Articles

Butterfly for Civil Disobedience Campaign

Kurdish Autonomy and Social Ecology

11.05.2012
As the legitimacy of the nation-state weakens, the Kurdish people's struggle for recognition and democracy seem to gain a particular importance. Let us have a look at the relationship between the democratic demands for Kurdish autonomy and social ecology.
Hungary Silenced

Preserving the Voice of Democracy in Hungary

01.04.2012
Klubrádió’s struggle for survival not only represents a test case of how far the government is willing to silence any opposition to its authoritarian aspirations. The station has also been endowed with a symbolic value: as long as we hear its broadcasts, we are able to sustain our hopes that all is not lost.
Small scale housing

Community Ownership of the Economy

05.03.2012
What are the municipalist alternatives to the capitalist market economy and the nation-state? What are their underlying principles and what are their historical precursors? What can we learn from the left-libetarian political experiences in order to create a new, truly democratic form of collectivism?
Ballot box

Occupy Local Government?

26.02.2012
After a year of protests and occupations, the movement against austerity measures and the dominant economic policy is asking how it can realize its demand for real democracy. Could participation in local elections be a part of its strategy?
The Windy Roads to Kurdish LIberation

Bookchin, Öcalan, and the Dialectics of Democracy

16.02.2012
After his abduction in 1999, Abdullah Öcalan initiated a profound rethinking of the Kurdish struggle for self-determination. To what extent has Öcalan been influenced by Murray Bookchin? What are the similarities between these two thinkers, and how did their ideas mature?
Map of Kurdistan

The Communalist Alternative to Capitalist Modernity

12.02.2012
Despite massive repression, strong radical movements in Kurdistan are advocating social ecology, communalism, feminism, and confederalism. What are the basic principles of communalist politics? How is it relevant to the Kurdish struggle for self-determination and true democracy?
Consensus and Anarchism symbol

Egalitarian Structure or Consensus?

04.02.2012
Decision making by consensus is a common way for groups to organize on the autonomous left. It has the benefits of being direct and participatory. However, this does not mean consensus is the only horizontal organizational structure. It’s not even the best.
Janet Biehls graphics of Murray Bookchin

Creating Free Cities

25.01.2012
Throughout his life Murray Bookchin was searching for political alternatives to the nation-state and capitalism. His social ecology explicitly sought to create free municipalities peopled by free citizens. His ideas will—we hope—receive more attention in the future.
German forest swastika

Ecofascism Revisited: A Brief Interview

19.01.2012
In the mid-nineties, Janet Biehl and Peter Staudenmaier co-authored a book on Ecofascism. Now this books has been republished by New Compass Press—with an extensive epilogue assessing this historical legacy. What is the relevance of ecofascism today?
Picture from assembly of Occupy London

- A New Era of Democratic History

14.01.2012
"The multiple crises we face indicate the need for a new paradigm, and that needs new organisational forms as the old ones are relatively defunct," says Mark Barrett from the People's Assembly Network in the UK. We talked to him about the prospects for assembly democracy in the UK.
Occupation of Wall Street

Solidify Occupy

04.01.2012
These past weeks have seen the destruction of the Occupy Wall St., Boston, Chicago, Oakland, LA and most recently Tucson camps, among others. Now the nascent Occupy movement faces one of its strongest tests. What social organization can replace the existing capitalism?
Image of bombing of government headquarters in Oslo July 22nd

Conspiracism and Violence

10.12.2011
Al Qaeda and the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik may appear very different, but they share the view that the world is ruled by a secret and all-powerful conspiracy. We reveal the conspirative fantasies behind the July 22nd attacks in Norway and other terrorist ideologies.

What's Next for the Occupy Movement?

05.12.2011
For some 30 years, the progressive Left in the US has been on the defensive. With the rapid growth of the Occupy movement this seems to be shifting. But what will happen now after the iconic tent encampments have been evicted, and when winter is coming?
Javier Sicilia hugs two women

We've had it up to here!

30.11.2011
For the last 6 years more than 40.000 people have been killed in the so-called Mexican drug war. A new grassroots peace movement has been initiated by the poet Javier Sicilia. Can it do what the government is not able to do – to provide real security to the Mexicans?
Girl holding banner during Chile student protest

Bad Education

27.10.2011
In Chile thousands of self-identified ‘badly educated’ students occupy their school campuses, and demand that education should be free and accessible to all. Their uprising has been met by unprecedented levels of repression by the authorities and divides the country in two.

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