We speak with Debbie Bookchin and Blair Taylor, editors of “The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy,” which is a compilation of essays by the late Murray Bookchin. Bookchin ran the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont which describes itself as “a pioneer in the exploration of ecological approaches to food production, alternative technologies, and urban design, and has played an essential, catalytic role in movements to challenge nuclear power, global injustices and unsustainable biotechnologies, while building participatory, community-based alternatives. The Institute strives to be an agent of social transformation, demonstrating the skills, ideas and relationships that can nurture vibrant, self-governed, healthy communities.” Bookchin was one of the most influential thought leaders in the later twentieth century about anarchism who developed the concepts of “social ecology” and “libertarian municipalism.”
Listen here:
This is What the Next Revolution could look Like with Debbie Bookchin and Blair Taylor by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud
Relevant articles, websites and video:
Bookchin: Living Legacy of an American Revolutionary by Federico Venturini
Listen Anarchist by David Harvey
The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy available from Verso Books
VIDEO: Debbie Bookchin and Blair Taylor at Red Emmas in Baltimore
Guests:
Blair Taylor has been involved with the Institute for Social Ecology since 2000. Co-editor of the recent bookThe Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy, featuring essays by Murray Bookchin, Blair is presently completing a doctorate in politics at the New School for Social Research examining the historical evolution of the US left from the New Left to Occupy Wall Street. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he currently works in Germany as a fellow at the Einstein Crisis Research Group at The Free University of Berlin. Active in the global justice movement, today he works with a variety of political and educational projects.
Debbie Bookchin is the daughter of Murray Bookchin. She is an author and journalist who wrote “The Virus and the Vaccine: Contaminated Vaccines, Deadly Cancers and Government Neglect” with Jim Schumacher.