Does Real Democracy Exist?
War, austerity, and a political class with no answers. So what does an actual alternative look like — one that's already being built?
In this episode, Camila Vergara sits down with Eleanor Finley, author of Practicing Social Ecology (Pluto Press), to trace how democratic, ecological alternatives to capitalism move from theory into practice — from the communes of New England to the feminist revolution in Rojava.
They cover Murray Bookchin’s intellectual legacy, the Burlington Greens, libertarian municipalism, Democratic Confederalism, and what it actually takes to transform yourself — and your community — in the process of changing the world.
Eleanor Finley is a political ecologist and activist. Practicing Social Ecology is out now from Pluto Press.
Thank you posting and I applaud your work. Have we thought through how we can keep the benefits of scaled systems (large infrastructure projects, economies of scale, innovation, etc.) while we transition to a more horizontal organizational structure ? Or will this always involve a trade off?