Dear Friends of the Institute for Social Ecology,
We hope everyone is navigating these unprecedented and unsettling times as best they can. With the world on fire both figuratively and literally, the need for social, political, and ecological transformation has never been more pressing. Here is a short update on some of our recent and upcoming activities. We hope you’ll join us in our mission of education and action toward a free and ecological society.
Our 2020 Summer Intensive was an amazing week of learning and global movement networking, with over 250 people registering from 35 countries including every continent but Antarctica! All of the talks and discussions are available on our YouTube Intensive Playlist, if you missed them, take a look. Our summer Ecology of Freedom Reading Group was also a fantastic experience, one which required a new section to accommodate so many different time zones! We will definitely be offering it again in the future.
Rojava Today: Where is the Movement Now? WED, Sept 16 at 1 pm ET
The multi-ethnic, feminist revolution in Rojava has been an inspiring beacon of 
hope throughout the world. Yet much has changed in the intervening years, including the U.S. military abandoning their Kurdish allies, the Assad regime consolidating power in the Syrian Civil War, and ongoing regional military intervention by Turkey and Russia. What has all of this meant for the revolution today?
Kurdish activist/author Dilar Dirik and international volunteers Viyan Qereçox and Argeş Tolhildan will share their insights on this question and more. Register via Eventbrite.
Fall Ecology Democracy Utopia Online Seminar: Sept. 28-Oct. 19
The fall session of our popular online seminar Ecology Democracy Utopia starts September 28, meeting weekly on Mondays at 1 pm ET through October 19. The class gives a comprehensive overview encompassing nature philosophy, politics, strategy, reconstructive vision, and more. Enrollment is $80. This and our other online course are also available in a self-directed format that can be started at any time.
Weekly Symbiosis Webinar Series on Bottom Up Democracy
Our friends at Symbiosis are hosting a fantastic weekly webinar series titled Bottom Up Democracy: From Crisis to System Change through Dual Power. The next one is September 14; continues through Oct. 19.
Climate Justice and Community Renewal Webinar Videos
Videos from a five-part online series featuring contributors to Brian Tokar’s 
co-edited book, Climate Justice and Community Renewal, are now available online. Collecting voices from the frontlines of the global climate movement, the series includes talks on Climate Justice and Community Renewal, Indigenous Just Transition, African Climate Resistance and Environmental Justice, Global Resistance to Extractive Industries, and Linking Resistance and Renewal: Overcoming Barriers.
New Social Ecology Media
In case you missed them, over the summer we’ve published several new articles on our blog, including a piece on disaster tourism in Kisir, Turkey by Umut Kuruüzüm and İpek Potur, and a review of the Popular Front conflict journalism podcast/zine by Steve R.D. Henderson. We’ve also recently significantly expanded our Non-English Language Social Ecology Resources page, featuring new texts in Portuguese, Chinese, Indonesian, Hebrew, and more, reflecting the movement’s global scope. The Third Edition of ISE faculty member Grace Gershuny’s book Organic Revolutionary: A Memoir of the Movement for Real Food, Planetary Healing, and Human Liberation is now available, published by Black Rose Books. ISE faculty member Beverly Naidus was recently interviewed about art and social-ecological change for the show iEat Green on the Progressive Radio Network, which will soon host interviews with Brian Tokar and Grace Gershuny. And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for a new social ecology podcast from our friends at Srsly Wrong – the first episode should be up by the end of this month!
Lastly, we were devastated to hear of the passing of David Graeber, radical anthropologist, movement leader, and long-time friend of the ISE. An inspiring example of a politically-engaged public intellectual, many of us here worked closely with David in the global justice and Occupy movements, on publications and conferences like Life After Capitalism and Renewing the Anarchist Tradition. You can read remembrances by ISE associates Brooke Lehman and Debbie Bookchin in this New York Review of Books eulogy.
To register or get more info on any of our upcoming events, respond to this email (social-ecology@mail.mayfirst.org). And until next time, stay connected with the ISE through our website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
For a free and ecological society,
Institute for Social Ecology
