Janet Biehl
Encyclopedia
Janet Biehl is a writer associated with social ecology
, the body of ideas developed and publicized by Murray Bookchin
. In 1986 she attended the Institute for Social Ecology
and there began a collaborative relationship with Bookchin, working intensively with him over the next two decades in the explication of social ecology from their home in Burlington, Vermont
. From 1987 to 2000 she and Bookchin co-wrote and co-published the theoretical newsletter Green Perspectives, later renamed Left Green Perspectives.
She is the editor and compiler of The Murray Bookchin Reader (1997); the author of The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism (1998) and Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics (1991); and coauthor (with Peter Staudenmaier) of Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience (1995). She has also authored numerous articles about or related to Bookchin’s thought, especially libertarian municipalism
, social ecology and eco-feminism. Bookchin considered her The Murray Bookchin Reader to be the best introduction to his work.
In 2001 she retired from political activity to care for Bookchin in his old age. Since his death in July 2006 she been working on a biography of Bookchin. She is interested in hearing from those who knew him and have stories, insights, or other recollections that they would be willing to share.
In 2011, Janet Biehl, in a statement published on the ISE Blog's initial post "Announcing the New ISE Blog," broke with Social Ecology
and its continuation by Murray Bookchin, Communalism
, making publicly known that, since the end of the 1990s, she had privately reverted to her pre-1987 political identity, which was, as Biehl put it, "what leftists call a social democrat".
Social ecology
Social ecology is a philosophy developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s.It holds that present ecological problems are rooted in deep-seated social problems, particularly in dominatory hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly...
, the body of ideas developed and publicized by Murray Bookchin
Murray Bookchin
Murray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics,...
. In 1986 she attended the Institute for Social Ecology
Institute for Social Ecology
The Institute for Social Ecology is an educational institution in the United States offering courses related to social ecology, an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian strain of ecology that is a form of libertarian socialism. It was founded in 1974 by Murray Bookchin and Daniel Chodorkoff...
and there began a collaborative relationship with Bookchin, working intensively with him over the next two decades in the explication of social ecology from their home in Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. From 1987 to 2000 she and Bookchin co-wrote and co-published the theoretical newsletter Green Perspectives, later renamed Left Green Perspectives.
She is the editor and compiler of The Murray Bookchin Reader (1997); the author of The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism (1998) and Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics (1991); and coauthor (with Peter Staudenmaier) of Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience (1995). She has also authored numerous articles about or related to Bookchin’s thought, especially libertarian municipalism
Libertarian municipalism
Libertarian municipalism is a term first used by libertarian socialist theorist Murray Bookchin, and is used to describe a system in which libertarian institutions of directly democratic assemblies would oppose and replace the state with a confederation of free municipalities...
, social ecology and eco-feminism. Bookchin considered her The Murray Bookchin Reader to be the best introduction to his work.
In 2001 she retired from political activity to care for Bookchin in his old age. Since his death in July 2006 she been working on a biography of Bookchin. She is interested in hearing from those who knew him and have stories, insights, or other recollections that they would be willing to share.
In 2011, Janet Biehl, in a statement published on the ISE Blog's initial post "Announcing the New ISE Blog," broke with Social Ecology
Social ecology
Social ecology is a philosophy developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s.It holds that present ecological problems are rooted in deep-seated social problems, particularly in dominatory hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly...
and its continuation by Murray Bookchin, Communalism
Communalism (Political Philosophy)
Communalism is a libertarian socialist political philosophy coined by author and activist Murray Bookchin as a political system to complement his environmental philosophy of social ecology....
, making publicly known that, since the end of the 1990s, she had privately reverted to her pre-1987 political identity, which was, as Biehl put it, "what leftists call a social democrat".
Selected works
- Finding our Way. Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics (1991) ISBN 0-921689-78-0
- Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience (1996) ISBN 1-873176-73-2
- The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism (1997) ISBN 1-55164-100-3
- The Murray Bookchin Reader (1997) ISBN 0-304-33874-5
- Mumford Gutkind Bookchin: The Emergence of Eco-Decentralis (2011) ISBN 978-8293064107
External links
- Janet Biehl blog "My Graphics About Murray Bookchin" (2008), which includes part of a graphic biography of Bookchin
- "Bookchin Breaks with Anarchism" (2007)
- "Bookchin's Originality" (2008)