Anti-colonialism and direct democracy

Written Yavor Tarinski

We don’t aim to seize colonial state power but to abolish it.
We seek nothing but total liberation.
~Indigenous Action[1]

Colonialism is still an issue today, as patterns of colonial exploitation continue in different parts of the world. Although the form might have changed, it is nonetheless still there. But the usage of anti-colonial narrative by the likes of Putin to justify their neo-colonial actions[2] has only contributed to the confusion among segments of the Western Left[3] of what the essence of fighting colonial rule really is.

A Legacy of Autonomy & the Kurdish Freedom Movement

by Yavor Tarinski

“Many different alternative movements around the world simply refused to stop imagining that another world is possible: Öcalan and the Kurdish freedom movement belong to this category.”

~ Havin Guneser

On why Referendums aren’t synonymous with Direct Democracy

Written by Yavor Tarinski

A vote, even a free vote, may be only – and often is only – a parody of democracy. Democracy is not the right to vote on secondary issues. Real [democracy] lies in being able to decide for oneself on all essential questions in full knowledge of the relevant facts.

~Cornelius Castoriadis[1]

For years a tool known as referendum, or plebiscite, has been synonymous with direct democracy. This has led to a gross misunderstanding of what the latter really stands for, which in turn has allowed different authoritarian formations to use this term in a symbolic projection of their supposed popularity.

Who will Guard the Guardians: Direct Democracy as Suspicion of Authority

By Yavor Tarinski

There no longer are any checks on political life, no sanctions beyond those of the penal code, which, as various “affairs” have shown, functions less and less. At any rate, in such a situation the question is posed, as it always has been: “And why the devil would judge themselves, or their ‘overseers,’ be exempt from the general corruption, and for how long? Who will guard the guardians?” [1]

~Cornelius Castoriadis

Political Challenges in the Crisis of Criticism

By Yavor Tarinski

There is here a conspiracy—not in the legal sense but in the etymological sense: everything “conspires,” “breathes together,” is blowing in the same direction—of a society in which all criticism is losing its effectiveness.
~ Cornelius Castoriadis¹

From Pseudo-rationalism to Rationality as a quality of thought

By Yavor Tarinski

We are no more nature rendered self-conscious than we are humanity rendered self-conscious. Reason may give us the capacity to play this role, but we and our society are still totally irrational – indeed, we are cunningly dangerous to ourselves and all that lives around us

~Murray Bookchin[1]

The dominant narrative today tells a story of linear progress, in which humanity is gradually becoming more reasonable and rational.[2] We are told that we travel from ages of darkness toward times of enlightenment. And, supposedly, this tendency can be delayed, but cannot be stopped. Or so the narrative goes…

Asking questions with the Zapatistas: Reflections from Greece on our Civilizational Impasse

Title: Asking questions with the Zapatistas. Reflections from Greece on our Civilizational Impasse

Authors: Theodoros Karyotis, Ioanna-Maria Maravelidi, Yavor Tarinski

Editor: Matthew Little

Cover: Apollon Petropoulos

Design: George Chelebiev

Publisher: Transnational Institute of Social Ecology

Year: 2022

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Beyond Self-Help and Esotericism: Freedom as Political Action

By Yavor Tarinski

Without action, all pleasure, all feeling, all knowledge is nothing but a postponed death.

~Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz[1]

Democratic Aspirations: Book presentation

Yavor Tarinski in dialogue with Brian Tokar about Tarinski’s new book, Concepts for a Democratic and Ecological Society. The event was hosted by Firestorm Books and Coffee.

Democracy and Ecology as Forces of Change: Interview With Yavor Tarinski

Interview with author and activist Yavor Tarinski, whose latest book “Concepts for a Democratic and Ecological Society” (Zer0 books, 2022) has just came out. He participates in social movements around the Balkans, as well as in transnational organizations, dedicated to the production of grassroots knowledge. Among his previous works are “Common Futures: Social Transformation and Political Ecology” [co-authored with Alexandros Schismenos] (Black Rose Books, 2021) and “Direct Democracy: Context, Society, Individuality” (Durty Books, 2019). Questions: J.H. Kagi.