Social Ecology and Democratic Confederalism : A reader from Make Rojava Green Again in cooperation with the association of the students from Kurdistan YXK and JXK

Author : Murray Bookchin

(1921 - 2006)

Father of Social Ecology and Anarcho-Communalism

: Growing up in the era of traditional proletarian socialism, with its working-class insurrections and struggles against classical fascism, as an adult he helped start the ecology movement, embraced the feminist movement as antihierarchical, and developed his own democratic, communalist politics. (From: Anarchy Archives.)
• "The social view of humanity, namely that of social ecology, focuses primarily on the historic emergence of hierarchy and the need to eliminate hierarchical relationships." (From: "The Crisis in the Ecology Movement," by Murray Bo....)
• "We are direly in need not only of 're-enchanting the world' and 'nature' but also of re-enchanting humanity -- of giving itself a sense of wonder over its own capacity as natural beings and a caring product of natural evolution" (From: "The Crisis in the Ecology Movement," by Murray Bo....)
• "...a market economy based on dog-eat-dog as a law of survival and 'progress' has penetrated every aspect of society..." (From: "The Crisis in the Ecology Movement," by Murray Bo....)

libertarian socialist (3)

anti-capitalist (3)

Chapter 1 : Abdullah Öcalan on the Return ...

1. Abdullah Öcalan on the return to social ecology By Abdullah Öcalan The text is an excerpt from Abdullah Öcalan’s defense pamphlet “Bir Halkı Savunmak” (engl: “Beyond State, Power and Violence.”) Humans gain in value when they understand that animals and plants are only entrusted to them. A social ’consciousness’ that lacks ecological consciousness will inevitably corrupt and disintegrate. Just as the system has led the social crisis into chaos, so has the environment begun to send out S.O.S. signals in the form of life-threatening catastrophes. Cancer-like cities, polluted air, the perforated ozone layer, the rapidly accelerating extinction of animal and plant species, th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 2 : What is Social Ecology?

2. What is Social Ecology? By Murray Bookchin From Social Ecology and Communalism, AK Press, first printing, 2007. 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. If this approach seems a bit too sociol... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 3 : The Death of Nature

3. The Death of Nature By Carolyn Merchant Excerpt from the book The Death of Nature The world we have lost was organic. From the obscure origins of our species, human beings have lived in daily, immediate, organic relation with the natural order for their sustenance. In 1500, the daily interaction with nature was still structured for most Europeans, as it was for other peoples, by close- knit, cooperative, organic communities. Thus it is not surprising that for sixteenth-century Europeans the root metaphor binding together the self; society, and the cosmos was that of an organism. As a projection of the way people experienced daily life, organismic theory emphasized interdependence among the parts of the human body, subordination of ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 4 : Ecology in Democratic Confeder...

4. Ecology in Democratic Confederalism by Ercan Ayboga Ecology discussions and practices in the Kurdish Freedom Struggle with a focus on North Kurdistan (Bakur) Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, www.mezopotamyaekoloji.org Ecology is one of the three pillars of the paradigm of Democratic Confederalism, the political-theoretical concept of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Besides democracy and gender liberation, ecology has been mentioned explicitly as a dimension in this concept since 2005. However to date, ecology is less discussed and practiced than the two other pillars. Ecological Destruction and Exploitation in Kurdistan With the widespread introduction of capitalism to Kurdistan in the 1950s came a systemic and destructive exploitat... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 5 : Reber Apo is a Permaculturalis...

5. Reber Apo is a Permaculturalist — Permaculture and Political Transformation in North East Syria By Viyan Qerecox If Reber Apo, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation movement, was a gardener, I would expect his garden to be colorful and wild, spilling out beyond its borders, a glorious mixture of vegetables, trees, flowers and vines. Drawing on his writings on political transformation, I imagine him to be a permaculturalist, creating gardens based on the wisdom of nature. Permaculture is a design system that strives to make ecological spaces sustainable and productive. But the approach is also geared towards other kinds of design, whether it’s architecture, urban planning, organizational structures or even politi... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 6 : Ecological Catastrophe: Nature...

6. Ecological Catastrophe: Nature Talks Back By Pelşîn Tolhildan Would a human being set fire to their own house? Yes, they would! Would a human cut the branch of a tree they sit on? Yes, indeed! Would humanity, as often repeated in Yasar Kemal’s novel ‘Ince Memed,” pull a knife on the table they eat on? Oh yes! Would a human being grow up to call the mother womb that gave birth to them “savage”? Definitely! Until that fire comes to surround them, until that branch falls on their head, until that knife touches their bone, until that nest completely closes to them so that they are left breathless, human beings would, have done, and unfortunately still continue to do all of the aforementioned thing... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Chapter 7 : Against Green Capitalism

7 Against Green Capitalism By Hêlîn Asî This year the discussions and struggles for the climate have gained enormous attention and outreach. The importance and seriousness of the situation, although long known, has been emphasized in recent months by young people around the world. The “Fridays for Future” movements have grown into a notable and remarkably young global mass movement — with local actions in many European countries, Australia, China, India, Japan, Turkey, Rojava, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico. The weekly strikes are led and organized by young people. The goals are concrete: the fastest possible exit from coal, a complete switch to renewable energies, ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Notes

[1] In recent discussions also described as “extractivism.” [2] The KFM uses the definition capitalist modernity in order to describe the current hegemonic political-economic system. According to that capitalism is covers mainly economical activities while capitalist modernity is a system which includes the political and ideological (for example it is meant: mentality, human relations, social behavior) dimension of the developed hegemonic system. [3] Change from use value to exchange value [4] Often “basic needs” is used in such discussions. But its quite difficult to differ between “needs” and “basic needs,” thus here it is foregone to use “basic.” [5] Instead of “resour... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

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Social Ecology and Democratic Confederalism : A reader from Make Rojava Green Again in cooperation with the association of the students from Kurdistan YXK and JXK

By Murray Bookchin

Entry 5064

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Author : Murray Bookchin

Chapters

Chapter 1 : Abdullah Öcalan on the Return ...

Chapter 2 : What is Social Ecology?

Chapter 3 : The Death of Nature

Chapter 4 : Ecology in Democratic Confeder...

Chapter 5 : Reber Apo is a Permaculturalis...

Chapter 6 : Ecological Catastrophe: Nature...

Chapter 7 : Against Green Capitalism

Notes

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