International Degrowth Conference

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Welcome speech in Leipzig's Augusteum 2014, the conference logo on the right

The International Degrowth Conference on environmental sustainability and social justice (Engl. International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity ) is an international conference series.

The International Degrowth Conference started in 2008 and takes place every two years. It claims to bring together practitioners, activists and scientists on all aspects of growth criticism . It is considered an important event for the growth-critical movement .

Focus of the events

The conference series was initiated by the academic network Research & Degrowth , which is dedicated to research , training, awareness-raising and event organization.

The goal is to reduce growth in order to combine ecological sustainability and social justice. The discussion includes ecology , democracy , justice , bioeconomics and ecological economics , but also the question of the meaning of life and personal well-being. The options for action discussed include opposing activism , the development of alternatives, but also reformism within existing institutions, at local, national and global levels. Ideas like green growth as supposed problem solvers are rejected, instead the need to grow should be overcome.

The results of the conferences were published in special issues by or as articles in scientific journals. At the same time, the boundaries between scientists, activists and practitioners are to be softened by seeing participants as “participating observers” or “observing participants”. A special format for this is the Group Assembly Process (GAP), which brings the different perspectives together over several days.

history

The idea of ​​décroissance in France arose in the 1970s, and it became popular in the context of a development- critical UNESCO congress in Paris in 2000, which Serge Latouche described as the actual birth of décroissance in the sense of a movement critical of growth .

Paris 2008

The degrowth conference was held for the first time in April 2008 in Paris with 150 participants, and the conference papers were published in English and French. The "Degrowth Declaration" was adopted at the conference. In this it was found that economic growth is inevitably linked to an increased use of material, energy and land, because the decoupling through resource efficiency is limited. Scientific evidence showed that the world economy had outgrown ecological boundaries, and the costs that were not taken into account exceeded the welfare gains. At the same time, economic growth failed to substantially reduce poverty , but inequality between countries had risen and the ecological effects of doing business in richer nations would negatively affect the livelihoods of poorer nations. It is necessary to reconcile economic activity with ecological sustainability . For this purpose, the ecological footprint must be limited everywhere to the globally acceptable level and poor nations must be given the opportunity to increase their consumption through redistribution of wealth and income in order to escape poverty.

"Degrowth" is understood as a voluntary change to a fair, participatory and ecologically sustainable society, which in the sense of a stationary economy covers everyone's basic needs and guarantees a high quality of life . John Bellamy Foster described the event in Paris as the birth of the European intellectual movement.

Barcelona 2010

Two years later, the event took place in Barcelona and was attended by 500 academics, members of civil society and practitioners from more than forty countries. The debate deepened the questions raised in Paris, and the goals of the Paris conference were confirmed in a joint declaration.

Montreal 2012

The conference “Degrowth in the Americas” was held in Montreal in May 2012 with around 340 participants. As a “continental” conference it was not part of the census. The approaches represented were comparable to those of the conference in Paris and Barcelona.

Venice 2012

In September 2012 over 700 participants from 35 countries met in Venice for the third international degrowth conference. The conference was described as a “unique place” to discuss topics ranging from food sovereignty , the energy transition , the debt crisis to participatory democracy , with a clear focus on the global south . After the conference it was stated that in addition to the organizing countries, the movement had now developed activities in Belgium , Switzerland , Finland , Poland , Greece , Germany , Portugal , Norway , Denmark , the Czech Republic , Mexico , Brazil , Puerto Rico and Canada .

Leipzig 2014

A banner in the style of the conference logo
Music and light effects at the kick-off event
Audience in the Augusteum

In September 2014, the conference was held for the fourth time with 3000 participants and 500 events at the University of Leipzig . The English term "degrowth" was associated with "post-growth", "shrinkage", "turnaround in growth" or "outgrowth". Naomi Klein , Alberto Acosta , Harald Welzer , Joan Martinez-Alier , Angelika Zahrnt and Niko Paech were invited as important speakers .

The aim was to bring together innovative and progressive approaches from science, civil society and art in the three main thematic strands "Organizing society", "Socio-ecological economics" and "Living community". The program should criticize growth from “artistic, scientific and movement-oriented perspectives” and show a way how the “growth paradigm can be overcome, how societies no longer have to grow or perish,” and how “a modern society can function even without ever increasing economic output can. In essence, it is about new forms of economic activity that take into account scarce resources, the climate and human resilience in the world of work. ”This is how“ growth without chaos as a paradigm ”should be eliminated and the constraints on growth overcome. An important component is a voluntary reduction in work and consumption.

“Gutes Leben Stadt growth mania”, banner on the demonstration in downtown Leipzig

Small companies and projects such as swap fairs, community gardens, self-government or vegetable cooperatives were guests and presented their concepts, as well as various art events such as performances or theater workshops. The breadth of the events, however, extended from macroeconomics or an ecological tax reform to cultural change and sufficiency to fashion, the euro crisis and socio-ecological companies, the psychodynamics of power and consumption and the reorganization of work, to solidarity agriculture and mobility, to practices of resistance and gender roles; “Economic analyzes mix with activism.” At the event, the Kapp Research Prize for Ecological Economy was awarded to Matthias Schmelzer, Corinna Burkhart and Dirk Posse, as was the Sukuma Award. At the end a demonstration took place in downtown Leipzig.

reception

The conference led to a major debate as to whether it was the beginning of a growth-critical movement in Germany. Before the conference, the social researcher Matthias Schmelzer stated that degrowth "has so far been productive in Germany as a scientific and interdisciplinary discourse". Accordingly, the participants were mainly “students and young academics from Germany”, but also “researchers and activists from Europe and around the world.” Ulrich Brand called the conference “ the movement policy congress of 2014 par excellence” and referred to the McPlanet congresses and the 2011 “Beyond Growth” Congress as a prerequisite. But “while Degrowth formulates a comprehensive criticism of capitalist growth pressures, the alternatives are first and foremost very practical small-scale attempts to organize alternative forms of life.” The emerging movement “does not work on overpowering structures, but acts in small parts and in individual groups. It is driven by the desire for a good life. ”Eva Mahnke suggested on klimaretter.info to work more closely with other social and ecological movements in order to emphasize the demands for degrowth, but according to Ulrich Brand these“ alliances are not yet in sight . ”Established non-governmental organizations and trade unions have so far had“ their difficulties ”with the terms postal growth and degrowth .

During a panel discussion with members of the Bundestag from the Enquete Commission on Growth, Prosperity, Quality of Life , it was found that the problem analysis of the degrowth movement is now common knowledge. Sabine Leidig called "growth criticism socially acceptable", but Hermann Ott described the distance to the political sphere as "incredibly large." The taz rated the opening event as a "crashing criticism of capitalism", the question of whether degrowth is compatible with capitalism was raised in advance referred to as "one of the big topics of the conference".

View into the inner courtyard of the university during the event

The atmosphere at the conference was described as “enthusiastic”, but the event was described as “striking and normative”, and the “total abstinence from opposing voices” and the avoidance of “hard controversies” were criticized. The audience was young, white and educated, while the perspectives of Latin America, for example , were not given enough consideration, and geopolitical conflicts were also not discussed. Investors.com described the idea of ​​degrowth as extremism and viewed the conference as a gathering of fanatics who want to throw the world back into the 18th century.

Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and Heinrich Böll Foundation published their own special issues for the conference. On the occasion of the conference, the Frankfurter Rundschau published a series in which Alberto Acosta , Ulrich Brand, Sabine Leidig , Christine Ax , Jörg Schindler and Friederike Habermann, among others , had their say.

Organization and supporters

The conference was organized by a predominantly voluntary group of 70 people, who made important decisions based on grassroots democracy and by consensus . The organizations responsible were the DFG college post growth societies at the University of Jena , the Leipzig Concept New Economy, the Förderverein growth turnaround e. V., Research & Degrowth and the University of Leipzig , the event was supported by various organizations: on the scientific side, the Wuppertal Institute , the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Institute and the Association for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW and VÖW) and the Association for Ecological Economy (VÖÖ). In addition, there were the Evangelical Work for Diakonie and Development , Misereor , NaturFreunde Deutschlands , BUND and BUNDjugend , the Federal Center for Political Education and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung , Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung , Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung and Otto-Brenner as political foundations Foundation .

Budapest 2016

Concert during degrowth week in Budapest

The fifth conference, entitled “creating new visions”, took place in August and September 2016 in Budapest . With 600 mostly European participants, including 400 researchers, it was smaller than the previous ones in Venice and Leipzig. Parallel to the conference, a free festival was held in the city with book presentations, discussions, workshops, tours and other “convivial” formats. In addition to scientific debates, one of the developments discussed was the collaboration with other movements such as the Ecovillage Network or the Climate Justice Movement , with which we already worked together on the Endurance Campaigns in 2015 and 2016 in Germany.

Malmo, Mexico City and Brussels 2018

Three events took place in 2018.

The sixth degrowth conference took place in Malmö ( Sweden ) in August 2018 . It was subtitled “Dialogues in Turbulent Times” and was coordinated by the Institute for Degrowth Studies (Institutet för nerväxtstudier). About 700 people attended the conference. At the same time, a degrowth festival was held in the free city of Christiania in the Danish capital, Copenhagen .

The first North-South conference on degrowth with the title “Decolonizing the social imaginary” followed from September 3rd to 7th in Mexico City ( Mexico ), for the first time in a Latin American country.

A third event took place on September 18th and 19th in the European Parliament in Brussels . 238 academics called on the European Union and its member states to develop plans for a future beyond growth.

Manchester 2020

The seventh degrowth conference entitled “Building Alternative Livelihoods in times of ecological and political crisis” will take place in Manchester ( England ) from September 1-5, 2020.

Web links

Commons : International Conference on Degrowth  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Ulrich Brand : Degrowth: The beginning of a movement? In: Sheets for German and International Politics (10/2014). Pp. 29-32.
  2. ^ A b Degrowth Conference Support Group: Reflections on a decade of degrowth International conferences , The Ecologist , August 29, 2018.
  3. ^ Federico Demaria: The rise - and future - of the degrowth movement , The Ecologist , March 27, 2018.
  4. ^ Biennial International Conferences on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity. (No longer available online.) In: Research & Degrowth. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014 ; accessed on April 29, 2019 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.degrowth.org
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Federico Demaria, François Schneider, Filka Sekulova, Joan Martinez-Alier: What is Degrowth? From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement . In: Environmental Values . tape 22 , no. 2 , 2013, p. 191–215 , doi : 10.3197 / 096327113X13581561725194 ( PDF, 286 kB ).
  6. ↑ a b "Concrete steps for a society and impulses for a common societal vision beyond growth constraints were the focus of the Degrowth Conference 2014." Documentation: Degrowth 2014 , Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung .
  7. ↑ a b “At this 4th International Degrowth Conference for ecological sustainability and social justice, the focus is on concrete steps for a society beyond growth constraints .” Program of the International Degrowth Conference 2014, Editorial, p. 3. www.degrowth.info . Accessed January 31, 2019.
  8. ^ Saed: Introduction to the degrowth symposium . In: Capitalism Nature Socialism . Volume 23, number 1, 2012, pp. 26-29, doi : 10.1080 / 10455752.2011.648836 .
  9. ^ A b Claudio Cattaneo, Giacomo D'Alisa, Giorgos Kallis, Christos Zografos (eds.): Degrowth futures and democracy . In: Futures . Volume 44, number 6, 2012, pp. 515-523, doi : 10.1016 / j.futures.2012.03.012 .
  10. ↑ Giorgos Kallis, Francois Schneider, Joan Martinez-Alier (eds.): Growth, Recession or Degrowth for Sustainability and Equity? . In: Journal of Cleaner Production . Volume 6, number 18, April 2010, pp. 511-606, doi : 10.1016 / j.jclepro.2010.01.014 .
  11. ↑ Filka Sekulová, Giorgos Kallis, Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos, Francois Schneider degrowth: from theory to practice . In: Journal of Cleaner Production . Volume 38, 2013, pp. 1–6, doi : 10.1016 / j.jclepro.2012.06.022 .
  12. ^ Giorgos Kallis, Christian Kerschner, Joan Martinez-Alier: The economics of degrowth . In: Ecological Economics . Volume 84, 2012, pp. 172-180, doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2012.08.017 .
  13. ↑ a b Erika Becchi: Conferenza a Lipsia: Un summit global sulla decrescita ( Memento of October 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), L'Indro , April 11, 2014.
  14. ↑ a b Andrea Vetter: Deregrowth . In: Oya 28/2014.
  15. ↑ Economic De-Growth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity , events.it-sudparis.eu, accessed on September 11, 2014.
  16. ^ Francois Schneider & Fabrice Flipo (eds.): Proceedings of the First International Conference on Economic De-Growth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity , Paris, April 18-19, 2008 , accessed on September 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ B. Mylondo (ed.): La décroissance économique. Pour la soutenabilité écologique et l'équité sociale . Editions du Croquant, Broissieux 2009.
  18. ↑ Declaration (PDF file), accessed on September 9, 2014.
  19. ^ Research & Degrowth: Degrowth Declaration of the Paris 2008 conference . In: Journal of Cleaner Production . Volume 18, number 6, April 2010, pp. 523-524, doi : 10.1016 / j.jclepro.2010.01.012 .
  20. ^ John Bellamy Foster : Capitalism and Degrowth: An Impossibility Theorem . In: Monthly Review , Volume 62, Number 8, January 2011.
  21. ↑ barcelona.degrowth.org: Home ( memento of October 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 11, 2014.
  22. ↑ Conference proceedings ( Memento of October 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Second International Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, accessed on September 11, 2014.
  23. ↑ Degrowth Declaration Barcelona 2010 ( memento of September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 11, 2014.
  24. ↑ montreal.degrowth.org ( Memento from May 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 12, 2014.
  25. ↑ Michelle Lalonde: “Degrowth” conference kicks off in Montreal ( Memento from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Montreal Gazette , May 14, 2012.
  26. ↑ Conference papers ( Memento of July 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), montreal.degrowth.org, accessed on September 12, 2014.
  27. ↑ Mathieu Perreault: décroître avant le chaos , lapresse.ca , May 16 2012th
  28. ↑ Annabelle Blais: L'avenir sous le signe de la décroissance , journalmetro.com, May 13, 2012.
  29. ↑ venezia2012.it ( Memento from March 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  30. ^ Program of the Conference and of Parallel Events ( Memento of January 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  31. ↑ Malgorzata Stawecka: For Champions of Degrowth, Less Is Much More , Inter Press Service , November 7, 2012.
  32. ^ Claudia Ciobanu: South Invited to 'De-Grow' , Inter Press Service , September 25, 2012.
  33. ↑ a b Manfred Kriener: The search for the emergency exit , the daily newspaper , September 3, 2014.
  34. ↑ Karin Jäger: Degrowth - turning away from steady economic growth , Deutsche Welle , September 1, 2014.
  35. ↑ a b c Phillip Bittner: Degrowth conference in Leipzig: What comes after growth? , enormous , August 31, 2014.
  36. ↑ a b Degrowth 2014 , accessed on September 11, 2014.
  37. ↑ a b c Christiane Kliemann: Can companies do better by doing less? , The Guardian , Aug. 1, 2014.
  38. ↑ a b c d Joanna Nogly: Growing growth criticism , the daily newspaper , September 2, 2014.
  39. ↑ Topic strands | Degrowth 2014 , accessed September 11, 2014.
  40. ^ A b c Claudia Euen: The artistic aspects of growth criticism , Deutschlandfunk , September 2, 2014.
  41. ^ A b c Johannes Pennekamp: Less and less growth: The new German modesty , Frankfurter Allgemeine , August 1, 2014.
  42. ^ A b c Ingo Arzt: Degrowth Conference in Leipzig: Shrinking and having fun , the daily newspaper , September 4, 2014.
  43. ↑ Will the economy grow forever? Criticism of the dogma of growth at the degrowth conference in Leipzig ( memento from March 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), MDR Kultur, accessed on September 12, 2014.
  44. ↑ Francisco Colaço Pedro: Conferência internacional: Um mundo para lá do crescimento económico , Luxemburger Wort , September 3, 2014.
  45. ^ Claudia Euen: Degrowth Conference Leipzig: Ideas for a Society without Growth , Deutschlandfunk , September 5, 2014.
  46. ↑ a b c Joanna Nogly: End of the Degrowth Conference: Hope for Shrinking , the daily newspaper , September 7, 2014.
  47. ↑ Tabea Köbler: Fashion at the “Degrowth” Conference: More Participation in Change , the daily newspaper , September 10, 2014.
  48. ^ Eva Mahnke: Organic onions and growth criticism , Neues Deutschland , September 4, 2014.
  49. ↑ Dr. Matthias Schmelzer, Corinna Burkhart and Dirk Posse receive the Kapp Research Prize for Ecological Economy , website of the Association for Ecological Economy , September 5, 2014.
  50. ↑ Premiere of the winning spot "Sukuma Award - Leipzig" is imminent: Comes to the degrowth on September 5, 2014 in Leipzig, sukuma-award.de, September 2, 2014 ( Memento from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  51. ^ Demonstration for ecological sustainability in Leipzig - conclusion of the "DeGrowth" conference , Leipziger Volkszeitung , September 6, 2014.
  52. ↑ Eva Mahnke / Matthias Schmelzer: Degrowth is a political battle term , new Germany , September 2, 2014.
  53. ↑ Annette Jensen, Ute Scheub: Debate Degrowth Movement: Against Forced Growth , the daily newspaper , September 4, 2014.
  54. ^ A b Eva Mahnke: Degrowth prelude: "A magical moment" , klimaretter.info , September 3, 2014.
  55. ↑ Joanna Nogly: Degrowth conference in Leipzig: Cuddle course with the mighty. the daily newspaper , September 5, 2014.
  56. ↑ Robert Best: Smaller and finer . In: Junge Welt , September 1, 2014.
  57. ↑ Johannes Pennekamp: Please shrink! At the degrowth conference in Leipzig, the resistance of those who refused to grow formed. Frankfurter Allgemeine , September 4, 2014, p. 18.
  58. ↑ Leonie Sontheimer: Shrinking is trump ( Memento from September 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Greenpeace Magazine , September 8, 2014.
  59. ^ Eva Mahnke: Degrowth still too European , klimaretter.info , September 4, 2014.
  60. ^ De-Growth Advocates Would Take Us Back To Harder Times ( Memento of March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Investor's Business Daily , May 3, 2014.
  61. ↑ After growth , RosaLux (2/2014).
  62. ^ Change of page - The Economics of the Common , Böll. Topic (1/2014).
  63. ↑ Stephan Kaufmann: Always more , Frankfurter Rundschau , August 31, 2014.
  64. ↑ Kay Bourcarde: Growth - The Exponential Error , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 2, 2014.
  65. ↑ Felix Rauschmayer: How drug addicts , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 4, 2014.
  66. ↑ Alberto Acosta : The Source of Injustice , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 5, 2014.
  67. ↑ Ulrich Brand: Prosperity instead of an increase in GDP , Frankfurter Rundschau , August 24, 2014.
  68. ↑ Sabine Leidig : Turning away from the growth mantra , Frankfurter Rundschau , August 31, 2014.
  69. ↑ Christine Ax : Enjoy instead of toil , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 3, 2014.
  70. ^ Jörg Schindler : Stadt, Land, Überfluss , Frankfurter Rundschau , August 29, 2014.
  71. ^ Friederike Habermann : No capitalism without growth , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 4, 2014.
  72. ^ Elisabeth Voß: From Wedeln to Action , Oya 28/2014.
  73. ↑ Christiane Kliemann: Degrowth Conference 2016 ends with large coverage in Hungarian media , degrowth.de, September 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017.
  74. ^ A b Budapest Degrowth Conference: creating new visions , budapest.degrowth.org, accessed on January 14, 2017.
  75. ↑ Less is more - participants of the degrowth conference explain why , Greenpeace Magazine , September 5, 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017.
  76. ↑ Activist on degrowth conference: “The planet has limits” , the daily newspaper , September 2, 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017.
  77. ^ Degrowth Week , budapest.degrowth.org, accessed January 14, 2017.
  78. ^ Economist on degrowth conference: "Growth is getting more and more difficult" , the daily newspaper , September 2, 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017.
  79. ^ Stella Veciana: Degrowth and the Global Ecovillage Network , resilience.org, September 13, 2017.
  80. ^ Anne Pinnow, Steffen Lange, Matthias Schmelzer and Nina Treu: What we will take with us from the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest , degrowth.de, September 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017.
  81. ↑ Nick Meynen: Why the degrowth debate is gaining momentum . The Ecologist, September 2, 2016, accessed January 14, 2017.
  82. ↑ Ruth Fulterer: Degrowth Conference New Rules of the Game in Business , Frankfurter Rundschau , August 26, 2018.
  83. ↑ Ruth Fulterer: Degrowth Conference in Malmö: You want to shrink Sweden , the daily newspaper , August 20, 2018.
  84. ↑ Ulrich Brand : Degrowth: Out of the compulsion to grow, but how? , New Germany , August 26, 2018.
  85. ↑ Helen Jarvis: Degrowth and Christiania: on Copenhagen's collective living experiment , citymetric.com, September 26, 2018.
  86. ↑ Viva Mexico: land, water, and Indigenous candidates , The Circle News, October 4, 2018.
  87. ↑ Mexico City to host a global forum on economy and poverty , The Yucatan Times, August 2, 2018.
  88. ^ Post-Growth 2018 Conference , accessed October 25, 2018.
  89. ↑ degrowth conference in Brussels , degrowth.info, accessed on 25 October 2018th
  90. ↑ Francine Mestrum: An Alternative To De-Growth Pessimism , socialeurope.eu, October 3, 2018.
  91. ^ The EU needs a stability and wellbeing pact, not more growth , The Guardian , September 16, 2018.
  92. ↑ MHB: The International Degrowth Conference 2020 will be in Manchester. In: degrowthUK. December 14, 2018, accessed April 18, 2019 .