FreeWhisky
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Hello all:
I have decided to do a let's read of the collection of Murray Bookchin's essays Social Ecology and Communalism. (PDF Here). In this post I will give a little bit of background on Bookchin, give basic definitions of Social Ecology and Communalism and begin to orient these things in the broader left-libertarian movement.
Bookchin the person
Bookchin was steeped in the American Anarchist tradition, and for much of his career as a social and political theorist was one himself. The author of over two dozen books and many essays and an early environmentalist, Bookchin helped pioneer social ecology and communalism to better incorporate environmental considerations into left-libertarian discourse. On a personal level this is what drew my interest to doing a Let's read of his work, one of my biggest issues with "green" parties world-wide is how infested they are with shit liberalism. Additionally I have a desire to expand my knowledge of theory beyond the canonical anarchist and socialist texts.
In brief (to be explored in depth later), what is Social Ecology?
In brief (to be explored in depth later), what is Communalism?
Tentative Schedule & Outline
Generally speaking I will do my best to look at 10-12 page blocks of the text, with this material broken up into two posts, over the course of a week.
I have decided to do a let's read of the collection of Murray Bookchin's essays Social Ecology and Communalism. (PDF Here). In this post I will give a little bit of background on Bookchin, give basic definitions of Social Ecology and Communalism and begin to orient these things in the broader left-libertarian movement.
Bookchin the person
Bookchin was steeped in the American Anarchist tradition, and for much of his career as a social and political theorist was one himself. The author of over two dozen books and many essays and an early environmentalist, Bookchin helped pioneer social ecology and communalism to better incorporate environmental considerations into left-libertarian discourse. On a personal level this is what drew my interest to doing a Let's read of his work, one of my biggest issues with "green" parties world-wide is how infested they are with shit liberalism. Additionally I have a desire to expand my knowledge of theory beyond the canonical anarchist and socialist texts.
In brief (to be explored in depth later), what is Social Ecology?
Social ecology is based on the conviction that nearly all of our present ecological problems originate in deep-seated social problems. It follows, from this view, that these ecological problems cannot be understood, let alone solved, without a careful understanding of our existing society and the irrationalities that dominate it. To make this point more concrete: economic, ethnic, cultural, and gender conflicts, among many others, lie at the core of the most serious ecological dislocations we face today – apart, to be sure, from those that are produced by natural catastrophes.
In brief (to be explored in depth later), what is Communalism?
Bookchin urged serious libertarians to transcend anarchism, along with Marxism and other radical ideologies. It is necessary, he contended, to create a new body of thought based on a coherent and revolutionary social approach that integrates and goes beyond all traditional forms of socialist radicalism. This he called communalism.
Tentative Schedule & Outline
Generally speaking I will do my best to look at 10-12 page blocks of the text, with this material broken up into two posts, over the course of a week.
- An Introduction to Social Ecology
- Introduction
- Nature and Society - Week 1 to here
- Social Hierarchy and Domination
- The Idea of Dominating Nature - Week 2 to here
- "Grow or Die"
- An Ecological Society - Week 3 to here
- Radical Politics in an Era of Advanced Capitalism
- Marxism, Capitalism, and the Public Sphere - Week 4 to here
- Society, Politics, and the State
- The Rise of the Public Domain - week 5 to here
- The Importance of Municipality and Confederation
- The Need for a New Politics - week 6 to here
- The Role of Social Ecology in a Period of Reaction
- The Struggle for a Rational Society - week 7 to here
- The Relevance of Social Ecology
- The Communalist Project
- Capitalism, Classes, and Hierarchy - week 8 to here
- Marxism, Anarchism, and Syndicalism
- Communalism and Municipal Libertarianism - week 9 to here
- The Need for Organization and Education
- Creating a New Left
- After Bookchin - week 10 to here
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