La Décroissance - Degrowth
Decrescita, Decrecimiento, Decreixement, Postwachstum, Nemnövekedes, etc...
1) What is Degrowth?
2) Which political strategies for Degrowth?
3) The project: An unconditional autonomy allowance.
4) Conclusion
Vincent Liegey, French Degrowth Movement
Parti Pour La Décroissance.
www.partipourladecroissance.net
vliegey@gmail.com
Degrowth / La Décroissance
Introduction : What is Degrowth?
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Provocative slogan reminding us that an infinite economic growth in a finite world is
not possible.
A complex set of theories about a new paradigm and thinkings about how to make a
democratic and peaceful transition to sustainable and desirable Degrowth societies.
The name of a new social and political movement (grassroots and also intellectual).
Degrowth is not degrowth for degrowth which would be as stupid as growth for growth!
It's much more about « changing the matrix », « decolonize our imaginaries » or « to
make a step next »!
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
Introduction: What is Degrowth?

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Provocative slogan reminding us that an infinite economic growth in a finite world is
not possible.
An explosive word (Ariès) to pulverize pro-growth ideology and the trap of
sustainable development (oxymoron).
→ History of a word (Gorz (1972), Demain la Décroissance (1979)...).
→ Negative sens? Why?
→ Still on debate...
Even if an infinite growth was possible, still we would need to question the sens of it.
Infinite growth is not only unsustainable, it's also undesirable...
An infinite growth in finite world is absurd!
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
Introduction : What is Degrowth?

A complex set of theories about a new paradigm and thinkings about how to make a
democratic and peaceful transition to sustainable and desirable Degrowth societies.
A multidimensional thinking: two main approaches (Latouche, 2006a):
→ Cultural: Ivan Illitch (Conviviality), Ellul (critic of modernity and religion of sciences and
technologies), Partant (critic of development), Ranhema (decolonization of imaginary,
when misery chases poverty), Gorz (centrality of work, critic to capitalism), Castoriadis
(democracy), Debord (Society of the spectacle), etc...
→ Physical: Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (The entropy law and the economic process,
1971), Meadows reports, ecological economics, peak-oil theorists (Heinberg,
Campbell), etc...
How to get rid of capitalism, productivism, consumerism, developmentism, utilitarianism,
materialism, economism (religion of economics), religions of sciences and
technologies...
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
Introduction : What is Degrowth?
The name of a new social and political movement.
→ First in France with the journal, the march and the creation of a political party.
→ Internationalisation of the movement (International Degrowth conferences, translation
of books, texts, Pic Nic for Degrowth).
→ Concrete alternatives: eco-villages, squats, transition town initiatives, community
garden, permaculture, eco-construction, AMAP, local non-speculatice currencies...
→ Groups of activist: addbusters, critical mass, anti-nuclear, civil disobedience, the
clowns...
→ Research and academics (Research and Degrowth, international conferences in
Paris in 2008 and Barcelona in 2010, debate opened inside ecological economics).
→ Opened movement, no border, in and out the society.
→ A platform of convergence?
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We're not only facing an economic (financial) and ecological crisis but a convergence of
crisis, also political, cultural, social, ...
We're facing an anthropological crisis!
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
Which political strategies for Degrowth?
How to make a peaceful and democratic transition to sustainable and desirable Degrowth
societies?
Is the power overtaking a prerequisite? How to change the society without taking power?
 A critical mass political strategy.
 The four political levels of Degrowth:
→ The individual level through voluntary simplicity, frugality and explosion of our traditional
brain structures and way of thinking (“decolonization of our imaginary”).
→ The collective level through local and practical alternatives (in and out of capitalism,
individualism and productivism).
→ The level of visibility, through the participation in elections, using the media and public events
and debates.
→ The project level through transition projects on one hand and drawing utopias for the future
degrowth societies on the other hand.
Also, an important point is how to make this different levels work together?
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Repoliticize the society and resocialize politics !
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
An economic and social proposal to initiate a transition: The unconditional autonomy
allowance.
A convergence of reflexions and discussions on:
→ Social and environmental justice: the first degrowth should be the degrowth of inequalities.
→ An exit of capitalism and economism: money creation, money as debt, reappropriation of the
bank and the money.
→ To leave constraint work and centrality of work paradigm: to meaningful lifes, chosen socially
and humanly sustainable activities and the sharing of hard tasks.
→ To reappropirate politics and democracy: for an higher participation.
→ To an open relocalisation and the promotion of local initiatives and concrete alternatives (local
production (food, energy, goods...) and services).
What do we produce? How do we produce it? For what kind of use?
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
An economic and social proposal to initiate a transition: The unconditional autonomy
allowance.
A proposal as a mix of different economic tools proposed by and discussed inside the Degrowth
movement:
→ Basic income enough for a frugal but decent life and to protect the people from the upcoming
crisis.
→ Extension of the spheres of gratuitousness.
→ Free access to responsible uses of water, land, food and every « essential » resources and
services on the one hand and higher pricing or prohibition of their misuses on the other hand.
→ Local non-speculative currencies (local organic food, local services).
→ Maximum income.
→ Resource/Waste cap.
→ High taxes or ban on adds.
→ Moratorium on infrastructure projects, new technologies (nano, bio-technologies).
→ Cancellation of public debts.
→ Nationalisation of private banks, central banks for an higher democratic control.
→ Etc.
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
The unconditional autonomy allowance: to give, unconditionally, from the birth to the death the
minimum needed to a frugal, decent and convivial life:
→ Accommodation (a certain quantity of m²), free access to a land (idem) and/or a local of activity
(bicycle, repair or cultural workshop for example)…
→ Free access to responsible (chosen democratically) uses of water (a certain number of liter per month),
food (organic and produced locally, could given in an alternative non-speculative currency or in
vouchers), natural resources (oil, gas, electricity, wood, etc).
→ Health (free access to health system with a debate about the medical system, the lobby of the
pharmaceutical companies, alternative medicine, dietetics, pollution, prevention...).
→ Education (free access to education with a thinking of the content and the organisation. Include
training on direct democracy, non violent communication...).
→ Transport (a certain number of km to make by train or local public transport, free access to repair
bikes).
→ Culture (free access to cultural events).
→ Information (right to a free and contradictory information, promotion and support of investigative
journalism, transparency...).
And, of course...
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Degrowth / La Décroissance
An economic and social proposal to initiate a transition: The unconditional autonomy allowance.
And, of course:
→ A Maximum Income (social justice and also decolonisation of our imaginaries), an increase of the
prices of missuses (debated democratically), high taxes or bans of adds, planned obsolescence, militaryindustrial complex...
→ Cancellation of public debts, nationalisation of private banks and central banks for an higher
democratic control.
→ Sharing of the hard tasks.
This allowance could be applied progressively, step by step, like for example:
→ In a district with an alternative currency for local organic food.
→ And/or in a city with the free access to a certain amount of water
→ And/or in a region or a state with the generalization of the right for an accommodation for everybody
(requisition of the empty buildings) or the nationalisation of private banks.
→ Etc.
To an extension of the human rights and an emancipation able to make the people actors of a transition to
sustainable and desirable Degrowth societies.
The virtuous circles for a sustainable, desirable and convivial Degrowth.
Vincent Liegey
French Degrowth Movement
Conclusion
→ We cannot reduce energy use without having an impact on economic growth.
→ The trap of the debt.
→ We cannot only deal with economic, technic or physical approaches.
→ Need of economic and social protection.
→ Democratic and participative transition.
A great opportunity!
Vincent Liegey, French Degrowth Movement
Parti Pour La Décroissance.
www.partipourladecroissance.net
vliegey@gmail.com