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...

The old model of secure livelihood through wages is collapsing at the same time that new technology is destroying the material basis for dependence on corporations and the state. This is to a large extent a transition to a post-capitalist society centered on the commons....

The mayors of the seven largest Spanish cities took part in a video conference to discuss their role in the fight against COVID-19. Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Malaga and Murcia have united under C-7, to defend their common interests and to claim more involvement...

Cities are supposed to be built for all of us, but they aren’t built by all of us. Every city in the world has been designed and built by men. But what if the other half had a go? Barcelona might be able to give...

The new municipalist agenda is shaping up worldwide. The requirement for successful municipalist experiences to exceed the local level and enter the regional or national agenda might jeopardize their existence, since it challenges the very bases of their conception. The notion of growth by “scaling...

This confrontation between cities and multinationals is a reflection of the increased pressures on local authorities and urban spaces since the 2008 financial crisis, including austerity and budget cuts, the financialisation of housing, overtourism that negatively impacting locals, and the targeting of cities by Big...

We can chart a new path forward by grounding that vision in the lessons learned from past struggles and an understanding of how hierarchy is the shared root of oppression. But this can all feel a bit intangible without clear examples. To get an idea of what...

John Boughton’s book Municipal Dreams offers a robust and clearheaded rejoinder to academic and activist work that pivots around the slippery, less tangible notion of the right to the city. Drawing from the  unequivocal celebration of the confident, progressive “spirit of ’45”—which delivered vast amounts...

With amazing creativity in the toughest of times, in 2018 in the UK, they were seeing the first shoots of the renaissance of local government for the many, not the few—the rebirth of municipal socialisme. With the objective to seize every opportunity to develop and...

Mayors in some of England’s biggest cities are warning that local authorities are at risk of going bust with potentially devastating consequences for communities unless the government takes immediate action. As the impact of the Covid-19 crisis hits local authorities, the mayors of London, Greater...

Libertarian municipalism promotes the use of direct face-to-face assemblies in order to “steal” the practice of politics back from the professional politicians and place it back in the hands of citizens. Describing the state as “a completely alien formation”, Bookchin presents libertarian municipalism as “democratic...

Many social movements have created municipalist platforms, run for municipal elections, were elected and are now trying to change the game of traditional representative democracy from the municipality. This paper primarily intends to capture the tensions and paradoxes generated by the adoption by these movements...