Ursula Le Guin on Murray Bookchin
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Seems the older she has become, the more politically vocal she has gotten.
Has anybody read Bookchin's essays, "The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy," released last month by Verso Books, mentioned by Ursula.
I've just read the book. It's not too bad. Bookchin is I think on of the best recent writiers to come out of Anarchism. I'm now taking notes and will hopefully be able to write something useful about it..
Many anarchists, of course, disavowed Bookchin as an anarchist when he began to express criticisms of some of what passes for as "anarchism" so you are right to write "one of the best recent writers to come out of Anarchism." Looking forward to your review if it reaches the Socialist Standard or this forum.
In the end he didn't describe himself as an anarchist either. And he wasn't against contesting local elections. Two more things in his favour.
Janet Biehl, a proponent of Bookchins 'Libertarian Municipalism' will be speaking at the Anarchist Bookfair in London this year, I might try and check that out…EDIT:Interestingly she seems to have gone further from Anarchism than Bookchin, calling herself a plain "social democrat" so the above should probably read "Janet Biehl, an ex-proponent…"http://social-ecology.org/2011/04/biehl-breaks-with-social-ecology/
Oh, I see Biehl has a biography of Bookchin coming out (OUP no less!)http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecology-Catastrophe-Life-Murray-Bookchin/dp/0199342482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441187162&sr=8-1&keywords=Ecology+or+Catastrophe%3A+The+Life+of+Murray
Don't forget the letter from a reader who doesn't think much of Ursula Le Guin The Dispossessed (scroll down):http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2013/no-1312-december-2013/letters
From what I remember of the book, I agree with the reader's view of The Dispossessed. Hardly shows socialism in a good light. There is no 'world of abundance' there, just scarcity shared out. And everyone seems so humourless and impersonal.But there again it's a long time since I read it, so maybe I should look again.
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