A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #368 - Culture - Read Alessandro Pignocchi: Terrestrial Perspectives. Scenarios for Ecological Emancipation (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

Illustrator, activist, and researcher in cognitive science and 
philosophy, Alessandro Pignocchi returned in 2025 with Terrestrial 
Perspectives, three years after the insightful Ethnography of Worlds to 
Come, which offered us "illustrated conversations" with Philippe 
Descola, a renowned anthropologist. ---- On that occasion, an interview 
was published in our pages [1]. This new book alternates between 
philosophical and political strategy texts and related, but more 
humorous, short comic strips. These "perspectives" aim to offer paths to 
hope, a desirable future in the face of ecological catastrophe and 
authoritarian powers, through concrete utopias, some of which already 
exist, and pose a strategic reflection on the means of victory.

In light of what capitalism has taken from local livelihoods and 
relationships, the importance of emotions lies in producing a narrative 
distinct from that of the far right, one that acknowledges attachment to 
territories and moves beyond an identity-based approach. The aim is to 
capture emotions that fuel reactionary tendencies, but to redirect them 
in a different direction: communal, supportive, and collective; with its 
experiences of autonomy within territories that are not inherited but 
constructed. These territories also require embracing a subjectifying, 
rather than objectifying (utilitarian), relationship with the non-human 
inhabitants who, like us, constitute the "living environment." It is 
also about offering more intense and joyful perspectives than those 
proposed by negative activism. We must not dismantle without 
instituting. We must not propose dismantling without building.

In this work, Pignocchi seeks to address the needs of current 
mobilizations, which demand "something other" than capitalism or a 
pseudo-socialist productivism. He advocates, as a long-term objective, a 
federation of autonomous territories through local struggles in which 
the population reclaims control over subsistence activities. The book 
also contains an implacable critique of social democracy, a "zombie" 
political entity that is ineffective today.

This essay on political strategy offers hope, continuing the logic of 
"Worlds to Come." However, one might question his attempt to reconcile 
reformism and revolution, the state and the non-state. This idea of 
making the state coexist with the ZADs (Zones to Defend) and what he 
calls the "already-existing" networks of food self-sufficiency and 
mutual aid, for example, which would be established "at the state 
level," as was the general social security system, which he cites. 
Except that it was precisely the nationalization of food that removed it 
from the hands of workers. But this existing system does indeed allow us 
to "demonstrate its effectiveness and desirability." And the existing 
outlines of what could exist serve as points of reference. This is the 
case, for example, with the chapter that summarizes, quite clearly and 
pertinently, the benefits of establishing a social security system for food.

One might also criticize the lack of centrality given to class struggle 
and the question of resuming production outside the food sector. These 
issues are certainly not absent, but one has to wait until the last 
quarter of the book: they are briefly addressed there, and the author 
advocates for an alliance between the working classes and the cultural 
petty bourgeoisie—the latter already populating the anti-capitalist 
ecology movement—an alliance deemed necessary against the economic 
elite. Finally, he acknowledges the value of trade unionism and defends 
the need to build bridges between it, autonomous struggles, and peasant 
movements. But rather than aiming for a general expropriation strike, 
Pignocchi prefers to focus on building networks "alongside" labor and 
capital, somewhat hastily dismissing the communist perspective within 
the existing, predominantly existing production system. But without a 
doubt, faced with the rise of fascism, these local "networks" will 
become necessary zones of resistance and the embryos of a concrete 
alternative.

Marius (UCL Toulouse)

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[1] "Moving beyond the dualism of protection/exploitation of 'Nature'," 
Alternative libertaire no. 334, January 2023. 
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Entretien-Alessandro-Pignocchi-Sortir-du-dualisme-protection-exploitation-de-la

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Alessandro-Pignocchi-Perspectives-terrestres-Scenarios-pour-une
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