Introduction to diversel degrowth and Fishbowl Exercise

By François Schneider, Research & Degrowth

Presentation: https://co-munity.net/system/files/documents/media/schneiderbogoriadiversel.pdf

Diversel 
facing the uni-versalism of growth: not to create a nre hegemony or be closted in a specific particularics or post-modernist diversity
grassroots universalism

Growth Universalism
economic hegemony
Neoliberalism (private enterprises) vs Keynesiasim (state)

TINAS
Neoliberal Story
Keynesianism stroy

No story for degrowth (so it's scare for politician)

FACING THE CRISIS

Neoliberal: a way to imporve the efficieny of our system and focuses in austerity
Keynesian: state involved to solve the crisis by expanding the system to restore the growth engine

DEGROWTH (D)

Why?

There needs to be a dialogue between the people and their stories that are against the economic hegemony

How?
-scales

• individuals
• groups
• bigger group
• european level
• global

-limits to growth

• limits to growth that create crisis, so we create new forms of growth (financial bubbles, expanding commodity frontiers, etc)
• production and consumption capacity (something block the way, for example people don't want to buy all the cars that are produced)
• desinequalities(=reduce inequality)
• decommondification (for example limits to ads)
• desenclosures (sharing & commons)
• anti-extractivism (leave resources in the ground)
• slow-all (less speed)
• decommondification of time (more time)
• definancialization (for example banks can not create money)

-strategies

• Oppositional Activism, the "ANTI" perspective, oppose to a specific subject
• Frugal Innovation - Alternatives Building
• Reformins: actions depsite - capitalism (trying to work inside the system so the transform will be possilbe)

Who?
practiotioners 
researchers
activists 
artists

D- "Diversel": dialogues to build "degrowth stories"

• MULTI- is not enough, we want INTER- 
• So no top-down, no closure, no post-modern diversity but finding a way throught critical dialogues between equals

There is no unique definition of degrowth!
Degrowth is not an ideology

Comment from Ben: Degrowth is not an ideology, but still it has ideologies. Why is it not an ideology?

Francois: not to create an ideology but to continue the dialogue forming a story

Jean: With a ideology we used to have recipes to make a cake (like keynisianism and neoliberalism) but we in degrowth we can still make a cake but you don't need a recipe

Martin: but the ingridients are still selected according to an ideology
 -
 
 Degrowth means acknoledging a combination of limits (money, inequality, deregulation, etc)
 
 Building interlimits stories
 
 Interstrategic dialogue
 
 Degrowth Combines Strategies
 Practionners- Activists - Artists- Researchers
 
 Can Decreix is the place where the abovementioned try to take place
 
 
## FISHBOWL on building interlimits stories
 CASE STUDY: GMOs potatoes in the region we are, the government will make experiments here. 
(audio recording will be available)

More money for investment in the area for GMO's -> more people will work -> they will have more money

Our tool will be: Dialogue of the limits to growth

Preparation:
Six chairs (with people!) in the middle who argue from different perspectives
1. Monetary, banking system
2. Social worker (reduce inequalities)
3. Commoning
4. Voluntary simplicity
5. Natural Resources
6. Work sharing

Argument exchange (unsorted, not matched to the roles - audio can be a good complement to hear, when available)

• farmers work less, have more free time
• banks won't support GMOs
• Voluntary simplicity -> organize fiestas and bring people together
• inform consumers to support local production, CSA 
• create infrastructure that is shared by the farmers (storage areas, transport) . Work with the community, bring the topic to the general public. what do GMO potatoes offer? which are the associated risks? why we don't want them? who profits? employ other strategies wiith the support of the communities. organise alternatives, like CSAs. Communicate the problem on a broader scale. 
• Feeding more people, alleged by large farmers, is not a scientific argument, it's an economic one and a myth, can easily be dismantled
• Change the (consumer) demand. Local production is hipster, trendy - convince traditional farmers to make more profit by pushing the local production model! inform farmers that it's gonna lead to higher profits. 
• farmers do not need to depend the knowledge and the technology from outside. Support farmers to use their traditional knowledge. Move forward with your traditional knowledge
• Celebrate the other values, not salary, but traditions etc 
• Goal should not be more profit/efficiency but live in a more comfortable way. Let's get out of the growth context.  
• But since degrowth doesn't exist in this reality, we have to think how to combine these two different ways, this is why we still talk about money and salaries. 
• we want to fight GMO strategies, join existing movements like the anti- TTIP, build synergies,rather than create new ones
• How to persuade consumers to pay higher prices?
• The farmers that aren't here are doing conventional GMOs! Maybe we can try to look for other farmers that don't want those GMOs?
• Either change supply and demand? Why not change both, the system, so that we can change the supply production?

Exercise ends: it made visible what are the limits to growth of GMO from different perspectives




Questions:
How to manage to have cooperation at the different levels? How to be effective in working at city, national, global level?