Nous sommes Parti·e·s Pour La Décroissance

Thanks to Transition movement and Rob Hopkins.

At the 2012 Degrowth conference in Venice one of the highlights for me was the talk by Arturo Escobar(my notes from which can be found here). He is the author of Encountering Development and Territories of Difference, among others.  His talk looked at how Transition might look in the context of the Global South, and held many fascinating insights.  Here is the interview I did with him, first as an audio file, and below as a transcript.

So, Arturo, could you tell us a little bit about yourself please?

My name is Arturo Escobar, I was born and grew up in Colombia and I teach in the US, at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. I teach anthropology and most of my work as an anthropologist is also in Colombia, especially the rainforest region, the Pacific region of Colombia, with African descendant movements and communities.

So Arturo, you gave a presentation yesterday about what Degrowth would look like in the context of the developed world and the developing world, the Global North, the Global South. Could you set out what you see as the prime motivation in each of those places – what’s distinct between those two?

OK.  One of the points that I was trying to make is a parallel between the Degrowth movement as a set of ideas and political projects and social projects for transformation or transition in the Global North, especially in Europe and the US, especially in Europe, the US is still way south as you probably know better than me.

The parallel movement in the US, in Latin America at least, maybe not so much for the Global South as a whole but for Latin America in particular, which is the region of the world that I know the best because I am from there and I’ve been working there for a long time as an anthropologist and ecologist, as an activist, is what I call ‘Alternatives to Development’.

When you talk about Degrowth, I think one of the speakers today referred to that, I think it was Marcelo the theologian who referred to that in our session. When he speaks about Degrowth in Brazil people laugh at him: “why do we need Degrowth with all this poverty and all these problems and all these possibilities for growing?  We Brazilians are growing like crazy, Degrowth doesn’t make any sense”.

I think that’s a mistaken perception of what Degrowth is in Latin America, because people who have looked at Degrowth and Transition Town initiatives in South America, including some environmentalists, they find it appealing and they find that it’s not sufficient for tackling issues in South America.
Continuer la lecture →

I fell in Degrowth… as some fall in love, just a matter of fact. From one day to the next, no more compromise… Even if I have been a fervent ecologist for ever, falling in Degrowth means seeing again, at once, all the contradictions of my personal, professional, and social life choices…

From that moment, I embarked on the transition, with more or less difficulties, which painfully remains exalting and fulfilling. What I am certain of is that I don’t know what will be left in the end.

Falling in Degrowth is like mourning slowly, suddenly even, for a societal vision in which we did create ourselves, and projected our future… and being suddenly faced with a feeling of abyssal powerlessness that pushes us to go and meet those who have already embraced it, with the same bulimic fervor sometimes (quite paradoxically!), as if to fill this abrupt “conceptual void”…

Falling in Degrowth is to accept that our dreams and reflections become radicalised… for a while or along time. Sometimes our positions shut down in an obstinate manner on everything that constituted “before”, without out any indulgence for the others, even less towards ourselves… This kind of radicalisation brings about its share of fractures and misunderstandings with our close, sceptical family members, and creates a feeling of lack of flexibility… real, for a while, or a long time… The risks of withdrawal and a reliance on a one-sided collective can be great… and yet…

Falling in Degrowth
is, foremost, not to reproduce the individualistic and egoistical models offered by the capitalist society. It is about inventing new archetypes. In my opinion, it is a profoundly intimate and humanistic experience… proposing new, differently respectful of, and concerned with the others, without loosing touch with our contemporaries by reneging our appurtenance to a social body, or by nurturing secessionist behaviours, hateful even. To become radical by defending ideas such as the ones advocated by Degrowth, is, above all, to look after the others, by granting them their importance, since they are imbued with sharing, solidarity, and conviviality… Continuer la lecture →

Last week the 3rd International Degrowth Conference took place in Venice. At least 600 growth objectors, coming from 50 countries and the five continents participated to this great get-together!

Many public events had been organised in conjunction, such as a movie festival or a debate in the Basilica Di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frare with Serge Latouche, some practical, study or academic workshops, but also meetings of activists and some convivial moments.

France was represented by Entropia, S, Latouche, Y. Cochet, as well as by some Growth Objectors who introduced the UAA (Unconditional Autonomy Allowance), our political strategy and many other things. We caught up with our Swiss friends and their fantastic new magazine Moins [Less! – Swiss Political ecology magazine in French)! And our friends from Barcelona Research & Degrowth, as well as Majid Rahnema, Jacques Grinevald, Gilbert Rist, Joan Martinez-Alier, Rob Hopkins, Arturo Escobar and many more.

The atmosphere reflected the self-management nature of the event, dialogues, and conviviality. We did notice how all share the self-searching permeating the French movement: How can we spread Degrowth whilst remaining true to our ideas? How can we respect and nourish the diversity of approaches, initiatives, and strategies? How can we create a convergence with the movements such as the Indignados Movement, Occupy, and the Leftist movements and political groups, and the ecologists? What projects? How can we reach each other? What kind of inter-generational relationships? What type of open relocalisation? Etc. Continuer la lecture →