It was when Daniel Chodorkoff, who at the time was a graduate student and teaching intern at the Vermont based progressive school, Goddard College, approached Bookchin in 1972 about filling a course at the College on technology that the history of the Institute for Social Ecology began. This newfound relationship between Bookchin and Chodorkoff had them soon planning what would be the founding conference of the ISE.

This pioneering conference set out to examine solutions to ecological problems by integrating alternative technologies with a strong social critique of anti-ecological trends and visions for a new society based on social ecology. Noted participants included John Todd, aquatic biologist and founder of the New Alchemy Institute; Karl Hess, social theorist, author and activist; Wilson Clark, energy adviser to the governor of California; Day Charoudi, a pioneer in solar architecture; Eugene Eccli, engineer and pioneer in the alternative energy network; Sam Love, noted environmental activist; and Milton Kolter, urbanologist. This highly successful conference served to assess the viability of setting up the envisioned Institute for Social Ecology. As with the conference, the ISE would act as an important laboratory for teaching and learning about the ideals that Bookchin advanced in his work.

With its nascent program in the summer of 1974, more than 100 students attended the first twelve-week program of the ISE on Goddard’s campus. The success of this program was in part due to a donated full-page ad by John Shuttleworth in the then highly influential alternative technology magazine The Mother Earth News. This foundational program combined theoretical classroom work with practical, hands-on experience, and focused on interrelated areas to provide educational and research opportunities. It was this first summer program that paved the way for more than 29 years of educational programs designed to further the mission of the ISE while providing an educational experience for people interested in radical social change.

The Cate Farm Era

In 1975, the Institute moved onto a 40-acre farm at Goddard College. This farm served as a demonstration site for experimentation, teaching, research, and community outreach. The first solar building in Vermont was built there, as well as many other innovative technological systems. During the years spent at Cate Farm, the ISE researched and tested organic agriculture and aquaculture techniques, and published wind power designs. Bookchin recalls:

During the summer days, classes were conducted in nearly every dormitory and open area on Goddard’s campus. A visitor to the campus would have seen students sitting round in small circles discussing the history of hierarchy, various radical social ideas, the emergence and development of the state, radical anthropology, the changing status of women and other underprivileged strata, ecological economics—as well technological innovations in energy, diversified applications of machinery, the construction and multifaceted use of fish tanks, window heat-retainers, and so on. Students used the open fields in Cate Farm to study organic agriculture and experiment with different kinds of fertilizers. Others could study and actually make new composting toilets that allowed for the recycling of human wastes into agriculturally fertile compost, while more theoretically inclined students could explore ideologies such as socialism in its various forms, the history of radical movements, and utopian ideas… Free evenings were filled with study circles to follow up on the courses that had been given during the day.2

The Institute remained at Cate Farm for five years, offering a variety of programs in addition to its popular summer sessions. By 1976, the ISE’s summer program grew to accommodate approximately 180 students. The following year also saw the creation of a Masters of Arts in Social Ecology in collaboration with Goddard College, combining intensive on-campus course work with off-campus practicums.

The 80s

The eighties saw a major change in the ISE’s activities. Due to financial circumstances, Goddard College sold Cate Farm in 1981, forcing the ISE to reconsider how to host its summer programs. Without a home, the ISE started renting various campuses for a month each summer in 1983. In 1986, Chodorkoff, who had earned a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the New School for Social Research, resumed teaching at Goddard, giving the ISE’s programs a stable home for the next decade.

Other major changes took place as well. The ISE took the first step towards becoming a fully autonomous organization in 1981 when it was incorporated as an independent non-profit educational organization. In addition, Chodorkoff took over the directorship of the organization in 1978, as Bookchin stepped down for reasons of age and health. While Bookchin, then honored with the title “Director Emeritus,” maintained his involvement with the ISE as a teacher, it was under the leadership of Chodorkoff that the ISE grew—to this very day.

The focus of the ISE’s educational programs greatly expanded throughout the eighties. In 1984, the ISE sponsored an Urban Permaculture Design Course—a three-week intensive course created to educate people with a basic background in design, farming, gardening, community development or education, about the possibilities of urban permaculture. Taking place in New York City, students designed and created a permaculture program in conjunction with a community building. Completion in the course qualified the graduates as Apprentice Permaculture Designers in the International Association of Permaculture Design. The ISE also hosted study tours including a 15-day study tour of Mexico in 1986. This study tour was initiated to allow a dozen college students a unique look at a “developing” country, investigating the social roots of development patterns, the impact of both western style development and alternative ecological approaches.

The 1986 summer program, held at the Green Mountain Valley School, introduced two new curricula, Planning and Design for Sustainable Communities and Advanced Seminars in Social Ecology. In 1987, two more programs were started for the summer semester, Ecology and Community, and Sense of Self/Sense of Place-A Wilderness Experience.

The 90s

Throughout the nineties, in addition to its regular summer programs, the ISE continued to sponsor conferences and colloquia, both national and international, on topics ranging from alternative education and libertarian municipalism, to ecological activism and biotechnology.

The mid-nineties saw major changes to the ISE’s campus. In 1996, the ISE summer programs moved from Goddard College to the Maple Hill community in Plainfield, Vermont. The following year saw the purchase of a new campus on Maple Hill—the home of a defunct alternative school for children that featured a large land base, pond, farmhouse and schoolhouse. This new site became the focus for the ISE’s continued experimentation and education around issues of alternative technology and ecological land use. That same year, the ISE started offering a B.A. Degree in Social Ecology in cooperation with Goddard College.

During the first program on its new campus, students, faculty, and staff began planning and drafting designs of what the new campus would look like. In 1998, students constructed a solar washhouse and eco-campground, began a permaculture orchard and gardens, and created a master plan for the campus on Maple Hill as part of their work in the Planning, Design and Construction for Sustainable Communities program.

The Institute for Social Ecology celebrated its 25th Anniversary in the summer of 1999, commemorating a quarter century of activism and education for radical social change. In 2000, after the ISE began to pulled out of all relations with Goddard College, the ISE and Burlington College formed a relationship to accredit the ISE’s year round programs and a B.A. Degree in Social Ecology with both on- and off-site campus options. While the ISE gained a new B.A. program, the joint M.A. in Social Ecology with Goddard College was lost.

The ISE continues to offer its summer programs, workshops, forums, conferences, and degree program at the Maple Hill campus, including new programs such as Arts, Media, Activism, and Social Change and a year-round on-site degree program with tracks in Ecological Building, Ecological Land Use, and Social Theory and Action.

The social and ecological issues as explored by Bookchin and his colleagues over the span of his lifetime and the ISE’s are still as relevant today as they were fifty years ago. With the rejuvenated political awareness found within the Global Justice Movement, the ISE’s educational work has drawn the attention of a new generation of activists. As the anti-ecological trends of the 20th century become further entrenched within the 21st, this educational work serves multiple purposes. Now in his 82nd year, Bookchin reflects on the importance for such education:

But one proviso must be voiced: ideas are only true when they are rational. Today, when rationality and consistency are deprecated in the name of postmodernist chic, we carry a double burden of trying to sustain, often by education alone, reason against irrationalism, and to know when to act as well as how to do so. In such cases, let me note that education, too, is a form of activism and must always be cultivated as such.3

Other Activities

In accompaniment with its core educational programs, such as the internationally acclaimed summer program Ecology & Community, the ISE has pioneered many innovative community initiatives, as well as researched and published theories on technology, social theory and social policy since its inception. The ISE was also instrumental in bringing together individuals and organizations through educational programs and conferences to continue to develop the field of social ecology. A brief overview of such activities follows.

New York City: During the 1970s and 1980s, the ISE cultivated a strong relationship with various organizations and communities in New York City, particularly within the Lower East Side’s Puerto Rican community. The ISE not only sponsored educational events in NYC, such as Urban Alternatives: Towards an Ecological City (1975) and a follow up conference in 1982, but also worked collaboratively with a variety of organizations. The ISE provided technical and planning assistance in alternative technology to CHARAS, CUANDO, the 11th Street Movement, and other community organizations involved in the urban homesteading movement in NYC’s Lower East Side. An educational exchange was also established with these community groups, bringing NYC residents to the ISE’s Vermont based summer programs, and sending interns from the summer programs to work on projects with these organizations.

The Learning Alliance, a NYC based organization for community education, was founded with assistance from the ISE in 1985. A large number of courses, seminars, workshops, and lectures were held on a wide range of topics in urban affairs and the social ecology of the city. The program then spun off to become an independent project which served as a center for popular education, and a NYC landmark for the next ten years.

Low-Income Training: Continuing its important focus on the creation and dissemination of ecological technology, the ISE hosted a conference in 1976, which resulted in the creation of NCAT, The National Center for Appropriate Technology, which provides technical assistance to low-income communities to this day. In 1977, the ISE’s Aquaculture Outreach Program began, providing technical assistance to low-income Vermonters interested in fish farming. The project made use of local resources to provide jobs and food for local residents. Some of the fish and crayfish programs are still in active production for home consumption and as small businesses. The ISE also began a collaborative project with the Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC) to teach low-income Vermonters about energy conservation and solar technologies.

Publishing: The ISE’s education and research activities naturally resulted in several publishing projects. In 1982, Harbinger, the Journal of Social Ecology was created as a special project of the ISE to promote the study of social ecology. While only three issues were created during its short-lived existence in the 80s, the newly revamped Harbinger holds the same goals. Next to Harbinger, the ISE has also supported various other print publishing projects, such as Society & Nature, the International Journal of Political Ecology (1992).

In 1983, a video collective associated with the ISE produced a film focused on an American community living in Nicaragua—clergy, engineers, doctors, nurses, agronomists and cultural workers—who dedicated their skills to building a democratic and ecologically sound society in Nicaragua. The film explores the conflict between social ecology principles and the pressing needs for material development experienced by the majority of the world’s population.

Ecofeminism: In 1978, the ISE invited Ynestra King to develop what would become the first curriculum in ecofeminism. The same year, an ISE sponsored conference, Women and Life on Earth, held at the University of Massachusetts, resulted in The Women’s Pentagon Action, a mass civil disobedience action that served as a model for the international women’s peace movement.

The ISE hosted a conference called Spring Fever in 1982, a two day women’s gathering organized by the Women’s Affinity Group of the ISE that included workshops, readings, and demonstrations exploring the relationship between women, nature and community. In the late 80s, in collaboration with the National Congress of Neighborhood Women, a planning session and workshop on women and community development was attended by low-income women and organizations from across the continent. During the early 90s, the ISE hosted annual conferences on ecofeminism. To this day, the ISE continues to pursue the ever important subject of feminism and ecology.

Vermont: Located within Vermont for a majority of its existence, the ISE has always been committed to working within the community in both an activist and educational capacity. In 1982, the ISE participated in a community organizing campaign in cooperation with the Burlington Environmental Alliance. Together they hosted a one-day seminar for residents who were concerned with the development of the Burlington waterfront. This group went on to helped defeat a plan for a municipal waste incinerator on the Intervale.

A pilot program in Montpelier called Gardens for Children (1984), was also sponsored by the ISE. This program initiated learning projects in the classrooms of several schools that instructed children on gardening techniques through the creation of gardens on school grounds. Linking into issues of local and world hunger, the garden projects donated the produce to the local Emergency Food Shelf. Food Works, a nationally known, independent, not-for-profit organization, was a result of this project.

Conferences: Next to all the above mentioned conferences, the ISE has sponsored several other worthy of note. In 1990, the ISE co-sponsored the third annual Pitkin Conference on Higher Education. Attended by educators from all over North America, the conference explored the converging themes of social ecology, higher education and community action. The same year, the Annual Continental Conference on Social Ecology was initiated, and continues today, with conferences held in many cities over North America, including New York City, Minneapolis, Montréal, and Los Angeles.

In 1995, an International Social Ecology Network Gathering was held in Dunoon, Scotland with the aid of the ISE—the theme was democracy and ecology. That same year, the ISE hosted an international conference, New Currents in Ecological Activism, which brought together activists and theorists from a wide range of movements and organizations to share experiences and evaluate future directions. A follow-up conference was held in 1996, along with a weekend conference on globalization.

More recently, the ISE helped organized the International Conference on the Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism. The first conference (1998), held in Lisbon, Portugal, brought together a wide range of international activists and political theorists to study libertarian municipalism. The follow-up conference (1999), hosted at the ISE’s new campus, again drew a wide range of people to continue debating issues raised at the proceeding conference.

Notes

1. While this final piece is the work of Michael Caplan, the work herein is drawn from the invaluable assistance and contribution of Dan Chodorkoff, Brian Tokar, Erin Royster, Chaia Heller, and Murray Bookchin.
2. Quoted from a personal letter from Bookchin to Caplan, February 28, 2003.
3. Ibid.

Ingrid Young, an Oslo-based member of Democratic Alternative, attended the Institute for Social Ecology’s Ecology and Community program the summer of 2000. She became interested in social ecology after starting high school, and soon joined the Norway-based Social Ecology Project. This now defunct group, superseded by Democratic Alternative, was devoted to the study of social ecology and community education. Ingrid came to the ISE to further her study of social ecology theory and practice. I had the opportunity to speak to Ingrid over email about her activities.

Harbinger: What sort of political activities have you been involved with prior to studying at the Institute for Social Ecology, and afterwards?

Ingrid Young: I was introduced to the ideas of social ecology when I started high school. Soon I became a member of what was called the Social Ecology Project. This little local group discussed and tried to spread the ideas of social ecology as developed by Murray Bookchin. As the project developed, we saw the need for a broader organization—one that could bring these ideas further and help us build a stronger social ecology movement. After some different attempts to found such an organization, we formed Democratic Alternative. In the last two years we have grown to be a Scandinavian-wide organization, and we have been met by a lot of interest from different people.

Since I left the Institute for Social Ecology, I’ve continued my work in Democratic Alternative. I have moved to the capital of Norway and have started to work with the local DA group there. We do not have that many members yet, but it’s a good group. Still, our activities mainly consist of trying to spread the ideas of social ecology and Communalism in every possible way. That means a lot of writing and also participating in different social forums where we can present our alternatives and ideas.

H: How did the Institute for Social Ecology and the ideas of social ecology impact you?

I: My involvement in Democratic Alternative is more or less the same both before and after my participation in the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) Ecology and Community program. The ISE offered me the opportunity to spend a month discussing and reading politics full time. It was a great experience, not to be forced back to work or to school. The ISE was a free place to reflect on the ideas of social ecology without being interrupted. It was also nice to meet leftists from other groups, other than the Scandinavian ones I am familiar with, and to learn about their experiences and visions.

How have the ideas of social ecology influenced me? I guess that only a book can answer. I think for me personally, the ideas of social ecology have evolved my ability to see opportunities for the future. They have raised my consciousness from just protesting against what I find wrong, to actually being able to put forward an alternative and hope for a better future.

H: What type of activities has DA been involved in since its formation? What plans do you have for the future?

I: Democratic Alternative is, as you know, a fairly new organization. First and foremost we value the importance of spreading our ideas through study circles, meetings, writing and other educational work. Besides that, the different local DA groups work on different initiatives in their local communities. Largely, environmental and anti-racist work has been important areas of focus for our local groups. Lately, we have been involved with the association Globalization From Below that is connected to Peoples Global Action. We had representatives in Gothenburg helping to coordinate the protests during the European Union summit this June.

In the future… that’s a huge question. What I think is so good about Democratic Alternative as an organization is the potential we have to create and build counter-institutions where citizens can be in control. We want our different groups, in the long-term, to participate in municipal elections on radical programs containing both maximum and minimum demands. This is an important way to raise people’s consciousness about these ideas, and to make people see that direct democracy is possible.

As our membership grows, hopefully Democratic Alternative will develop to be a powerful force able to help create peoples’ assemblies that are meaningful and can be treated as a genuine alternative to representative democracy.

H: The politics of social ecology has been very challenging for the revolutionary left here in North America. What sort of response has DA received from the Scandinavian Left?

I: The Norwegian Left consists mostly of social democrats. There are still some hard line Marxists, but they are hardly visible in the political picture. DA is still a relatively marginalized organization due partly to our size and partly to our short existence. It is hard to get publicity in the national media. We do cooperate with the radical Left mainly on single cause issues. In these forums our ideas are accepted and discussed. The communists strangely enough have problems distinguishing Communalism from their own ideology. The small libertarian milieu recognizes that there are differences between anarchism and communalism, especially on the issue of voting on the municipal level. Sweden has stronger libertarian socialist traditions, especially anarcho-syndicalism. Here, there is a wider range of forums for discussing the ideas of Communalism and libertarian municipalism.

H: Given that the municipality is an integral locus of movement building for DA, are there any traditions of Norwegian radical municipalism that you are able to build upon?

I: Here in Norway, there is a tradition of neighborhood residents unions that might be a possible entry point for building a movement for direct democracy. They do community work and look after the interests of their particular neighborhoods. Membership is based on residence, and its borders are formed organically by tradition. This locus has the potential to host a popular assembly. As the residents have shared interests, it is realistic that the members might foster support for political activity.

The nascent, or retreated, democratic traditions which already exist in the municipality represent a possible way for us to spread our ideas and to try to create counter institutions. There are two remains of democratic tradition in Norway: residence unions and public meetings. A democratized municipality and a confederation of these form a counter institution that presents a dual power against the State. DA sees municipal elections as means to spread ideas of libertarian municipalism, and in the long run help to create popular assemblies with the power of genuine political decision-making over the municipality. The goal is an anti-capitalist, stateless world of confederated directly democratic municipalities. These issues are explored in Janet Bielh’s book Libertarian Municipalism, the Politics of Social Ecology, which I recommend as introductory reading.

The most important democratic tradition for our purpose are the forums where people gather to discuss in the municipality; this includes participating in municipal citizen-based organizations and peoples initiatives. Before a major decision is made there is an old tradition of arranging public meetings for the residents. These are sadly currently being reduced to informational meetings where bureaucrats and politicians lecture about a current project. DA sees that these forums have the potential to be radicalized and ultimately institutionalized. By peoples initiatives I mean popular citizen (neighborhood) mobilizations for single-cause issues, and not referendums. Using peoples initiatives, DA can connect particular minimum demands to a maximum demand program.

H: What sort of response has DA generated from the citizens of the different regions of Scandinavia that you are involved in?

I: It’s important to say that Democratic Alternative is an organization consisting of different local groups. The response varies from place to place. In Sweden we are growing rather rapidly. I think the radical scene in Scandinavia is ready for new ideas and we are able to offer these ideas. Also, in an era when we see an increasing interest in the anti-globalization movement, there is a need for ideas that represent an alternative, not just a method of protesting.

When we continue to increase both our activities and members, we will be able to take more effective action influencing the political agenda. I think this is just a question of time. Meanwhile we have to make people aware of the ideas we are working with and the organization. We need to make them see the potential for a better society, which is right in front of us for the grabbing.

maan, a recent refugee to the United States, participated in the Institute For Social Ecology’s Ecology and Community program in the summer of 1999.  Amaan is of Oromo decent.   Like most Oromos, he lived in oppressive circumstances under the rule of the “Ethiopian Empire State.”  As a people the Oromo make up a significant portion of the population within the Horn of Africa, and constitute about 30 million of the 55 million inhabitants of the Ethiopian Empire.  Even though the Oromo nation is one of the largest in Africa today, it is relatively forgotten or utterly unknown to the majority of the world.

Ethiopia and Oromia. Green and beige areas represent present day Ethiopia. The green highlights the area of Ethiopia that Oromo nationalists claim as being their homeland.

Until the last quarter of the 19th century, the Oromo people had lived in an independent nation.  Since then they have been colonized and annexed under the Ethiopian State, with the support of Western colonial powers.  Between 1870 and 1900 this process of colonization resulted in the Oromo population being reduced by half, and being subjected to cruel treatment under the various emperors and their successors.

Since the days of colonization, the Oromo have been involved in a struggle for their freedom which is continuing in the face of the present realties of an IMF backed Ethiopia.  Their demands are simple, but fundamental.  They wish the right to national self determination as a means to liberate themselves from a century of oppression and exploitation.  This means being able to institute a historical form of self-government they call Gadaa, a form of participatory democracy.  Their struggle as a liberation movement has been two fold; resistance to the tyranny of Ethiopian rule, and the preservation of their cultural practices.

Amaan: I am (was) a lawyer by profession, [did] my Bachelors at the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. But, ever since my graduation I have not been practicing law just for my personal ends. I was involved in a number of alternative politico-socio-economical projects and movements aimed at changing the wrong foundations and directions of the empire state of Ethiopia. This involvement made me reach out to various like-minded individuals, movements, and institutions. And the ISE is one of them.

H: What sort of activities were you involved with before and after the ISE?

A: Before coming to the USA, I used to work with (and for) the Oromo Grass Roots Initiative – focusing on integrating modern and traditional concepts of environmental protection schemes and micro financing projects in resource poor communities. Professionals for Justice, which I co-founded, was focused on raising the human rights consciousness of the people, gender equality and the provision of pro bono legal advice and representation for needy women and the elderly.  Just before coming to the U.S. and the ISE, I was in the process of forming an educational, political and environmental protection organization in line with the basic precepts of a traditional Oromo concept of sustainable development and justice in cohort with the principle of the teaching of social ecology.   Unfortunately nobody took over this organization and [brought it to realization] since I left. The security threat was (and still is) becoming very intense.

Life after the ISE was very tough on me. Due to a sudden shift of political and military power of balance in my home country I could not go home. I had to deal with a totally culturally different environment and for the most part an unfriendly one. For months I was not allowed to work and had to toil in the illegal labor arena in the worst neighborhoods in the District of Columbia. But after the government of the U.S accepted my case [of] political asylum I started to be active in the field of my heart’s desire.

I started working with Oromo political and community organizations in North America with a view of popularization of the Oromo movement to the international community. Also I worked with a Mississippi based law firm on the case of the U.S. Navy bombardment of Vieques, Puerto Rico and a case of similar level against big tobacco involving African nations. Apart from the above mentioned activities, I actively took part in the formation of the Dallas FortWorth Green Alliance at the end of the [previous] year.

H: Can you elaborate on the shift in the military and political power in Ethiopia that did not allow you to go home?

A: Since 1996 – 1997, the Oromo resistance movement has been growing and there [have] been a lot of confrontations with the Ethiopian Government’s army.  Many important strategic locations were being hit by the Oromo army’s underground squads.  At the same time, the Ethiopian army was fighting a major war with Eritrea.  Actually, it was the biggest war in the world at that time, but there was a war going on in Europe, so it was not covered that much internationally.  The government was really worried at that time about maintaining its power.  The security measures that they took were really strict and serious.  Curfews were imposed on some towns.  The government was really threatened by all this.  The Oromo movement was also fighting with the government, and Oromo guerrillas were also increasing.  There were a number of frequent clashes.  That’s what I mean by the shift in political and military power.  The Ethiopian state was being weekend and [was] feeling very threatened.

They keep on taking actions to suppress the Oromo people.  Now they have arrested more than 150 Oromo students from the University.  This was in January.  They were demonstrating.  The problem goes back to the time when the Ethiopian government set fire to the whole of the natural forest of Oromia because they thought the Oromo Resistance Army was hiding out there.  It was almost totally destroyed.  Oromo students everywhere demonstrated against that and attempted to assist in putting out the fire, but the government did what they could to make this as difficult as possible.  They appealed to the world community.  It was only the states of South Africa and Germany who intervened begging the government to put out the fire.

After that there was an incident in the University where one professor said something derogatory about the Oromo movement. There were demonstrations against him.  The government intervened by beating [the demonstrators] up and arresting them.  This was one month ago.

H: You have been targeted by the Ethiopian state.  Can you elaborate upon this?

A: For as [far] back as I can remember since my childhood I have suffered the oppression of the Ethiopian state for three main reasons:  for belonging to the Oromo nation which has been resisting Ethiopian imperialism for more than half a century; for belonging to a big and strong radical and revolutionary family whose members have repeatedly been subject to threats, harassment, detainment, torture and extra-judicial killings at the hands of the Ethiopian government security forces.  My father was among the founders of the Oromo Liberation Front in the early Seventies and was martyred.  The third reason is for all my activities I was engaged in for the betterment of the lives of the disenfranchised people of my country of birth, Oromia, as mentioned in this interview elsewhere and those I did not mention for the safety of those people still fighting the decaying Ethiopian imperialism supported by irresponsible western nations.

H: What do you think social ecology has to offer to the struggle of the Oromo people and the reconstruction of a just and ecological Oromia?

A: That is actually the main reason why I attended the ISE.  I have a lot of interest in the Oromo Gadaa democratic system and the theory of social ecology.  When I came to the ISE, my aim was to try and see how I could use social ecology as a reference point to further expanded upon the Oromo democratic system, and see how I could make a synthesis out of the two.  I wanted to see how the two systems complement each other, and expand upon the Gadaa system using social ecology theory.  I still believe that social ecology will play a big role in helping the Oromo people and reconstructing their democracy.  That is my main reason for pursuing social ecology.

H: How did the ISE and the ideas of social ecology impact you?

A: Though I was well familiar with the basic concepts of the principle of Social Ecology before, attending the ISE has profoundly influenced me and made me aware of how far world capitalist system is tramping up the very nature of humankind and destroying every human virtue. Most importantly, the ISE has shown me there are still some people out there determined to fight back.

For further information on the Oromo struggle the following books and web sites come recommended.

• Legesse, Asmarom. Oromo Democracy: An Indigenous African Political System. Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 2000.
• Jalata, Asfa. Oromo Nationalism and the Ethiopian Discourse :  The Search for Freedom and Democracy. Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 1998.
• Baxter, P. T. W..  Being and Becoming Oromo :  Historical and Anthropological Enquiries. Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 1996.
• Holcomb, Bonie and Ibssa, Sisay. The Invention of Ethiopia: A Dependent Colonial State in North East Africa. Eritrea : Red Sea Press.

• Oromia Support Group: www.oromo.org
• Oromia Online: www.oromia.org
• Oromo Liberation Front: www.oromoliberationfront.org
• Gumii Bilisummaa Oromiyaa: www.gumii.org