First Arabic Translation of Murray Bookchin’s work now available!

19 May, 2020 by editor

Although the work of ISE co-founder Murray Bookchin has been translated into over 20 global languages, the ideas of social ecology have never been available in Arabic. This gap is even more glaring as the democratic revolution in Rojava partly inspired by Bookchin’s ideas takes place in the context of a predominantly Arabic-speaking region. Given the disappointments of the Arab Spring, Communalism’s political vision of confederal direct democracy could offer a hopeful alternative to the authoritarian rule, violent ethno-religious sectarianism, and repressive Islamic fundamentalism that characterizes much of the Middle East today.

For this reason, the ISE is thrilled to announce the first-ever translation of Murray Bookchin’s work into Arabic – “The Communalist Project.” This text represents the definitive statement of Bookchin’s fully articulated democratic and ecological political vision. Translated by Nuh Ibrahim with permission from The Bookchin Trust, it is now available free via the Institute for Social Ecology website. It is our hope that it might make a contribution to democratic and ecological movements in the Arab-speaking world.

Many thanks to Nuh for his beautiful translation, Saladdin Ahmed and Jihad Hemmi for their invaluable help, The Bookchin Trust for granting us permission, and to all those who donated to help fund the project. Translation is a time-consuming and expensive process, but absolutely vital to spreading ideas and building international solidarity. If you would like to contribute to this or future translation projects, we welcome your donations here.

Licensed by The Bookchin Trust under