Rethinking community organising
The term “community organising” has become such a part of the modern political landscape on the left that it is easy to forget that it has a relatively recent history and a specific origin. Indeed, it has come to encompass all manner of movement-building and…
From citizen platforms to Fearless Cities: Europe’s new municipalism
The growing momentum of local democratic initiatives seizing institutional power at a city level has great potential to address national and transnational political problems. In 2017 Barcelona hosted the Fearless Cities Summit, an international gathering which took important first steps in linking the new experiments…
Radical municipalism: The future we deserve
For many years the left has struggled with the question of how to bring our ideas, of equality, economic justice and human rights, to fruition. Murray Bookchin’s political trajectory is instructive for the argument that Debbie Bookchin makes in this article: that municipalism isn’t just…
Reason, creativity and freedom: The communalist model
The attitudes of racism and xenophobia, which have fueled the virulent rise of fascism today in places like the United States, must be combated by a radical humanism that celebrates ethnic, cultural and spiritual diversity. With communalism we might remake the world upon humanity’s potential…
On this day in 2006: Murray Bookchin passes away at 85
The American revolutionary theorist Murray Bookchin passed away on July 30, 2006. This piece contains a selection of articles, interviews and reviews from ROAR’s archives to disclose Bookchin’s long life, important work and achievements. Photo: Pixabay
A European network of rebel cities?
In Europe, it is the cities that once again lead the way as places of radical innovation and democratic renewal – and provide answers to the challenges we face in our continent. Photo: Soloman Soh
Venezuela: ¡Comuna o nada!
Venezuela’s communes bring together communal councils—local units of direct democratic self-government—with productive units known as social production enterprises. As Chávez himself often put it, the choice on the table is increasingly between la comuna o nada, the commune or nothing. Photo: Amber Lamoreaux
Ecology or catastrophe: the life of Murray Bookchin
This book 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…
A democratic devolution underway in Barcelona: Barcelona en Comú
This paper seeks to outline the changes that enabled the citizen platform Barcelona en Comú (Catalan for “Barcelona in Common”) to win the elections in Barcelona in 2015, a victory that signaled a rupture in the status quo of Spanish politics. Although the citizen platform…