I stopped by AOC’s Jackson Heights office this afternoon to bring her this. She wasn’t there, of course, and her staff is well trained to screen those who have no business being there, but they let me in anyway. I live in Brooklyn, so technically I am not a constituent.
I spoke to her receptionist and told her this story, which I included in a note to the Congresswoman, as I expected her to not be there:
Dear Honorable Representative Ocasio-Cortez,
I am a donor and supporter who has sent hundreds of dollars to your re-election campaign. I wanted to present this to you at the JFREJ event last month, but alas, you were unable to attend. I bring this instead to your district office, because of your inspirational promotion of the “Green New Deal.”
I moved to Burlington, Vermont, during the summer of 1982, during Bernie’s first term as Mayor (we used to joke that Bernie could not speak two paragraphs without saying “The poor, the elderly and the working class” – in that order). I knocked on doors for Bernie’s first ever re-election campaign the following year.
I moved to Vermont to study with the Institute for Social Ecology and its co-founder, Murray Bookchin, the brilliant social theorist who died in 2006 at the age of 85. The Kurds in Northeast Syria created Rojava based in part on the ideas of Bookchin. There they created a libertarian laboratory of egalitarian, ecological, ecumenical, feminist, face-to-face participatory democracy. Unfortunately, as you know, Turkey is attempting to ethnically cleanse Rojava as you read this.
I enclose a copy of their book, Make Rojava Green Again. It is their own Green New Deal road map.
I share this with you for two reasons. First, because the Kurds, our allies, and the Arabs and Christians who live with them in their ecumenical confederation, need your support. Second, it is their Green New Deal, and I encourage you to “google Murray Bookchin,” which is a slogan very popular on some tee shirts.
To bring this full circle, the foreword of the book was written by Debbie Bookchin, the daughter of Murray Bookchin. Debbie was Bernie Sanders’ first Press Secretary when he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1990. Murray was born and raised in the Bronx.
I enclose two articles to go with this:
One is the cover story of the New York Times Magazine Section on November 24th, 2015, four years ago, titled, “A Dream of a Secular Utopia in ISIS’ Backyard.” The second is a short piece I wrote for Daily Kos a week later, “The Most Important Ideas You Never Heard of: Kurdish Rojava & Egalitarian, Ecological Revolution.”
I sincerely hope that this book and these articles will give you a better understanding of our allies in Syria and what they are doing, and what they want to do as it relates to your Green New Deal. They deserve our support for many reasons.
I also hope to meet you in person one day soon. I will be supporting your re-election even though you are not technically my Congressperson. I support you because you are my Representative, Congressional District or not!
I showed the receptionist my copy of The Ecology of Freedom, Murray’s magnum opus, which he gave me as a wedding gift, back in 1984. The marriage did not last, but the book has. I was also wearing this tee shirt:
I hope something comes of this. I know she has her plate full these days. And, I hope she will recognize some kindred spirits in Rojava, and will work to protect and support Rojava as best she can. Maybe she can even assimilate some ideas of Libertarian Municipalism.
Maybe, just maybe, she will even “Google Murray Bookchin.”