GalleryReason, creativity and freedom: The communalist model
On the unique relevance of communalism in this historical moment. By Eleanor Finley, originally published by ROAR Magazine.
GallerySocial Ecology, Kurdistan, & the Origins of Freedom
Reflections on a recent visit to Turkey and North Kurdistan. Many Kurdish revolutionaries describe their struggle as one of organic society against authoritarian society and have forged a unique role in the continuing evolution of human freedom.
GalleryOn the Necessity of Dialectical Naturalism
A recent article in the journal Antipode situates Murray Bookchin's theory of dialectical naturalism within the broader dialectical tradition, and contrasts his approach with Herbert Marcuse's technological pessimism.
GalleryNew book: Social Ecology and Social Change
In September last year New Compass organized a conference in collaboration with the University of Oslo called Ecological Challenges. Some of the questions we asked were: How can we create a society that is ecological as well as egalitarian? How can we develop new forms of activism that are constructive as well as confrontational? How can we work for genuine social change and simultaneously prevent ecological destruction and improve people’s lives in today’s world?
The results of these discussions are now gathered in one book! Many people associated with the ISE in Vermont, both past and present, are among [...]
GalleryROAR Magazine interview with Debbie Bookchin
ROAR Magazine (Reflections on a Revolution), one of the very best websites chronicling today’s protest movements and global uprisings, has posted an extended interview with Debbie Bookchin about her father’s legacy and the importance of his essays collected in the book, The Next Revolution, co-edited by Debbie and ISE board member Blair Taylor. The interview is by ISE alum and University of Leeds doctoral student Federico Venturini.
On the question of Murray Bookchin’s most lasting contributions, Debbie explains:
On a very basic level, his introduction of ecology as a political category was extraordinary. He was fifty years ahead of his [...]
GalleryUrsula LeGuin on Murray Bookchin
"Capitalism’s grow-or-die imperative stands radically at odds with ecology’s imperative of interdependence and limit. The two imperatives can no longer coexist with each other; nor can any society founded on the myth that they can be reconciled hope to survive. Either we will establish an ecological society or society will go under for everyone, irrespective of his or her status."
GalleryEyewitnesses to the Kurdish revolution
Last December a delegation, including social ecologists, visited the Kurdish region of Syria – known as Rojava – to experience their implementation of "democratic confederalism"...
NY Times letter on Kobane
From the New York Times editorial page, November 25, 2014. Also see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-schumacher-and-debbie-bookchin/the-kurdish-experiment-in-radical-decentralism_b_5996184.html:
To the Editor:
Re: “More Than a Battle, Kobani Is a Publicity War” (front page, Nov. 20):
While the Syrian border town of Kobani may be viewed as a public relations battle by the United States and the Islamic State, Kobani’s true strategic importance is that it exemplifies the new Kurdish commitment to eschewing nationalism in favor of building a citizen-empowered democracy that departs radically even from existing forms of democracy in [...]
Richard Grossman, ¡Presente!
Richard Grossman, activist and thinker ahead of his time
by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
Research Associate, Institute for Social Ecology
November 17 2014
This month marks three years since the passing of my good friend, activist and valuable anti-corporate crusader Richard Grossman. What made his work unique was his research and critical thinking on the nature of the corporation. How on earth did the corporation, an entity that exists only on paper in the form of a charter of incorporation, get to have so much power?, he asked. Today [...]
Kurdish teach-in in NYC: Livestream Tues. 11/18
On Tuesday evening, November 18th, at the City University of New York (160 Convent Avenue in Manhattan, 5-7 pm), will be a panel titled “Kobanê & the Rojava Revolution,” featuring David Phillips, Salih Muslim, Nazan Üstündağ and Mutlu Çiviroğlu. The event will be livestreamed at http://www.kurdslist.org/kobane_and_the_rojava_revolution_live.
The announcement for this event states in part:
The genuine social revolution in Rojava (Western Kurdistan/Northern Syria), which was launched over two years ago, has been under constant attack by the Islamic State [of Iraq and [...]
