Bread and Circuses on Nostr: If degrowth is ever to gain traction as a viable, mainstream policy option — rather ...

If degrowth is ever to gain traction as a viable, mainstream policy option — rather than simply as academic theory or as a personal individual lifestyle choice — it must first take hold among a large mass of people who can’t survive without it and who will *demand* system change.

That’s the view expressed by the author of this essay…
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I believe that we have been discussing degrowth in an ass-backward manner. Slowing the economy will never be accomplished via the altruistic sacrifices of the materially privileged classes, but can only happen as a result of a transfer of power.

A coalition of poor, working, indigenous people and other allies will have to be sold on degrowth and be well-organized enough to engage in civil disobedience. Where has political change occurred without strikes, demonstrations, and massive numbers of people willing to take personal risks and be arrested?

Degrowth, I believe, is at a critical crossroad – advocates must now choose to continue to regard degrowth as an unending thought experiment, or to take degrowth into communities of ordinary folks. We have to create natural alliances, engage in civil disobedience, and compose a story. That is a lot to do in a very short time.
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FULL ESSAY -- https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-05-07/is-degrowth-an-academic-field-or-a-mass-movement-taking-degrowth-to-the-people/

#Politics #Economics #Degrowth