Further reading
Examples of dual power can be found all over: from Standing Rock to the Zapatistas, Rojava to workers’ cooperatives. Here’s a selection of ROAR’s coverage over the years.
A Dual Power Reading List
- Issue #9
- Author
Photo: Visual research / Flickr
Murray Bookchin
Bookchin’s Revolutionary Program
Janet Biehl
The demand for a rational society summons us to be rational beings—to live up to our uniquely human potentials and construct the Commune of communes.
Learning from the life of Murray Bookchin
Eirik Eiglad
Janet Biehl’s “Ecology or Catastrophe” presents a lucid overview of Bookchin’s life and is possibly the best introduction we have to social ecology today.
Bookchin: living legacy of an American revolutionary
Federico Venturini & Debbie Bookchin
An interview with Debbie Bookchin on her father’s contributions to revolutionary theory and the adoption of his ideas by the Kurdish liberation movement.
The Communalist Model
Direct democracy and the passion for political participation
Yavor Tarinski & Eve Olney
For a radically democratic and ecological society we need to build democratic and resilient communities capable of deepening citizen participation at all levels of public life.
Reason, creativity and freedom: the communalist model
Eleanor Finley
Humanity stands at a crossroads. Now, more than ever, history calls for a grassroots democracy at a global scale. If we look carefully, all the tools are at hand.
The Political Form at Last Rediscovered
Jerome Roos
The revival of the commune provides an opportunity to infuse a divided and disoriented left with a shared project and a clear-eyed sense of purpose.
The liberatory potential of local action
Brian Tokar
Local action is often the best remedy for the failings of the current system — a worldwide confederation of democratic communities can have the same impact at a global scale.
Social Ecology: Communalism Against Climate Chaos
Brian Tokar
The theory and praxis of social ecology remains our best hope to fend off a dystopian future and meaningfully reshape the fate of humanity on this planet.
Libertarian Municipalism
The New Municipal Movements
Eleanor Finley
Much more than simply a strategy for local governance, radical municipalism is emerging as a path to social freedom and democracy beyond the state.
Is America ready for a municipalist movement?
Alexander Kolokotronis
In the era of Trump, we will need to consolidate counter-power via participatory democracy and economic self-management at the local level.
What went wrong for the municipalists in Spain?
Peter Gelderloos
Spain’s municipalist parties suffered a major setback at the May elections — their own actions and inactions are largely to blame for the loss of support.
Democratic Autonomy in Kurdistan
Murray Bookchin and the Kurdish resistance
Joris Leverink
Bookchin’s municipalist ideas, once rejected by communists and anarchists alike, have now come to inspire the Kurdish quest for democratic autonomy.
Bakur Rising: Democratic Autonomy in Kurdistan
Nazan Üstündağ
The Kurdish experiment in radical municipalism obliges us to rethink the issue of state violence and how new worlds can be created as well as defended.
Building Democracy without the State
Dilar Dirik
The Rojava revolution provides a historic opportunity to put the communalist model of Democratic Confederalism into practice.
Internationalists in the Revolution
Internationalist Commune of Rojava
“Our call is at once really simple and incredibly difficult: let us build together a global movement that is able to challenge and overcome capitalist modernity.”
The revolution in Rojava: an eyewitness account
Anja Flach, Ercan Ayboğa and Michel Knapp
An interview with the three authors of a new book — “Revolution in Rojava” — about their experiences and observations witnessing the birth of a new society.
Housing justice
Organizing tenants in the rentier society
Michael Byrne
Against the backdrop of a deepening housing crisis, new grassroots organizations are emerging to challenge landlords and governments and to organize tenants.
Berlin renters organize to expropriate landlords
Thomas McGrath
Berlin’s spatial dynamics and organized working class show how to secure liveable spaces and combat the financial nature of housing: socialize them.
Rent strikes: “Together we can defeat the housing market”
Matt Broomfield
As they revive a long-dormant form of protest, rent strikers in London and San Francisco must learn lessons from the great strikes of the 20th century.
Solidarity networks as the future of housing justice
Shane Burley
With the rental crisis in the US hitting catastrophic levels, institutional solutions failed but tenant solidarity networks booked a string of victories.
Zapatistas
A community in arms: the Indigenous roots of the Zapatistas
Tikva Honig-Parnas
By building a “democracy from below,” the Zapatistas recognize the leadership of, and carry on a long tradition of resistance by Indigenous communities in Chiapas.
Zapatistas take on President AMLO at 25th anniversary
Jérome Baschet
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At their annual celebration, the Zapatistas took aim at the Maya Train and tree farm megaprojects that trample the rights of Indigenous people.
Zapatistas announce major expansion of autonomous territories
Leonidas Oikonomakis
In a surprise announcement, the EZLN proclaim the creation of 11 new “caracoles” and autonomous municipalities, significantly expanding the territory under rebel control.
Worker cooperatives
Workers’ Control in the Crisis of Capitalism
Dario Azzellini
Recent years have seen a proliferation of recuperated workplaces around the globe, laying the foundations for a truly democratic workers’ economy.
Reclaiming the American Commons
John Curl
A quiet upsurge of cooperative activity has been taking place across the US, where people are turning to the commons to rebuild a sense of community.
The solidarity ecosystems of occupied factories
Liam Barrington-Bush
The workers of the recuperated VIO.ME factory in Greece are building towards more supportive communities and a stronger, less-fractured society.
Indigenous resistance
Counter-power and self-defense in Latin America
Raúl Zibechi
Against the backdrop of state and gang violence, some of the continent’s most affected communities have taken radical measures to defend themselves and build new social counter-powers from below.
Grounding the currents of Indigenous resistance
Alex Wilson & Praba Pilar
Those joining the centuries-old Indigenous resistance in the Americas should discard Eurocentric narratives, epistemic violence and salvation narratives.
“Wet’suwet’en Strong”: Indigenous resistance in Canada
Natalie Knight
The Wet’suwet’en struggle in British Columbia is the latest Indigenous resistance that builds on hundreds of years of organizing against colonial Canada.
Indigenous rights and the fight for life at Standing Rock
Eryn Wise, Frank Barat & Vidal Cuervo
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Solidarity and strength has brought victory at Standing Rock, but the water protectors know the struggle to protect their sacred lands is far from over.
Standing Rock: the story of a heroic resistance
#IndianWinter
For nearly seven months, indigenous water protectors have been leading a heroic resistance to block the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Insurgency, conflict and communalism in Colombia
José Antonio Gutiérrez & Janet Biehl
For decades, the FARC has led the revolutionary struggle in Colombia, but now farmers are taking over control by means of communal assemblies.
Self-Reproduction and the Oaxaca Commune
Barucha Peller
The Oaxaca uprising of 2006 teaches us that any serious anti-capitalist movement must engage directly with the gendered logic of social reproduction.
Source URL — https://roarmag.org/magazine/a-dual-power-reading-list/
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Social Ecology: Radicalizing the Climate Movement
- Katie Horvath
- December 22, 2019
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