The greens do not wish to either destroy from its foundations or bring back the past; they share neither the utopias of left-wing radicalism or the nostalgias of right-wing populism. They have vowed to remove the obstacles forced onto society by the anti-life logic of the technological-economic world order, making it impossible for people to decide freely about their own fate.
The hope that we can escape from the rule of compulsion by increasing the use of violence against nature has ended in utter failure. The power which humanity has won over nature has increased the individual’s vulnerability to social relations to the extreme.
Therefore, in politics the greens aim to create the conditions for decision-making based on responsible participation and joint deliberation. They know full well that this has a realistic chance only if the human scale of things can be restored.
András Lányi is associate professor at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. He is the author of several books and papers on eco-philosophy as well as green politics.