“Visiting Rojava was like a dream come true. It was what we had been fighting for all those years — a free society that administers itself.” Janet Biehl interviews the three authors of a new book — “Revolution in Rojava” — about their experiences and observations witnessing the birth of a new society.

Economic growth, either Right or Left-wing, cannot solve the present social problems. Instead it strengthens capitalism and statist hierarchies, which only deepen the roots of the present crisis. A completely different paradigm is needed that will deal with the real causes of our problems.

If we are to achieve a democratic transition to an ecological society, we have to engage in protest, local politics, already existing participatory processes and in building economic alternatives. Korsár and Malmström describe a four step program to do this.

The Social Ecology Cooperative in Paris has presented 21 theses for a people’s ecology. This is an to formulate an “ecology of liberation” for the 21st century, by advancing a movement of the popular classes, those dispossessed by capitalist modernity on a global scale.

Over the last years, the sharing economy has arisen as a new economic paradigm. It is often presented as an anti-capitalist model, based on access rather than ownership. However, the main sharing websites are making huge profits off of their users’ sharing activities. What does this mean?

To achieve social change in a more participatory and collaborative direction, modern cities need to be radically transformed. This can be done through altering urban design and establishing direct democratic institutions which will encourage citizenship and strengthen communitarian relationships.

We can look to the Kurdish case for inspiration about transforming the matrix of electoral politics by building power on the municipal level, beginning a revolution that would create a society in which citizens are empowered to self-govern rather than passive choosers of options deemed merely less evil.