Bioregionalism

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As bioregionalism one is socio-economic model 'refers to that a regionalization seeks in so-called bio-regions. These bioregions are defined by physical properties such as watersheds , mountains or deserts and anthropogenic, cultural characteristics.

Concept history

Initially, bioregionalism was important as a catchphrase for environmental and peace activists in North America . Bioregionalism later found supporters in Great Britain (such as the editor of the magazine " The Ecologist " and winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize Edward Goldsmith ) and from 1995 in the German-speaking area, among others through the Austrians Roman Schweidlenka and Eduard Gugenberger .

The term originated in the United States in the early 1970s and has its origins in the work of Alan van Newkirk , who first used the term in 1974, as well as Peter Berg and Raymond Dasmann . It was originally heavily influenced by the anarchist tradition of San Francisco.

Alan van Newkirk understood a bioregion as an ecological habitat in which "all life, that is, people, plants and animals, form a community that ensures survival". Bioregions are geographical areas that form a certain unit or sub-unit with regard to natural and anthropogenic characteristics. Natural features include, in particular , the shape of the landscape , the soil, the climate , flora and fauna, and hydrological properties such as water catchment areas . Due to the flowing transitions and the multitude of natural parameters, further characteristics such as social systems, religions, traditions, local cultures or the existence of indigenous peoples are included.

Some of the pioneers of bioregionalism will be seen as the diggers who tried to reform the existing social order and level out the assets in Cromwell in the mid-17th century in England. They aspired to an agrarian way of life that went hand in hand with the establishment of small, rural communities.

classification

Daniel Karsch classifies bioregionalism as a deglobalization movement . The people within a bioregion should work and manage sustainably and preferably with local, especially renewable raw materials . Of particular importance are local trade and sales structures and politically decentralized structures, as well as ecological agriculture and the seasonal marketing of agricultural products in local shops.

In 2002 Bernd Hamm and Barbara Rasche from the University of Trier publish a study entitled " Bioregionalism. An Overview ". The authors differentiate between three currents within bioregionalism: the eco-fascists are on the right, the eco-anarchists on the left, and the eco-esoterics are apolitical . Although, in the opinion of Hamm / Rasche, the terms 'eco-fascists' and 'eco-anarchists' are supposed to be “polemical fighting terms”, the authors use the terms because of their frequent use in literature, but place them in quotation marks. According to Hamm / Rasche, all three directions have in common the “rejection of current modernization , globalization , the state and consumerism ”.

The study states:

Ecoanarchists
point out that ecology seems to prefer small-scale contexts to which people should adapt; they are prevented from doing so by the paternalism of the state and the capitalist economy and their larger-scale structures. It is important to emancipate oneself from them and to create independent, self-determined communities that are in balance with other communities of this kind.
Eco-esoteric
assume that ecology has a kind of divine or mythical power into which they immerse themselves meditating in order to experience themselves, creation and truth in harmony.
Eco-fascists
tend to worship vulgar evolutionism and view their own group as genetically better than others. They unite inwardly in their region and exclude others. Above all, they want to survive in the bioregions themselves while the earth is perishing. (...) The cornerstone is biologism , which, as a component of reactionary concepts of society, also makes social differences explainable and defines the prevailing power relations as "conditioned by nature (laws)".

For the sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf , bioregionalism tends to relapse into patriotism . Jutta Ditfurth sees a creeping occupation of left structures emanating from right-wing groups.

Reception by the New Right

Since the mid-1990s, publications belonging to the New Right have increasingly taken up the topic of bioregionalism. In the new right definition, according to Ditfurth, the aim of a bioregionalist concept is to regain the national identities of the peoples.

In Germany, the " Independent Ecologists of Germany (UÖD)", the non-partisan, right-wing extremist split of the ÖDP , which, according to Oliver Geden, was "the most important of the brown-green organizations in terms of quantity and quality", took up the issue. Instead of the German nation-state, the UÖD focus on the German regions, which in turn should form the German cultural nation in their diversity. In February 1997, the UÖDs held their national meeting at Ludwigstein Castle under the motto “The delicate green of home. Thoughts on Bioregionalism ”.

In May 1996, the UÖD member Leif-Thorsten Kramps founded the "Sauerland Bioregionalism Working Group". The primary goal of the "Sauerland Bioregionalism Working Group" led by Kramps was to make bioregionalism known in German-speaking countries. This served the preparation and implementation of discussion groups, lectures and seminars as well as the publication of the bioregionalist magazine »Die Stachelbeere«. In the fall of 2003, the "Sauerland Bioregionalism Working Group" stated that it ceased its activities.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Vincent McGinnis: Bioregionalism. Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-415-15445-6 , p. 22 ( online ).
  2. ^ Peter Berg, Raymond Dasmann: Reinhabiting California. In: The Ecologist. 7, no.10 (1977).
  3. ^ A b c d Daniel Karsch: Alternatives to neoliberal globalization. Verlag Univerlagtuberlin, ISBN 978-3-7983-2101-4 , p. 35 ( online ; PDF; 1.5 MB).
  4. ↑ Bernd Hamm, Barbara Rasche: Bioregionalismus. An overview. 2002, p. 18.
  5. ↑ a b Bernd Hamm, Barbara Rasche: Bioregionalismus. An overview. 2002, p. 24.
  6. ↑ a b Bernd Hamm, Barbara Rasche: Bioregionalismus. An overview. 2002, p. 25.
  7. ^ Olaf Kühne: Landscape in Postmodernism. Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, p. 115.
  8. ↑ Oliver Geden : Ecology from the right.
  9. ↑ Jutta Ditfurth: Relaxed into barbarism. Hamburg 1996, p. 177.
  10. ↑ Oliver Geden : Right Ecology. Environmental protection between emancipation and fascism ( Antifa edition ). Elefanten Press Verlag, Berlin 1996, second edition 1999, ISBN 3-88520-576-9 , p. 89 ff.
  11. ↑ Look to the right. 14/1997.
  12. ↑ * UÖD member Kramps on bioregionalism
  13. ↑ www.bioregionalismus.online.ms