Janet Biehl, author of a newly published book about Vermont social ecologist Murray Bookchin (Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin), speaks about her recent visit to Rojava, Kurdistan where Kurdish men and women have organized themselves into a democratic autonomous region based in part on principles advanced by Bookchin.
Source: Roar Magazine
Janet Biehl’s “Ecology or Catastrophe” presents a lucid overview of Bookchin’s life and is possibly the best introduction we have to social ecology today.
Ten years ago, American radical Murray Bookchin drew his last breath in the bed of his apartment in downtown Burlington.
By his side was Janet Biehl, his partner for 19 years.
I remember the moment well—as vivid as the Atlantic Ocean allowed for. His health had been deteriorating rapidly the last few months, and the day before I had called him up and sent my parting words. He was unable to respond (and almost certainly unconscious), but I explained to him that I was with an international group of social ecologists, from Finland, Sweden, Turkey, England, Chile, and Norway, gathering in Telemark that week to discuss permaculture, municipal reconstruction and radical social change. The next day, July 30, 2006, we received the news of his death. Many of us knew Bookchin and had worked with his ideas for a long time. It was a sweet moment: we shared our memories and strengthened our resolve.
In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and setting off the worst oil spill in US history. The images are unforgettable: The Gulf of Mexico on fire. Pelicans emerging from the water entirely covered in thick, black oil. Planes flying overhead, spraying more than a million gallons of an oil-dispersing chemical called Corexit in an attempt to control the spill.
Source: Al Jazeera
Ever since Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980 with an appeal to blue-collar whites, politicians have chased the “Reagan Democrat.” The key to capturing swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, the theory went, was to win over white workers turned off by “tax-and-spend liberalism” and the excesses of the Democratic Party.
Bill Clinton restored Democratic control of the White House in 1992 by wooing back some of these voters. His role in transforming the Democratic Party at the national level throughout the 1990s is undeniable. It was Clinton — not Reagan — who balanced the budget and ended “welfare as we know it,” cementing a long-running reorientation of his party. Where Democrats once sought to expand the welfare state, the Clinton-led party managed its decline.
As the debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement continues, many Americans are unaware that hundreds of exploitative foreign trade zones are already entrenched within the US, and most likely in their own part of the country.
"Who we are fighting for is every single peasant farmer – more than 200 million – on the planet. People are eager to join hands in building a global voice." - Elizabeth Mpofu of Zimbabwe, General Coordinator of the international peasant movement La Via Campesina.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019