C.1.a. General and International Studies

Collection of writings (from Nov. 1982 to June 1985) by former East German dissident and radical ecologist. Covers issue such as North-South relations, the peace movement and the crucial role of communes in rebuilding an ecologically sound society. Includes his statement on resigning from the German Greens, claiming that they ‘have identified themselves -critically- with the industrial system and its administration’.

This is a special issue on women’s organized resistance to the extraction of natural resources that has a damaging impact on their lives and environment. Articles cover movements in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico and also Ghana, focusing on the importance of water as a vital resource, and also on women’s embodied experience of suffering from water pollution and scarcity. The articles also discuss gendered critiques of extraction.

Part I covers environmental philosophy and green political thought; Part II Green parties and NGOs; Part III policy making at international, national and local levels. This is a textbook, which gives guidance on other sources.

Discusses role of nonviolence in Green thought (and in original policy of German Greens) and case for nonviolent protest.

In the early 1980s, there were mass protests across the Western world with varied goals, for example to support different models of economic development, promote anti-militarism and non-violence, or redefine urban and social spaces. Many, however, saw safeguarding the environment as their primary goal and identified nuclear energy as their main target. The authors investigate the movement for as afer environment and how it mobilized large sections of society and provided people with new tools of civic expression.

Defends new forms of radical direct action, including ‘ecotage’, arguing that violence should be measured by harm inflicted, not use of physical force.

Includes campaigns against logging, tree plantations, factories and tourist facilities and in defence of nature reserves. Argues environmentalism in Asia has a local focus and is often a form of cultural and political protests where overt political opposition is too dangerous.

Explores impact of political, economic, cultural and religious conditions on environmental activism.

Primary emphasis on sociological analysis of how environmental movements change, with statistics on participation in them. Chapters on Germany, Spain and Southern Europe and the USA. Derek Wall writes on ‘Mobilizing Earth First!’ in Britain. Jeff Haynes, ‘Power, Politics and Environmental Movements in the Third World’ (pp. 222-42) includes specific references to the Chipko, Narmada and Ogoniland movements, as well as other forms of environmental action in Kenya and the role of the WTO.