Announcing: New Study Series on Radical Ecology and the Rojava Revolution
New ECR Study Group Series: Radical Ecology and the Rojava Revolution
Join us Saturday, July 20th (1pm EST) for a special kick-off event hosted by Debbie Bookchin and Sheelan Qader!
The global ecological crisis is arguably the defining theme of our time. As the earth’s living systems and human communities face existential threats from climate change and environmental destruction, the question of ecology has never been more urgent. What are the roots of this crisis? What are the ecological implications of social systems based on capitalism, state power, oppression and domination? How can we liberate society while healing humanity’s relationship with the rest of the natural world?
In this series we will explore these questions through a series of thematic and participatory discussions over the next six months. After grounding the series in the philosophy of social ecology and its application in Rojava, we will expand from there over subsequent monthly sessions, bringing the experience of the Kurdish freedom movement into dialogue with a variety of approaches to radical ecology, including ecosocialism, degrowth, decolonization and climate justice.
To start the series off (and to mark the 12th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution!) our first session will take place on Saturday July 20th, at 1pm EST, on the topic of Social Ecology, co-moderated by Debbie Bookchin and Sheelan Qader. In this discussion we will explore Murray Bookchin’s philosophy of Social Ecology, its interpretation by the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, and lessons drawn from the ongoing attempts to apply these ideas in practice in North-East Syria and throughout Kurdistan.
Register here to attend.
Readings:
Extra credit:
A Philosophical Naturalism (intro to The Philosophy of Social Ecology)
Debbie Bookchinis an author and longtime journalist, writer and speaker on municipalism, who also served as press secretary to Bernie Sanders for three years when he was first elected to the US Congress. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and many other outlets. She is a founding member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava.
Sheelan Qaderis an independent researcher and a Master’s student in Environmental Policy at The New School.