Book Review of "Concepts for a Democratic and Ecological Society"

I encourage you to read Yavor Tarinski's new book "Concepts for Democratic and Ecological Society". Regardless of your political beliefs, you will learn vital facts concerning direct democracy and social ecology.

His arguments are clear, not only is a new society necessary, but it IS possible. We have the knowledge and wisdom from our elders to create it. Tarinski is heavily influenced by the radical thinkers Murray Bookchin and Cornelius Castoriadis among many others. He has managed to combine their ideas and build a new comprehensive approach to building this new society that we desperately need.

Right out of the gate, the author tackles the root of all of today's problems; capitalism and the greed that comes with it which is a system that ruins billions of lives and is destroying the environment.

Tarinski's book strikes at the heart of our global and local problems. Please read this excellent excerpt from the book:

"we should abandon the growth doctrine altogether and direct our attention toward the already enormous pace of economic production. There is no point in enlarging it even further; on the contrary, if we want to have any future on this planet, we will have to degrow it. But this can have meaning only if we decide to share it equally. And this cannot be done by the state of other hierarchical extra-social structures, for equality requires equal participation in the decision-making by all citizens. This here we speak for a major paradigm change: an altogether abandonment of the capitalist economism of Homo economicus and conscious of their symbiotic relationship with nature."

Tarinski describes direct democracy well here: "direct democracy… is a political project that strives at radically redistricting decision-making power equally among all members of society". He goes on to describe how direct democracy will help every aspect of our social life, giving us the people power in every aspect of our lives.

Tarinski is relentless in his analysis and criticism of the destruction of the environment.
He understands and describes how we have no choice but to go beyond capitalism and mass consumption. Social Ecology is the answer!

He tackles a number of the biggest issues facing us today. These are some of the concepts the author spells out in this book:

● Autonomous Cities
● the Commons
● Degrowth
● Solidarity Economy

Here are two important points he makes about the Commons:

"The logic of the Commons goes beyond the ontology of the nation-state and the "free" market."

"The paradigm of the Commons, as part of the wider project of direct democracy, could play the role of the trick that manages to vanish the table separating us, but simultaneously creates strong human relationships based on Solidarity and participation. For this to happen, social movements and communities have to reclaim the public space and the Commons."

This is so important. It is up to us the people to take back what is ours!

Here is a look at his thoughts on the Solidarity economy:

"The solidarity economy, as I have already underlined earlier, is directly linked to direct democracy in actuality because at its core are direct participation and cooperation. But in order to move these principles from the margins of our collective life toward its center, we need to deeply democratize ourselves."

This is exactly why I mess with Yavor and his books. He drops knowledge on a deep level combining his effluences in Bookchin and Castoriadis and others. He lays out solutions that will work to help us build a new and better life for everyone.

I highly encourage you to read this book and help us build this new society together.