, rational deliberation about the common welfare. This public appears nothing like John Rawls's ideal
Power, Publics, and the Rhetorical Uses of Democracy 43
liberal model where stakeholders bracket their private interests behind a "veil of ignorance" in order to derive universal principles of justice that ensure the greatest good for the greatest number. On the contrary, Uptown stakeholders nakedly display their investments with visual flair--agendas literally embla- zoned on brightly colored stickers and T-shirts. Splintered by competing in- vestments, this is a public incapable of deriving consensus.
And further, the trump card in the Wilson Yard debates is often "democ- racy" itself. Below, affordable housing advocates and members of Queer to the Left discuss the tactical uses of democratic discourse in Uptown. Marie reflects on the Wilson Yard planning charrettes that took place between 1998 and 2000, and the others on statements made at the public unveiling de- scribed above:
Marie: Everyone was invited [to the charrettes]. They were held at Truman College. I mean what is not democratic . . .
Gene: One of the people who spoke at the last Wilson Yard meeting [in 2004] said that this process is not legitimate because this process has taken so long. They said, "You are basing the project on principles that were laid out in 1999-2000, but we are all different now, and we were left out and we should have a say in what gets built. Now, we want a voice. We're new and we were left out. "
Diane: You know there are problems with democracy because I can imagine us on that side. This example makes that clear. I can image us organizing around this argument. "Well . . . but . . . now we are here and we want to be consulted. " . . . There is something about the whole thing that is fraught with indeterminacy.
This scene crystallizes some of the logomachy that underscores the uses of democracy in Uptown and exemplifies Julia Paley's argument that the "use of the word 'democracy' occurs neither alone, nor steadily, nor completely; it is, rather, ethnographically emergent. Therefore we must ask: Whose term is it? What does its usage in any particular case signify? Where does the term arise and where not? "9 Democracy is "ethnographically emergent" because the indeterminate meanings of democratic topoi can only be understood within the concrete contexts within which they are evoked.
By insisting that the solution to the problems of democracy does not reside in a more participatory or better-executed democracy, Barbara Cruikshank calls into question the large body of public sphere theory dedicated to con- ceptualizing an ever-more robust, inclusive, and just civil society. Rather than accepting democracy as an a priori virtuous good, she understands demo- cratic government, like all government, as "relations of power" that are "con- tinually recreated. "10 It is not that we need a more accurate model of the public sphere, therefore, but a way to theorize how democratic politics pro- duce subjectivities and sentiments that are reinforced and activated through
44 Candice Rai
"relations of power" in particular circumstances that make certain beliefs and actions seem more reasonable (and more "democratic").
In the unveiling of Wilson Yard, the core tensions within democratic sub- jectivity manifest through two pulls.