Tag: janet biehl

The Politics of Social Ecology : Libertarian Municipalism (1998)

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Post date May 20, 2020
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Janet Biehl

“Libertarian municipalism is one of many political theories that concern themselves with the principles and practices of democracy.
In contrast to most such theories, however, it does not accept the conventional notion that the State and governmental systems typical of Western countries today are truly democracies. On the contrary, it considers them republican States with pretensions of being democratic. Republican States, to be sure, are more “democratic” than other kinds of States, like monarchies and dictatorships, in that they contain various kinds of representative institutions. But they are nonetheless States—overarching structures of domination in which a few people rule over the great majority.
A State, by its very nature, is structurally and professionally separated from the general population—in fact, it is set over and above ordinary men and women. It exercises power over them, making decisions that affect their lives. Its power in the last instance rests on violence, over whose legal use the State has a monopoly, in the form of its armies and police forces. In a structure where power is distributed so unevenly, democracy is impossible. Far from embodying rule by the people, even a republican State is incompatible with popular rule. Libertarian municipalism advances a kind of democracy, by contrast, that is no mere fig leaf for State rule.
The democracy it advances is direct democracy—in which citizens in communities manage their own affairs through face-to-face processes of deliberation and decision-making, rather than have the State do it for them.”
Janet Biehl

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Tags 1998, books, city, democratic confederalism, direct democracy, dual power, elections, forms of freedom, janet biehl, libertarian municipalism, medieval city, murray bookchin, popular assemblies, social ecology, state, statism - representationism, urbanization

20th century Analytic theory Antifascism Books Europe Social Ecology White supremacy

Ecofascism : Lessons from the German Experience (1996)

Post author By Anarchivist
Post date March 11, 2020
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Janet Biehl

Peter Staudenmaier

“What prevents ecological politics from yielding reaction or fascism with an ecological patina is an ecology movement that maintains a broad social emphasis, one that places the ecological crisis in a social context.
As social ecologists, we see the roots of the present ecological crisis in an irrational society — not in the biological makeup of human beings, nor in a particular religion, nor in reason, science, or technology. On the contrary, we uphold the importance of reason, science, and technology in creating both a progressive ecological movement and an ecological society. It is a specific set of social relations — above all, the competitive market economy — that is presently destroying the biosphere. Mysticism and biologism, at the very least, deflect public attention away from such social causes.
In presenting these essays, we are trying to preserve the all-important progressive and emancipatory implications of ecological politics. More than ever, an ecological commitment requires people today to avoid repeating the errors of the past, lest the ecology movement become absorbed in the mystical and antihumanistic trends that abound today.”
Janet Biehl & Peter Staudenmaier

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Tags 1996, books, ecofascism, germany, janet biehl, mysticism, peter staudenmaier, social darwinism, social ecology, white supremacy

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