Bookchin v. "life style anarchism" (Jim O'Connor)

[Barbara Laurence]

Gordon Fitch and Chucko please note especially:  Bookchin has done more
activism in his life (hey, 80 ain't so old) than probably any other
American his age.  In the 1930s he was organizing for unions, organizing
demos in NY and elsewhere, ad infinitum; with his turn toward anarchism, he
organized the municipal assembly in Burlington, into local politics in a
big way.  State level politics too.  His anarchist beliefs prevented him
from engaging in national politics.  He made international tours, agitating
in who knows how many countries.  At 80, and not well, he's still writing,
last I heard.  He organized the anarchist farm-school there, which both
educated and trained many militants.  His genius was to develop the
dialectic of ecology and politics.  Yes, he was doctrinaire and hard to get
along with (and I imagine still is), but his activist life and his writings
together, make him the most energetic and profound American
writer/theorist/agitator and organizer in the country, of all those alive
today.
Some of the best known names in left green politics - in my view the only
politics worth talking about today - received an education from Bookchin
that none regrets.
Chucko says that his books have "always" been short on practice.  Some are,
some aren't.
In short, he is the founder of radical ecology and ecological radicalism in
this country.
Jim O'Connor (who couldn't and didn't get along with him, who critiqued his
work, but who was and is a great admirer of a man you have to respect and
honor).