François Schneider Monday 3rd July, 12.00-13.30, Cerbère At last presidencial elections half of Cerbère voters chose to support Le Pen against Macron (but 30% voted Melenchon/Hamon, extreme left, at the first round). Traditionally working class, half the village is now supporting extreme right which develops more and more a discourse against “big finances” quite similar…
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Direct democracy and autonomy:
Mobilising the past for transforming the present. The case of the 1871 Paris Commune Christos Zografos Monday 3rd July, 10.00-11.30, Cerbère In this class, we will introduce the concept of direct democracy and its relevance for degrowth. Furthermore, we will discuss the importance of a renowned case of direct, popular self-rule, namely the 1871 Paris…
Visit to Can Masdéu
Claudio Cattaneo Saturday 1st July, 18.30-22.00, Can Masdéu A presentation of Can Masdéu as an illustration of degrowth/environmental justice ideas in practice The focus of this article is on rural–urban (rurban) squatting. The article explains how and why semiautonomous, small scale, collective economic systems have been established on the Barcelona hills of Collserola which a…
Toxic Tour in Montcada
Thursday 29th June, 8.30-13.30, Montcada Bifurcació About the place The village of Montcada located on the fringes of Barcelona is an interesting sight to explore for the multiple conflicts it embodies. Firstly, the multinational cement factory Lafarge, is situated right in the centre of the urbanization, operational for several decades already. Secondly, the factory…
Radical Well-being Alternatives to Development
Ashish Kothari Wednesday 28th June, 10.00-11.30, ICTA-UAB Growing evidence of the ecological unsustainability and iniquitous nature of the current economic development model is prompting a search for alternatives. While various approaches to ‘green’ the economy are being suggested, these are often managerial or technofix-dependent, without fundamentally challenging the political, economic, and social structures that have…
Spaces of degrowth experimentation
Filka Sekulova Wednesday 28th June, 12.00-13.00, ICTA-UAB The emergence of community-based initiatives (CBIs) in the field of sustainability can be considered one of the unique responses to the deeper social, ecological, and economic crises of modernity. Whether considered a new or an old phenomenon, community initiatives are weaving a path which remains hidden from the…
Alternatives from resistances: mining
Bea Rodríguez-Labajos Tuesday 27th June, 12.00-13.30, ICTA-UAB The mining extraction frontier continues to expand worldwide. What is driving this expansion? For some, the fundamental factor is the change in metabolic profiles (in terms of energy and material flows) of high-demand countries. This is not only an intellectual question. Increased mineral consumption and extraction has triggered…
Ecological distribution conflicts: the EJAtlas
Joan Martínez-Alier Tuesday 26th June, 10.00-11.30, ICTA-UAB Concepts such as environmental racism, popular epidemiology, environmentalism of the poor and the indigenous, biopiracy or food sovereignty, and many others, serve to describe and participate in ecological distribution conflicts. They are conflicts related to the extraction and transport of resources and disposal of waste occurring worldwide, as…
Environmental justice: cities
Isabelle Anguelovski Monday 26th June, 12.00-13.30, ICTA-UAB Much of the extensive early literature on urban EJ examined inequities in exposure to contamination and health risks, highlighting that low-income and minority groups disproportionally suffer from toxic pollution or exposure. Recent studies have also demonstrated the unequal access by race and class to environmental goods, such as…
Degrowth – latest debates
Giorgos Kallis Monday 26th June, 10.00-11.30, ICTA-UAB I will introduce the understanding of the economy emerging from scholarship on degrowth, drawing from such diverse fields as economic anthropology, ecological and feminist economics, and Marxian and institutional political economy. The economy, I will argue, is an invention, which is political, material and diverse. The core economic…