At one of the first public meetings in the new city of Starbase, Texas, the first order of business was keeping the public out.
The city, near Brownsville on the Gulf of Mexico, voted to incorporate this May, forming a bizarre modern-day company town under the thrall of part-time resident Elon Musk. It’s made up of about five hundred people, spread across a few blocks of airstream trailers and ranch homes, almost all of whom are SpaceX workers or their families. The city serves as the launch site for the SpaceX Starship, and has been a passion project for Musk, especially since his dramatic falling out with the Trump administration this June.
Since incorporation, Starbase has operated as a uniquely undemocratic form of democracy. Most voting residents, including the mayor and two out of three members of the Board of Commissioners, work for Elon at-will and could easily be fired for going against his wishes. Many also reside in company-owned housing, where a firing leads to an eviction. This puts the entire town under intense coercive pressure to govern themselves in the interests of the company rather than the general public.
At the public meeting in late June, the Starbase government considered a proposal to build a set of gates around most of the town. These gates were a security measure, officials explained, and they would be used to bar anyone unaffiliated with Starbase from entering the town center. Some in the audience voiced opposition, but it didn’t matter. In the antidemocratic spirit of the town, the gates had been paid for and installed.
This is a striking move, effectively making a public municipality…
Auteur: Guthrie Scrimgeour
