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Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism

New book from Matt Hern

Long-time ISE lecturer Matt Hern has an excellent new book just out, combining an extended travelogue to the center of Canada’s tar sands with an engaging dose of social theory and free-form political commentary.  Here’s what the publisher, MIT Press, says about Global Warming and the Sweetness of Life: A Tar Sands Tale, co-written by Matt and his colleague Am Johal, the Community Engagement director at Simon Fraser University. The book also features lots of photos and a cartoon account of their journey by Joe Sacco:
Confounded by global warming and in search of an affirmative politics that links ecology […]

By | April 25th, 2018 | Climate Justice, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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Reason, creativity and freedom: The communalist model

On the unique relevance of communalism in this historical moment. By Eleanor Finley, originally published by ROAR Magazine.
By | February 13th, 2017 | Article Archive, Author, Current Movements, Eleanor Finley, Featured, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 1 Comment |
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Social 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.
By | June 25th, 2015 | Anthropology, Article Archive, Current Movements, Eleanor Finley, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 2 Comments |
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On 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.
By | June 17th, 2015 | Featured, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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New 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 the […]

By | April 5th, 2015 | Book Reviews, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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ROAR 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 time […]

By | March 2nd, 2015 | Debbie Bookchin, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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Ursula 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."
By | February 5th, 2015 | Article Archive, Book Reviews, Economics & Capitalism, Murray Bookchin, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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Eyewitnesses 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"...
By | December 31st, 2014 | Current Movements, Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 1 Comment |
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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 the West.
In Kobani, as in other towns in the Kurdish-held Rojava region of Syria, the Kurds have […]

By | November 26th, 2014 | Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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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 corporations get to decide to a very large extent the quality of the air we breathe […]

By | November 19th, 2014 | Political Theory: Anarchism, Communalism & Libertarian Municipalism, Social Ecology Blog | 0 Comments |
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