Back from Leipzig “Alliances for degrowth between Global North and South

After an amazing experience at the 4^International Conference on Degrowth in Leipzig, Germany, we would like to share with you some contributions to the debates. Please check below the videos and comments from some of the panels.

Panel “Alliances for degrowth between Global North and South” – Day 3 (4/9/2014, 11am)

In recent debates about Degrowth people agreed with the motivations and proposals of the Degrowth debate. However, the situation of the so-called ‘Global South’ is not clear in this debate. Besides the question ‘What is the Global South?’, which perhaps should also be a part of the debate, this panel provided several perspectives on Degrowth as a compelling proposal for a globalized emancipation, including both Northern and Southern experiences. In particular, and following the outline proposed by the chair,  Prof. Ulrich Brand (Vienna University), the speakers contributed to respond the following questions:

1. What does the Degrowth proposal mean for struggles in the Global south? Does it resonate? Does it give common ground to existing struggles in the South?
2. Does the Degrowth perspective have the potential to create alliances between emancipatory actors in the global North and in the Global South?
3. Can the struggles in the Global South intensify the Degrowth perspectives in the global North?

The panel counted with the participation of the R&D member Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos (Autonomous University of Barcelona), deputy coordinator of the EJOLT project (www.ejolt.org), the Indian scholar Ashish Kothari (Kalpavriksh), active in the discussions about the Convention on Biological Diversity and Alberto Acosta (FLACSO Ecuador), former President of the Constitutional Assembly and former Ministry of Energy and Mining in Ecuador. The contents of the panel included:

–          Introductory speech by the chair and introduction of speakers (0:04:13-0:10:42 min)

–          Presentation by Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos (0:10:45- 0:25:28 min)

–          Presentation by Ashish Kothari (0:25:50-0:42:16 min)

–          Presentation by Alberto Acosta (0:42:52-0:55:56)

–          Q&A (0:56:13-2:13:20)