Janet Biehl – författare

Murray Bookchin (1921-2006) was one of the most significant and influential environmental philosophers of the twentieth century. The founder of the social ecology movement, Bookchin was presenting and publishing foundational ideas about issues like air and water pollution, nuclear radiation, and the dangers of fossil fuels. He was a genuinely original and prescient thinker who was grappling with problems that we still face today-and proposing solutions for them-before most people realized those problems existed. In addition to his work in ecology, Bookchin was also a noted leftist, and he worked to create an authentic, indigenous American Left.Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin is the first-ever biography of Murray Bookchin, written by his personal collaborator and copyeditor, Janet Biehl. From 1987-2006, Biehl edited every word that Bookchin wrote, and worked with him on numerous articles and books. She tells the story of Bookchin's life from a perspective that no one else could, providing a comprehensive biography that examines this pioneer environmentalist's life on both personal and professional levels. She uses her access to Bookchin's papers as well as extensive archival research, and draws upon nearly two decades' worth of a personal relationship with Bookchin. The book discusses the variety of philosophies and movements that Bookchin helped lead, including social ecology, assembly democracy, and even, in certain instances, anarchism. Ecology or Catastrophe is the definitive biography of Murray Bookchin, written by the person who knew him best.

Murray Bookchin was not only one of the most significant and influential environmental philosophers of the twentieth century--he was also one of the most prescient. From industrial agriculture to nuclear radiation, Bookchin has been at the forefront of every major ecological issue since the very beginning, often proposing a solution before most people even recognized there was a problem.Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin is the first biography of this groundbreaking environmental and political thinker. Author Janet Biehl worked as his collaborator and copyeditor for 19 years, editing his every word. Thanks to her extensive personal history with Bookchin as well as her access to his papers and archival research, Ecology or Catastrophe offers unique insight into his personal and professional life. Founder of the social ecology movement, Bookchin first started raising environmental issues in 1952. He foresaw global warming in the 1960s and even then argued that we should look into renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels. Wary of pesticides and other chemicals used in industrial agriculture, he was also an early advocate of small-scale organic farming, which has developed into the present locavore movement and the revival of organic markets. Even Occupy can trace the origins of its leaderless structure and general assemblies to the nonhierarchical organizational form Bookchin developed as a libertarian socialist.Bookchin believed that social and ecological issues were deeply intertwined. Convinced that capitalism pushes businesses to maximize profits and ignore humanist concerns, he argued that eco-crises could be resolved by a new social arrangement. His solution was Communalism, a new form of libertarian socialism that he developed. An optimist and utopian, Bookchin believed in the potentiality for human beings to use reason to solve all social and ecological problems.

Murray Bookchin was not only one of the most significant and influential environmental philosophers of the twentieth century--he was also one of the most prescient. From industrial agriculture to nuclear radiation, Bookchin has been at the forefront of every major ecological issue since the very beginning, often proposing a solution before most people even recognized there was a problem.Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin is the first biography of this groundbreaking environmental and political thinker. Author Janet Biehl worked as his collaborator and copyeditor for 19 years, editing his every word. Thanks to her extensive personal history with Bookchin as well as her access to his papers and archival research, Ecology or Catastrophe offers unique insight into his personal and professional life. Founder of the social ecology movement, Bookchin first started raising environmental issues in 1952. He foresaw global warming in the 1960s and even then argued that we should look into renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels. Wary of pesticides and other chemicals used in industrial agriculture, he was also an early advocate of small-scale organic farming, which has developed into the present locavore movement and the revival of organic markets. Even Occupy can trace the origins of its leaderless structure and general assemblies to the nonhierarchical organizational form Bookchin developed as a libertarian socialist.Bookchin believed that social and ecological issues were deeply intertwined. Convinced that capitalism pushes businesses to maximize profits and ignore humanist concerns, he argued that eco-crises could be resolved by a new social arrangement. His solution was Communalism, a new form of libertarian socialism that he developed. An optimist and utopian, Bookchin believed in the potentiality for human beings to use reason to solve all social and ecological problems.

In the summer of 2012 the Kurdish people of northern Syria set out to create a multiethnic society in the Middle East. As Syria plunged into civil war, the Kurds and their Arab and Assyrian allies established a self-governing polity that was not only multiethnic but democratic. They liberated village after village and in March 2019 captured ISIS's last territory in Syria. Around that time, two UK-based filmmakers invited the author to spend a month in Rojava making a film. She accepted, and this is her account of the revolution she witnessed there.

Die Absicht, engagiert politisch zu handeln, stellt Akteur*innen immer wieder vor die Frage: Wie sich organisieren? Welche Form der Organisierung ermöglicht welches politische Handeln, welcher Grad an Organisierung ist für ein politisches Handeln notwendig? Wie lässt sich an mehreren Herrschaftsknoten rütteln und Spaltungsabsichten entgegenwirken? Wie gestaltet sich das Verhältnis zwischen politischer Wirkung/Macht und Organisation? "Sich organisieren" beinhaltet dabei zugleich eine Ambivalenz von Singular und Plural, von Einzelnen und Gruppe/Kollektiv/Bewegung/Partei, die/das politische Handlungsmacht wiederum daraus ziehen mag, dass sie aus den vielen eine Stimme formt.In Brechts Fatzer-Fragment warten die vier aus dem Ersten Weltkrieg Desertierten in Mülheim auf etwas, auf das Beginnen der politischen Tätigkeit, auf den Ausbruch der Revolution – auf was eigentlich? Dabei kämpfen sie mit dem Problem, sich zu organisieren, mit den Fragen von Zusammenhalt und Egoismus, von Zugehörigkeit und Ausschluss, der Fähigkeit zu handeln, anzugreifen oder sich zu verteidigen, von Hierarchie und Anarchie, von Beschlussfassung und offener Diskussion. Im vorliegenden Band wurden Formen der Organisierung in gegenwärtigen Arbeits- und sozialen Kämpfen, die gemeinsame Selbstorganisierung von Geflüchteten und Unterstützer*innen, Strategien im Umgang mit der ''Neuen Rechten'' in Theater- und Kunsträumen und die politische Organisierung Fatzers und seiner Mitdeserteure befragt. Diese werden im Buch ergänzt durch Überlegungen zur internationalen Arbeiterbewegung vom 19. bis ins 21. Jahrhundert, zum Funktionieren des Demokratischen Konföderalismus in Rojava, zu marxistisch-feministischen Positionen in der aktuellen Sexismus-Debatte sowie zur Praxis des Ensemble-Netzwerks.Der sechste Band der Mülheimer Fatzerbücher – Organisation/Organisierung – gibt das Symposium wieder, spiegelt die Wechselwirkungen zwischen dem Politischen und dem Ästhetischen und dokumentiert die während der Fatzer Tage gezeigten Aufführungen ausführlich: die Fatzer-Inszenierung von Jürgen Kuttner und Tom Kühnel (Deutsches Theater Berlin) sowie den für die Fatzer Tage produzierten Stadtrundgang Go! Fatzer! Go! der Leipziger Gruppe friendly fire und die über den Open Call entstandene Performance how to be we von Bergmann | Gilles (Gießen/Hildesheim).