HT @SFTMC. This piece by Jamie from New Left Project is a pleasing continuation of my line of argument against Curtis's lacquering of UK Uncut with Gaian holism. But this one contains a lot more detail. For instance, you can find out about Murray Bookchin's critique of Gaia and so on from within ecological political theory.
In other words, it's perfectly possible to be ecological and anti-authoritarian in your politics. Indeed, Bookchin style thinking influenced the anti-globalization movement.
We can conclude, then, that one act that Curtis's editorial performs is to wipe out traces of this and other forms of ecological politics. It's a cartoon.
The issue is not whether Uncut's form of action and organising is anti-authoritarian but whether it is anti-democratic, in excluding some in the decision making by the lack of a recognisable and accessible structure.
ReplyDeleteBookchin was an advocate of what he called libertarian municipalism that did offer a process for participation in decisions and which involves organising in parties of some shape. ( but see http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/aug02/reflections.html for a critique)
Yeah, but it's a little bit unfair of Curtis to compare the apples of Gaian holism with the oranges of political protest movements--in particular a movement that just isn't a party of any kind.
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