Political Media Review – PMR

Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella, II, (Ed.)
AK Press (2006)
Reviewed by Sarat Colling 

Igniting a Revolution argues for a new wave in the history of environmentalism that its editors Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella, II claim as revolutionary environmentalism: a collective movement that seeks total liberation by building expansive alliance networks and understanding between all radical social struggles. The book is both a reflection of the new multi-issue alliance based politics that emerged during the 1990’s and a call and catalyst for their intensification. It provides a platform for revolutionary voices from all different camps – Black liberationists, Native Americans, eco-feminists, queers, people with disabilities, animal liberationists, anarchists, and many more. Offering academic analysis and activist accounts in over 40 diverse essays, Igniting a Revolution roots out, and explores solutions for, today’s global environmental crisis.

The anthology is organized into several sections that explore issues the editors feel are essential to the study of revolutionary environmentalism. These include the topics of environmental history, sustainability and consumption, religion and spirituality, critiques of civilization, government repression, direct action and militancy, and social movements and alliance politics. Interwoven with each section are collections of somber and beautiful poetry, written by renowned activists such as political prisoner Marilyn Buck, that make a powerful contribution to the book’s holistic compilation.

Throughout the book its contributors emphasize the connection between deep ecology, social ecology, animal liberation and revolutionary action. All of the authors reject environmental activism that views nature as a resource to be maintained and fails to see it as intrinsically valuable. With environmental destruction rapidly escalating, militant approaches that accept “no compromise” are often viewed as most effective. While the essays in this book highlight a variety of opinions and objectives, the authors share recognition that the current capitalist system is inherently unsustainable and unjust and their essays favour an alternative of decentralized and autonomous communities guided by ecological and anarchist principles.

Compiled during an era of ecological devastation and intense repression from the industrial state complex, many of the books contributors now sit imprisoned for their actions defending the Earth. Contributions from current and former political prisoners like Free, Critter, Ashanti Alston and Josh Harper, to name a few, outweigh any book I have seen. And their stories are some of the most endearing. As Bron Taylor, author of the foreword writes, “with a little imagination, this book may provide the next best thing to joining radical activists in the trees, urban neighborhoods, prisons or what Edward Abbey called “nightwork,” that is, sabotage under the cover of darkness” (3).

With its amazing bridge-building approach, fascinating academic as well as activist voices and articulation of a multi-issue global movement, Igniting a Revolution is a one of a kind work in its field. The book explores what it means to be a revolutionary, the emerging manifestations of revolutionary environmentalism and the future potential. The authors consensus seems to be that a diversity of tactics are necessary: education to foster understanding, building organic communities and engaging in protest and militant activism which for some inevitably include armed struggle. With daunting obstacles ahead, only time will tell if revolutionary environmentalism will succeed.  Still, it is perhaps the most promising and increasingly necessary progressive social movement in history.