Library

Misc • 2016

Wirtschaftswachstum steht einem guten Leben für alle entgegen

Aktuell gibt es in der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung eine Kontroverse zu Wachstumskritik. Vor einer Woche hat Rainer Hank unter dem Titel „Wachstum im Schneckentempo ist in" in der FAZ einen sehr kritischen Beitrag zur „Degrowth-Bewegung" geschrieben. Darauf antwortete Matthias Schmelzer in einer Replik, die in gekürzter Fassung am 23. Oktober 2016 in der Frankfurter Sonntagszeitung...

Report • 2016

15M – Aus einer autonomen Perspektive

By: Eduard Nus

Dies ist ein Beitrag zum Projekt Degrowth in Bewegung(en), in dem es um die 15M Bewegung aus Spanien geht. Info zum Projekt Degrowth in Bewegung(en): Degrowth ist nicht nur ein neues Label für eine Diskussion über Alternativen oder eine akademische Debatte, sondern auch eine im Entstehen begriffene soziale Bewegung. Trotz vieler Überschneidungen mit anderen sozialen Bewegungen gibt es sowohl...

Misc • 2016

D.E.growth: A Small Change in the Slogan with Large Benefits

By: Miklós Antal

In a recent article with Stefan Drews, we discussed why degrowth might be an unfortunate name and slogan for the alternative economics movement. We listed several expressions that could possibly be better, but we were also upfront about their disadvantages. Here I propose a new term that might combine the advantages of the word degrowth with those of its more positive alternatives. For an...

Misc • 2016

Adultum – A Critical Narrative at the End of Growth and a Name for the Coming Age

By: Prof. Dr. Josef Senft

Degrowth is usually translated into German as "Postwachstum" (post growth) or "Wachstumsrücknahme" (reversing growth), but it can also be translated as “ausgewachsen” (grown up). This captures two aspects: on the one hand the end of growth and on the other hand the entry into a stage of maturity, namely adulthood. Adults are expected to show increased maturity and responsibility for themselves...

Misc • 2016

Capitalism and (De)Growth

By: Susan Paulson

What is capitalism? A kind of state? An institution? Some values? A power structure? Ideology? A Culture? What governs capitalism? Supply and demand Invisible hand Enclosure of land The drive to expand Market mechanism Class schism Racism The moral virtue of productivism. Innovation! Invest! Impress! Progress! Entrepreneurial quest for Technological success in Pursuit of profit. Laissez...

Misc • 2016

Synergies between Degrowth and the Global Ecovillage Network

By: Stella Veciana

One of the most controversially discussed key tracks during the 5th International Degrowth Conference 2016 in Budapest was “Degrowth and other social movements”. Can degrowth be considered a movement? Does degrowth embrace all kinds of movements struggling for a sustainable future? On one hand, the notion of “degrowth movement(s)” was rigorously criticized for fragmenting the political...

Misc • 2016

Five Take-Homes from the Degrowth Conference in Budapest

By: Steffen Lange

The fifth international Degrowth Conference is over, the call to host the sixth has been opened. A lot could be said about the conference, yet I do not intend to give a comprehensive overview, nor examine how it stands in relation with the former conferences. Instead, I want to share five aspects of the conference, which I found particularly insightful. 1. A Degrowth Conference in Hungary? In...

Misc • 2016

How to Integrate Degrowth into All Aspects of Life: Some Thoughts on the Budapest Conference

By: Corinna Burkhart

The picture above shows some of the statues decorating the northern entrance of the Corvinus University in Budapest where the recent Degrowth Conference took place. The building has not always been a university. It once was a place of trade, and the statues over the entrance depict virtues which, back then, were considered central to trade. Virtues like courage, faith, love and honesty. When...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth Conference 2016 ends with large coverage in Hungarian media

By: Christiane Kliemann

As Vincent Ligey, coordinator of the Budapest Conference organizing team mentioned in the closing plenary, it was an experiment to hold an international degrowth conference in a former socialist country where the soil for degrowth ideas is not particularly fertile. The more it came as a surprise that the conference had received a widespread coverage in Hungarian media. Szandra Koves, press...

Misc • 2016

From Post-Growth Society to Sufficiency Politics

By: Angelika Zahrnt

When our book Post-Growth Society was published in 2010 in German, the term was entirely unheard of. Today, Post-Growth is the harsh reality in many countries, but this phenomenon is considered to be transitory. Governmental investment subsidies and infrastructure spending, consumer incentive programs and a generous monetary policy are supposed to re-stimulate growth. Additional governmental...

Misc • 2016

Grassroots Movements, Degrowth and ‘New Economies’

By: Iris Kunze

A Study on Transformative Social Innovation There are numerous grassroots movements and initiatives worldwide with the ambition to contribute to transformative change towards more sustainable, resilient and just societies. Many of them have a specific vision on the economy and relate to alternative visions of a ‘New Economy’. The research project TRANSIT highlights four prominent strands of new...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth Meets Convivialism: Pathways to a Convivial Society

By: Frank Adloff

The concept of convivialism has attracted some attention in recent years. When giving it a closer look – even superficially – it soon reveals its proximity to the degrowth concept and movement. But what exactly constitutes this proximity and where are the differences? Below I will give a short summary of what we can understand by degrowth in practical and theoretical terms. Then I will continue...

Misc • 2016

Creating Spaces to Practice a New Reality

By: Christiane Kliemann

Impressions from the degrowth summer school and the Rhineland climate camp It's now for the second time that the Degrowth Summer School took place at the climate camp in the coal-mining region of the German Rhineland with around 800-900 participants. Last year it had mainly focused on the topic of climate justice and on bringing the two movements – degrowth and climate justice – together. This...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth by designed disaster?

By: Lasse Thiele

How the conflation with neoliberalism and austerity unfairly reduces the idea of degrowth to absurdity – and where the degrowth movement can turn for answers to the crisis. The degrowth movement has been developed in response to neoliberal reality, neoliberalism's comically reductive view of human nature, its ecological blindness and the rise in social inequality it has brought about. Austerity...

Misc • 2016

„Degrowth in Bewegung(en)“ - Wo stehen wir und wie geht’s weiter?

By: Matthias Schmelzer

Seit Anfang September sind alle Texte, Videos und Audiobeiträge des Multimedia-Veröffentlichungspojektes „Degrowth in Bewegung(en)“ online. In diesem Projekt schreiben Menschen aus 31 sozialen Bewegungen und alternativeökonomischen Strömungen – von der Anti-Kohle-Bewegung über Commons bis zu Gewerkschaften und Urban-Gardening – über ihre jeweilige Vision, ihre Aktivitäten sowie ihr Verhältnis...

Misc • 2016

D.E.growth: A Small Change in the Slogan with Large Benefits

By: Miklós Antal

In a recent article with Stefan Drews, we discussed why degrowth might be an unfortunate name and slogan for the alternative economics movement. We listed several expressions that could possibly be better, but we were also upfront about their disadvantages. Here I propose a new term that might combine the advantages of the word degrowth with those of its more positive alternatives. For an...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth und Commons - gemeinsam in eine postkapitalistische Welt

By: Leslie Gauditz und Johannes Euler

Aus unserem Projekt Degrowth in Bewegung(en) Wenn Degrowth heißt, dass wir Menschen uns von den Fesseln des Wachstumszwangs befreien müssen, und wenn Commons-Aktivist*innen sich für mehr Commoning in der Welt einsetzen, dann müssen wir uns wohl folgende Fragen stellen: Von welchem Wachstum gilt es sich zu lösen? Wovon brauchen wir mehr? Wie könnte das gehen? Wer setzt sich dafür ein? Auf der...

Misc • 2016

Capitalism and (De)Growth

By: Susan Paulson

What is capitalism? A kind of state? An institution? Some values? A power structure? Ideology? A Culture? What governs capitalism? Supply and demand Invisible hand Enclosure of land The drive to expand Market mechanism Class schism Racism The moral virtue of productivism. Innovation! Invest! Impress! Progress! Entrepreneurial quest for Technological success in Pursuit of profit. Laissez...

Misc • 2016

Was wir von der 5. Internationalen Degrowth-Konferenz in Budapest mitnehmen

By: Christiane Kliemann

Von Anne Pinnow, Steffen Lange, Matthias Schmelzer und Nina Treu Vom 30. August bis 3. September hat die 5. Internationale Degrowth-Konferenz für soziale Gerechtigkeit und ökologische Nachhaltigkeit in Budapest stattgefunden. Das Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie war mit mehreren Mitarbeiter_innen vor Ort. In diesem Artikel möchten wir einige unserer Eindrücke schildern und eine Einschätzung...

Misc • 2016

Five Take-Homes from the Degrowth Conference in Budapest

By: Steffen Lange

The fifth international Degrowth Conference is over, the call to host the sixth has been opened. A lot could be said about the conference, yet I do not intend to give a comprehensive overview, nor examine how it stands in relation with the former conferences. Instead, I want to share five aspects of the conference, which I found particularly insightful. 1. A Degrowth Conference in Hungary? In...