by Ian Angus
Doug Taylor, the founding editor of Ecosocialism Canada, died in January, 2014. We mourn his passing, but the best way to honour his memory is to try to continue his work.
Some readers may know me as editor of Climate & Capitalism, a web journal that Doug actively supported. I am now editing Ecosocialism Canada as well. I’m pleased to be working with a team of contributors to relaunch this important project. Our common goal is to build on the foundation Doug laid, to make this website an essential resource for the growing movement against capitalist ecocide in Canada, Quebec and the First Nations.
Most articles in Ecosocialism Canada will fall into one of two broad categories:
- News, analysis and discussion of environmental issues in or relevant to Canada. Examples could include the tar sands, mining, government policies, water, agriculture, overseas activities of Canadian corporations, Arctic ice loss, etc.
- News, analysis and discussion of environmental movements and protests, with special emphasis on First Nations, ecosocialist groups, and other environmental justice activities.
Ecosocialism Canada does not pretend to be impartial. This is a partisan project, written and edited by people who strongly believe that an ecological revolution is needed, and that no such revolution is possible within the framework of the capitalist system. In John Bellamy Foster’s words, “There can be no true ecological revolution that is not socialist; no true socialist revolution that is not ecological.”
We don’t claim to have all the answers. We don’t even claim that we are sure about everything we think we know. Ecosocialism is not a final doctrine, carved in stone: it is a work in progress, and it always will be. We welcome constructive discussion and criticism, and we invite all left-greens and green-lefts to join us in this exciting project.
As Antonio Gramsci wrote nearly a century ago:
“Every aspect of the problem deserves a vast and deep treatment, clarifications, subsidiary and coordinated integration. But the concrete and complete solution of the problems of socialist life can be given only by communist practice: discussion in common, which sympathetically modifies consciousnesses uniting them and filling them with working enthusiasm. To tell the truth, to arrive together at the truth, is to achieve a communist and revolutionary act.”
More briefly: In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
What has changed?
When Doug launched Ecosocialism Canada, there were few sources of ecosocialist news and information, so he adopted a very broad mandate, publishing articles from and about the entire world.
Today, information and analysis about the global fight for environmental and social justice is widely available on line. So the articles in Ecosocialism Canada now have a specifically Canadian focus.
The new site contains most of the articles on Canadian subjects from the old site, except for articles that were clearly obsolete, such as meeting announcements, and posts only contained links that no longer work. For anyone interested, the original website remains online with all of its content.
The site has moved to a new, easier to remember web address: ecosocialism.ca, and it has been redesigned to enable better access to articles by subject. Ten topic areas that we see as priorities are now directly accessible from the top menu. Subtopics can be accessed using the “Tags” tab at the top of the right-hand column.
(An aside for techies: The new site uses WordPress, which is a much more flexible and powerful publishing system than Blogger. One immediate result is our new design, a modified version of the WP-Prolific Theme developed by the very helpful people at Solostream.)
Keeping in touch
To be informed when new articles are posted, just enter your email address in the box at the top of the right-hand column. We’ll send one email on days when new articles are published, none on other days. I promise: no spam, no appeals for money, just brief announcements of real content.
You can also join the Ecosocialism Canada Facebook Group. In addition to announcements of published articles, it will feature links to other related material. If you see an article we should consider reposting, or if you have a suggestion for a topic, Facebook is the best place to let us know.
If you have an opinion (pro or con) or a question or additional information about any article that appears here, don’t hesitate to post a Comment. But please read the Comments Policy first: they will be enforced.
Finally, if you have written an article that you’d like considered for Ecosocialism Canada, read our Submission Guidelines.
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