This exciting work takes a critical look at ways in which the ideas of social ecology are being applied around the world. It explores a variety of cultural settings, from the Zapatistaas to Rojava, Western European municipalist movements, and more. This volume holds many lessons we need to learn and apply to create a new ecological society.

~ Daniel Chodorkoff, co-founder of the Institute of Social Ecology and author of The Anthropology of Utopia: Essays on Social Ecology and Community Development

Given rising social alienation, increases in international conflicts, and worsening ecological crises, one could not think of a more timely volume than the Power to Create, Power to Destroy. Each chapter engages directly in dialectical thinking, overcoming unhelpful binaries of core/periphery, North/South, and the universal/particular when examining global processes of resistance. Written in an accessible manner, the book uses Bookchin’s social ecology as a broad theoretical basis, whilst its chapters trace a myriad of forms of political resistance, from political projects like Rojava and the Zapatistas, to urban and municipal struggles, to social movements and environmental activism. It is essential reading for anyone interested in cultures of resistance and hopes for the future.

~ Shannon Brincat, author of Recognition, Conflict and the Problem of Global Ethical Community and Communism in the 21st Century

Power to Create, Power to Destroy is the result of a bold, imaginative, and collective effort to explore, create, and sustain cultures of resistance. Hope is not abandoned. One of the important insights is that we learn from practice and by sharing knowledge of struggle. In this, the book keeps the possibility of transformation alive.

~ Ruth Kinna, co-editor Anarchist Studies and author of The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism

Power to Create, Power to Destroy is a bold and necessary intervention in our understanding of radical democracy from below. Drawing on rich examples—from Kurdish democratic confederalism to Zapatista autonomy, from Greek solidarity networks to municipalist experiments in governance—this book challenges us to rethink what democratic life can look like when it is not imposed from above but built through collective struggle, grassroots pedagogy, and everyday resistance. A must-read for anyone seeking to imagine and enact transformative alternatives to the capital, empire and the various versions of barbarism currently on offer.

~ Andrej Grubacic, co-author of Wobblies and Zapatistas and Living at the Edges of Capitalism: Adventures in Exile and Mutual Aid

Power to Create, Power to Destroy: Toward Cultures of Resistance and Radical Social Change

Imprint:

Edited by Federico Venturini, Théo Rouhette, Marcy Isabella

Contributors R. Cemali Akgün, Fabiana Cioni, Georgios Daremas, Magali Fricaudet, Chaia Heller, Marcy Isabella, Leo Jubault, Krini Kafiris, Matyas Krizkovsky, Inés Morales Bernardos, Théo Rouhette, Yavor Tarinski, Brian Tokar, Orestis Varkarolis, Federico Venturini

FORTHCOMING Fall 2025

Power to Create, Power to Destroy: Toward Cultures of Resistance and Radical Social Change is the fruit of the collective adventure of activists and researchers engaged in the global struggle against capitalism. The volume gathers reflections, experiences, and insights from multiple perspectives that share a common objective: a radical reorientation of societies toward meeting human needs, responding to ecological imperatives, and nurturing values of mutual aid and cooperation.

Across fourteen essays, the book travels between theory and practice and between the core and the periphery. The authors investigate the intersections between ecology, climate justice, and democracy, illustrating their respective roles towards a strategy “from below” to promote system change. We learn about the experiences of the Zapatista and the Kurdish struggles, two emblematic cases of resistance to capitalist modernity through their uncompromising dedication to ecology, democracy, and feminism. We dive into recent social movements and urban struggles in Europe, from municipalist platforms and climate movements to solidarity initiatives and food struggles.

Ultimately, Power to Create, Power to Destroy is a tool for radical social change, aiming to both reflect upon utopian visions and share concrete pathways towards more democratic and ecological societies.

About the Editors

Federico Venturini is a Research Associate at the University of Udine. His current research focuses on Zero Waste, the Kurdish question, river contracts, and social ecology. In 2016, he earned his PhD at the University of Leeds. He holds an MPhil from the University of Trieste as well as an MA in history and European Culture from the University of Udine. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Transnational Institute of Social Ecology since 2013, and the International İmralı Peace Delegation, organized by the Eu Turkey Civic Commission, since 2016. He co-edited with Thomas Jeffrey Miley Your Freedom and Mine: Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish Question in Erdogan’s Turkey (Black Rose Books, 2018) and with Emet Değirmenci and Inés Morales, the volume Social Ecology and the Right to the City: Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities (Black Rose Books, 2019).

Théo Rouhette is a PhD candidate at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB). His research focuses on modelling the interactions between climate change and land use change. He has a background in ecology and biodiversity science. As an activist, he has been involved with social ecology and community organizing in various cities in Europe, and is now based in Bilbao, Spain. He has been a member of the Transnational Institute of Social Ecology (TRISE) since 2017 and joined Scientist Rebellion in 2023.

Marcy Isabella is Associate Professor of Writing and First-Year Studies at Stockton University as well as an antifascist, anarchist educator.