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Montreal: justifying and understanding economic "degrowth"

cdfseminar:

Montreal is having a conference about “degrowth” in the Americas! An excerpt for why they’re arguing for degrowth and what that even means:

Little Vade Mecum for the Growth Objector

By Yves-Marie Abraham, HEC Montréal
May 2011

1. What is degrowth?

• This is not an economic depression, nor a recession, but a decline in the importance of the economy itself in our lives and our societies.
• This is not the decline of GDP, but the end of GDP and all other quantitative measures used as indicators of well being.
• This is not a decline in population size, but a questioning of humanity’s self-destructive lifestyle.
• This is not a step backwards, but an invitation to step aside, out of the race in pursuit of excessiveness.
• This is not nostalgia for some golden age, but an unprecedented project to invent creative ways of living together.
• This is not degrowth imposed by the depletion of the biosphere’s resources, but a voluntary degrowth, to live better here and now, preserving the conditions necessary for the long-term survival of humanity.
• This is not an end in itself, but a necessary step in the search for models depicting free societies, liberated from the dogma of growth.
• This is not a project of voluntary deprivation and impoverishment, but an attempt to find a “better life”, based on simplicity, restraint, and sharing.
• This is not “sustainable development”, but a rejection of capitalism, no matter if it is “green” or “socially just”, and no matter if it has State-run or private enterprises.
• This is not ecofascism, but a call for a democratic revolution to end our productivist-consumerist model of society.
• This is not voluntary simplicity, but a revolutionary political project that implies the adoption of the principles of voluntary simplicity on the individual level.
• This is not is not an “anti-modern” movement, but a “neo-modern” movement, based on respect for the values of freedom and equality.

In summary, degrowth is a call for a radical break from traditional growth-based models of society, no matter if these models are “left” or “right”, to invent new ways of living together in a true democracy, respectful of the values of equality and freedom, based on sharing and cooperation, and with sufficiently moderate consumption so as to be sustainable.

…continued here.

-Dean