Articles

Is "Nature” Our Motivation?

19.03.2013
Pundits are pointing to nature as the rallying point for the environmental movement. Is that good enough? Erik Martiniussen stresses the need to discuss some major questions: What kind of society do we want, how can we achieve this, and who is standing in our way?
The Ecological Crisis Illustration

The Ecological Crisis, Socialism, and a New Society

15.03.2013
Social ecology argues that all ecological problems are social, and that the very idea of dominating nature stems from human domination over other humans. To properly address the ecological crisis we therefore need to advance a new politics and a new economics.
German nationalist festival participant

Interview with the Author of Against the Nation

11.03.2013
In this interview, Robert Ogman, author of New Compass’ latest publication, explains why he chose to write about the so-called anti-national movement in Germany in the 1990s, why it rejected the nation and the nation-state, and what the Left can learn from it today.
Image from the movie "Critical Transitions"

Critical Transitions

03.03.2013
We are immersed in a series of minimal movements and minor actions. How can we grasp the changes occurring around us? How can we see where all these minor transformations lead us? These are some of the questions artist Tone Bjordam ponders over in her magnificent new movie.
Marlene Dietrich

Protests Against the Nation

24.02.2013
In his book "Against the Nation: Anti-National Politics in Germany"—the latest publication from New Compass Press—Robert Ogman takes a fresh look at the question of nationalism that has haunted the Left for more than a century. Here we present a brief excerpt from the book.
Plants growing in a bottle

Alternatives to Antihumanism

23.02.2013
Dismal antihumanist moods percolates through today’s Euro-American culture. What would be the starting points for a new social theory and ethics, one that is both ecological and humanist? What would, minimally, constitute a rational alternative to present-day antihumanism?
Protest on Iceland

Economic Alternatives for Iceland

12.02.2013
Alda (Assocation for Sustainability and Democracy) was one of many organisations emerging from the financial crash on Iceland in 2008. We talked to them about the post-crash situation, the constitutional process, their vision for an alternative economy and strategies for getting there.
A red moon rising

Prospects for a Third Revolution

08.02.2013
What are the prospects for revolution today? Is it likely that the cycle of insurrectionary revolutions that began in seventeenth-century England will continue into the future? Could a popular revolution still conceivably take place in the Euro-American world?
Pablo and Aurora from Spain's 15M movement

Learning Democracy by Doing It

18.01.2013
In an era where politics has come to mean a strategic and manipulative game played among distant elites, Spain’s 15M movement is trying to bring it back to the citizens in the squares. In the popular assemblies they have revived politics to its original meaning.
Bank and finance

Our Curious Case of Economic Bondage

19.12.2012
Economic stagnation has not led to a reappraisal of capitalism, but instead to its intensification. The restoration of growth becomes an all-consuming passion and our material dependence on the system’s success is underscored. Do we, despite ourselves, want capitalism to succeed?
reminiscences from the new left

Bookchin's Ecology and Assembly Democracy

28.11.2012
Murray Bookchin understood earlier than almost anyone that an ecological crisis was not only looming but posted a challenge to capitalism and the whole social order. A pioneer thinker, he brought radical ecology and assembly democracy to the Left.

The Sorting Society

23.11.2012
The implementation of screening programs in public health services has led to the near termination of births of children with Down Syndrome. Screening processes are often presented as a personal choice, but in a society based on competition, effectiveness and normalization do we really have an option?
respect and accountability

OCP part 4: Accountability

17.11.2012
Our good intentions can complicate accountability because, in a field of landmines, it’s intimidating to take risks and to innovate. In that way, we no longer need to look at it as being “accountable” or “unaccountable” but instead as a path we are all constantly walking as best we can.
The Ecology of Urban Regeneration

The Ecology of Urban Regeneration

08.11.2012
Most of us now live in cities. From an ecological perspective, this may seem highly problematic. How can we counter the deeply anti-ecological thrust of contemporary urbanization processes? What role do cities play in our vision of an ecological society?
Author of Recovering Bookchin Andy Price

Why Recover Bookchin?

23.10.2012
Andy Price's recent book describes how Murray Bookchin was portrayed as a dogmatic sectarian who intended to dominate the radical Left for his own ends. We asked Price why it is important to recover Bookchin's ideas in the face of the current ecological and economic crisis.

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