The developing eco-socialist movement
The movement is encouraging:
It’s clearly an advance toward “greening the left.”
Most of it right now is still too legacy-Red, which is understandable. Paradigms shift slowly.
My own interest is to transition the left “From Red to Green” … toward bioregionalism. But the work of Samuel Alexander suggests that the next step might need to be eco-socialist:
https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/v03sb-02.pdf
“Eco-socialists would argue that reducing societal material and energy flows will require significant nationalization of key industries for stability during the planned contraction, whereas eco-anarchists would argue that a confederation of small self-governing communities would be the better path. This debate is likely to continue, and it may be this controversy can only be resolved through practical experimentation not theory.”
. . . or it may be that we need a phase of eco-socialism in order to defang capitalism. Socialism, not as the “ultimate system,” but as a step along a road that leads in a green direction. Ultimately the conception of the eco-anarchists (a confederation of small self-governing communities) could be implemented.
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In response to:
https://stevenwelzer.medium.com/three-paradigms-of-production-8e8b7cb55fb7
Linda Cree wrote: “Why do you think a period of Socialism will usher in Green bioregionalism?”
I responded:
Samuel Alexander has convinced me that there can be a Green form of eco-socialism.
It might be needed to transition away from capitalism.
I say “might” . . . because no form of socialism, to date, has a very good track record. But Samuel Alexander says that if we don’t downscale and re-localize in some kind of planned way, the alternative will be to downscale and re-localize via chaos and catastrophe.
Most forms of eco-socialism that we’ve seen, even in the Green Party, are what I call “legacy-Red.” They’re too old paradigm (Marxism, workerism, universalism, etc.). Bioregionalism would be characterized by diversity of lifeways, and the old-style socialists have little appreciation for the idea of diversity in regard to economic relations. On that basis I used to disdain any type of socialism.
But Samuel Alexander’s vision is very Green and ultimately bioregionalist. He feels that a movement based on a critique of the globalized capitalist system should advocate moving past capitalism, consumerism, etc. as soon as possible, such that we may need to consider the idea of implementing eco-socialism at the “macro” level while endeavoring to build the re-localized societies and economies at the “micro” level.
Linda:
> Many Socialists think of socialism as a transition period
> between capitalism and communism, not bioregionalism.
So we could advocate for a Green type of eco-socialism that leads in a very different direction.
We clearly are in a period of Red-Green alliances. I think it’s a step on the road toward greening the left. I believe our Deep Green vision ultimately will prevail, but the idea of a post-capitalist eco-socialist phase may represent both (a) the best path forward, and (b) the program that can most appeal to the new generation of activists.
“I address issues such as degrowth, permaculture, voluntary simplicity, eco-socialism, ‘grassroots’ theories of transition, and the relationship between culture and political economy.”
