Well oriented (toward anti-capitalism and ecology) but incredibly shallow social theorist.
To get an idea of the incredible shallowness of his vision, one needs only read his essay on the "Long History of Arab Conflict." Not a mention of the Nabka, the Balfour Declaration, western colonialism or Imperialism, etc. Essentially all boiled down to a morality fair tale having nothing to do with larger powers. No critical examinations of the definitions of things at all.
Of course, the meat and bones is his anti-centralism, shared with many others of somewhat grander views. The shallowness of anti-centralism is less easy to prove. But basically, power comes from organization, greater power comes from greater organization, and where there is organization there must be a center of some kind, which could only be a shared set of rules--but that approach never seems to work--there always needs to be someone to interpret the rules. If anti-centralism is promoted with a hand wave, it can be dismissed. If it's accompanied by a body of theory and research as with Participatory Economics it can be read and debated as perhaps some part of the ultimate communist paradise, but not a pragmatic guide to how to achieve Socialism.
Thus, I'm a Communist and not an Anarchist.
To get an idea of the incredible shallowness of his vision, one needs only read his essay on the "Long History of Arab Conflict." Not a mention of the Nabka, the Balfour Declaration, western colonialism or Imperialism, etc. Essentially all boiled down to a morality fair tale having nothing to do with larger powers. No critical examinations of the definitions of things at all.
Of course, the meat and bones is his anti-centralism, shared with many others of somewhat grander views. The shallowness of anti-centralism is less easy to prove. But basically, power comes from organization, greater power comes from greater organization, and where there is organization there must be a center of some kind, which could only be a shared set of rules--but that approach never seems to work--there always needs to be someone to interpret the rules. If anti-centralism is promoted with a hand wave, it can be dismissed. If it's accompanied by a body of theory and research as with Participatory Economics it can be read and debated as perhaps some part of the ultimate communist paradise, but not a pragmatic guide to how to achieve Socialism.
Thus, I'm a Communist and not an Anarchist.
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