Editing Murray Bookchin (section)

=== Municipalism and communalism<!--'Libertarian communalism' and 'Communalism (Bookchin)' redirect here--> ===
Bookchin's vision of an ecological society is based on [[Participatory democracy|highly participatory]], [[grassroots]] politics, in which municipal communities democratically plan and manage their affairs through [[popular assembly]], a program he called '''communalism'''<!---boldface per WP:R#PLA-->. This democratic deliberation purposefully promotes autonomy and self-reliance, as opposed to centralized state politics. While this program retains elements of anarchism, it emphasizes a higher degree of organization (community planning, voting, and institutions) than general anarchism. In Bookchin's communalism, these autonomous municipal communities connect with each other via [[confederation]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bookchin |first=Murray  |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-eirik-eiglad-free-cities |title=Free Cities: Communalism and the Left |language=en |access-date=March 18, 2022 |archive-date=April 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425033549/https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-eirik-eiglad-free-cities |url-status=live }}</ref>

Starting in the 1970s, Bookchin argued that the arena for libertarian social change should be the municipal level. In 1980 Bookchin used the term "[[Municipalism|libertarian municipality]]" to describe a [[libertarian socialist]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Rafael |date=2016-03-22 |title=The New PKK: unleashing a social revolution in Kurdistan |url=https://mesopotamia.coop/the-new-pkk-unleashing-a-social-revolution-in-kurdistan/ |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=Co-operation in Mesopotamia |language=en-GB |archive-date=July 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724073312/https://mesopotamia.coop/the-new-pkk-unleashing-a-social-revolution-in-kurdistan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> system in which institutions of directly democratic assemblies would oppose and replace the [[State (polity)|state]] with a confederation of free municipalities.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Bookchin |first=M.|date=October 1991 |url=http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/gp/perspectives24.html |title=Libertarian Municipalism: An Overview. |magazine=Green Perspectives |number=24 |location=Burlington, Vermont}}</ref> In ''The Next Revolution'', Bookchin stresses the link that libertarian municipalism has with his earlier philosophy of social ecology. He writes:

{{blockquote|Libertarian Municipalism constitutes the politics of social ecology, a revolutionary effort in which freedom is given institutional form in public assemblies that become decision-making bodies.{{sfn|Bookchin|2015|p=96}}}}

Bookchin proposes that these institutional forms must take place within differently scaled local areas. In a 2001 interview he summarized his views this way:

{{blockquote|The overriding problem is to change the structure of society so that people gain power. The best arena to do that is the municipality—the city, town, and village—where we have an opportunity to create a face-to-face democracy.<ref name = Vanek>{{Cite magazine |last1=Bookchin |first1=Murray |first2=David |last2=Vanek |date=October 1, 2001 |magazine=[[Harbinger (zine)|Harbinger]], a Journal of Social Ecology |volume=2 |number=1 |publisher=Institute for Social Ecology |title=Interview with Murray Bookchin |url=https://social-ecology.org/wp/2001/10/harbinger-vol-2-no-1-%E2%80%94-murray-bookchin-interview/}}</ref>}}

Libertarian municipalism intends to create a situation in which the two powers—the municipal confederations and the nation state cannot coexist.<ref name = Vanek/>

====Municipalization as a foundation for an ecological society====
Bookchin posits that neither privatization nor nationalization can effectively pave the way toward an ecological society. He asserts that both models are deeply embedded in structures of domination, failing to address the root causes of environmental crises. In contrast, Bookchin advocates for municipalization as a core principle in his libertarian municipalist framework<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=Mason |title=Home Libertarian Socialism Libertarian Municipalism: Theory to Build Socialism from Below |url=https://www.classwithmason.com/2024/11/libertarian-municipalism-theory-to.html |website=Class with Mason |date=November 9, 2024 }}</ref>