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A Case Study of an Eco-Socialist Organization: Ecology Collective

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A Case Study of an Eco-Socialist Organization: Ecology Collective A CASE STUDY OF AN ECO-SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION: ECOLOGY COLLECTIVE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ERGÜN KAYABAŞ IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY FEBRUARY 2013 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Saktanber Head of Department This is to certify that I have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger Tılıç (METU, SOC) Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal (METU, SOC) Inst. Dr. Çağrı Topal (METU, BA) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Ergün Kayabaş Signature: iii ABSTRACT A CASE STUDY OF AN ECO-SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION: ECOLOGY COLLECTIVE Kayabaş, Ergün M.S., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal February 2013, 71 pages The aim of this thesis is to analyse how ecological crisis can be seen from the perspective of ecosocialism. Firstly, the ecosocialist literature was examined. Secondly,The Association of Ecology Collective was observed in order to analyse ecosocialist perspective in the field. For that purpose, all issues of Kolektif which is the main journal of Ecology Collective were examined. Additionally, five semi structured interviews have been conducted with the members of Ecology Collective. Keywords: Ecosocialism, environmentalism, ecologism, ecological crisis iv ÖZ EKOSOSYALİST BİR ÖRGÜT ÜZERİNE ÇALIŞMA:EKOLOJİ KOLEKTİFİ Kayabaş, Ergün Yüksek Lisans, Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Y. Doç. Dr. Çağatay Topal Şubat 2013, 71 sayfa Bu tezin amacı ekolojik krizin ekososyalist perspektiften nasıl ele alındığını analiz etmetir. Bunun için ilk önce ekososyalist literatür incelendi. İkinci olarak alanda ekososyalist perspektifi analiz etmek için Ekoloji Kolektifi Derneği incelendi. Bu amaç doğrultusunda, Ekoloji Kolektifi'nin temel yayını olan Kolektifin tüm sayıları incelendi. Bunun yanında, Ekoloji Kolektifi'nin beş üyesiyle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme yapıldı. Anahtar Kelimeler: Ekososyalizm, Çevrecilik, Ekolojizm, Ekolojik kriz v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal for his friendly support. He was more than a supervisor for me. I also would like to express my gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger Tılıç and Inst. Dr. Çağrı Topal for their patient and helpful criticisms. I thank to all members of Ecology Collective for opening their doors to me. I would like to thank to my dear friends Esra Can, Haktan, Esra, Burcu, Bahar, Altan, Erhan, Sanem and Zeynep, who always remind me that I am alive and life is worth living. I would like to express my gratitude to İdil and Volkan whom I will never forget not only their help but also their patience and friendship. I would like to thank Özgün and Begüm. I always felt that they are always with me although they were physically far away. I am thankful to Mehmet whom I will always see him as my brother. I want to send my comradely love to him. I am also grateful to my huge family for giving their love to me. And Lastly, I would like to offer my deepest love and gratitude to Vera without whom I could never have finished this thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ......................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................ iv ÖZ ....................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................ vii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................. viii LIST OF SYMBOLS/ABBREVIATIONS ....................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 1 1.1 Why Ecology Collective ............................................. 2 1.2 What is Ecology Collective ........................................ 4 1.3 The Case Study ....................................................... 7 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................... 11 2.1 Environmentalism vs Ecologism ................................ 11 2.2 Ecosocialism as an Ecologist Approach ...................... 20 2.3 Classification of Ecologism and Political Ideologies ...... 28 3. ECOSOCIALIST APPROACH OF ECOLOGY COLLECTIVE ...... 31 3.1 Introduction ........................................................... 31 3.2 Ecological Crisis ...................................................... 34 3.3 Industrialization and Technology .............................. 39 3.4 Strategies for Ecological Society ............................... 48 3.5 Ecocentrism ........................................................... 60 4. CONCLUSION ............................................................... 62 vii REFERENCES .................................................................. 65 APPENDIXES 1. References from Kolektif .......................................... 68 2. Table of Interviewees ............................................... 70 3. Tez Fotokopisi İzin Formu ......................................... 71 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLES Table 1 Political Philosophies and Environmentalism……………….28 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EC Ecology Collective GMO Genetically Modified Organism HES Hydroelectric Power Plants IEN International Ecosocialist Network x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The research question of this thesis is “How can ecological crisis be analyzed from the perspective of ecosocialism?” In order to observe and analyze the perspective of ecosocialism, the Ecology Collective, an ecosocialist association in Turkey, will be the case study of this thesis. Ecosocialism is one of the streams in ecologism. Because of this, first, ecologism was discussed in detail. In order to contextualize ecologism, I focused on how ecologism differs from environmentalism in the first chapter. I especially referred to the works of David Pepper, Jonathon Porritt, J. Bellamy Foster, Andrew Dobson, and Robyn Eckersley and illustrated the main features of ecologism. The discussions of these academics revealed that ecologism is an eco-centric approach criticizing industrialism, economical growth and technology. Next, I specifically focused on ecosocialism as an ecologist approach in order to see how ecosocialism discussed these issues which appeared in the first part to locate the difference of ecologism from environmentalism. They are shortly environmentalism, ecologism, industrialism, economical growth, technology and ecocentrism. At this point, I especially referred to 1 the works of David Pepper, Joel Kovel, J. Bellamy Foster, Paul Burkett and Michael Löwy. Then, I used the classification of David Pepper who shows the differences between political philosophies on ecological issues. He also focuses on how different political philosophies see environmental crisis, technology, economical growth, industrialism, ecocentrism, ecological society and what kind of strategies they offer. All these issues are also discussed by ecosocialist literature and the classification of Pepper gives the tools to assess the political tendency of the Ecology Collective. The arguments of revolutionary socialism in Pepper’s work and the ecosocialist literature discussed in that chapter were compared with respect to the Ecology Collective. Then in the last chapter the political stance of the Ecology Collective was analyzed. It was revealed how they define the ecological crises, ecosocialist political practices, strategy for ecosocialist society, economical growth, industrialism and technology. This was an evaluation how the Ecology Collective is differentiated from other environmentalist organizations. 1.1 Why Ecology Collective? In 2001 Kovel and Löwy published “An Ecosocialist Manifesto”. They wrote "we see ecosocialism not as the denial but as realization of the first epoch socialisms of the twentieth century in the context of ecological crisis"1 so it seems that the purpose of the ecosocialist manifesto is to open a new discussion in 1 See http://www.iefd.org/manifestos/ecosocialist_manifesto.php 2 Marxism. With the prefix "eco" they intend to make a contribution to Marxism. After some years, in 2007, the International Ecosocialist Network (IEN), referring to Kovel and Löwy's work, was founded in Paris. Ian Angus joint Kovel and Löwy. The draft of the text that this network prepared was opened to public and worldwide interpretation, criticism and recommendations. The Ecology Collective observed the process of the International Ecosocialist Network and it was the first organization which translated the documents of the IEN into Turkish. Parallel with the purpose of “An Ecosocialist Manifesto”, the aim was to start a new discussion in Turkey. They intended to bring the discussions of the IEN to Turkey. For this purpose, in 2008 they organized meetings
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