Fall 2020 ISE Newsletter
Fall 2020 newsletter of the Institute for Social Ecology.
Popular Front Zine Review
In the context of crisis and conflict, Popular Front is a voice for the truth; its zine is a valuable addition to this project. Those wanting to learn more can visit popularfront.co or find them on most social media.
Rojava Today: Where Is the Movement Now?
Online panel discussion on the Rojava Revolution today with international volunteers Viyan Qereçox, Argeş Tolhildan, and Kurdish author Dilar Dirik.
Reimagining a World where Justice is Possible
Salddin Ahmed on the uprising against white supremacy sparked by the murder of George Floyd. “The real looters are the 1%, not those who have been robbed of their livelihood. The real thugs are the ruling elites who habitually associate looting and violence with the victims… A world that does not have a place for black people is too small, too stupid, and too violent to be fixed. Instead, it must be reimagined and reconstructed. “
First Arabic Translation of Murray Bookchin’s work now available!
The ISE is thrilled to announce the first-ever translation of Murray Bookchin’s work into Arabic: a translation of “The Communalist Project.”
When We Lose the Ability to Be Shocked, Fascism Has Already Arrived
A pattern of deterioration of the state is now visible from the USA and Brazil to India and Turkey despite the gulf that separates them in terms of political traditions, institutional practices, and constitutional protections of human rights. In each case, the public sphere is continually shrinking under the pressure of a mass movement that shows three incredibly dangerous symptoms: racism, religious fundamentalism, and a populist leader whose popularity among his volkisch base often increases the more anti-democratically he behaves.
“Humans” are not the problem: Reflections on a “useless” documentary
While “Planet of the Humans” makes a few valid points about over-reliance on techno-fixes in general, and the fundamental flaws of biomass energy in particular, it does a serious disservice to those seeking to bring a more systemic and forward-looking approach into the climate movement.
New Social Ecology Comic!
We’re thrilled to share a new comic strip about social ecology and the ISE produced in collaboration with our friends at Ad Astra Comix – take a look!
The Coronavirus Pandemic, Capitalism, and Nation-States
The pandemic has exposed irreconcilable contradictions in the entity of the nation-state and the capitalist world system.
Without vigilant analysis of the present moment and rigorous critique, we will be risking our entire political freedoms for decades to come. If the historical moment is not acted upon, the crisis will become a catastrophe, and the catastrophe could take us back to an even darker age.
Coronavirus and the Need for a Social Ecology
The domination of nature has reached crisis proportions under capitalism, and viral outbreaks are yet another ecological problem. There are ways that we can prevent the spread of these pathogens: wash your hands, disinfect your phone, don’t touch your face and self-quarantine if you exhibit symptoms of being sick. But without addressing the root causes of these issues—capitalism and the idea of dominating nature—these sorts of problems will only worsen. Social ecology offers an alternative vision of what an ecological and socially just world might look like – a world organized around care instead of domination that fosters a reharmonization of humanity and non-human nature.