Degrowth emerges as a popular umbrella term drawing on numerous political traditions. Anarchism, along with Marxism and feminism, remains a dominant influence inspired by numerous anti-authoritarian traditions, many emanating from Indigenous practice and critique (Graeber & Wengrow, 2022). Meanwhile degrowth values, such as autonomy, care, conviviality, democracy, and equity (Barlow et al., 2022), remain the foundations of anarchist and anti-authoritarian practices. Whilst anarchist influences are widely recognized within degrowth (D'Alisa et al., 2014; Toro, 2017,2021; Treu et al., 2020; Barlow et al., 2022; Gorostiza, 2023; Sheorey, 2023), this connection remains underwritten and in need of further intellectual and practical development. Acting as a general conceptual container—advocating for a reduction of material and energy throughput—degrowth tends towards influencing public policy and statism. From 530 degrowth proposals, Fitzpatrick and colleagues (2022:10) find “that three-quarters of degrowth policy proposals were top-down with a national focus.” This ‘top-down’ focus tends to diverge from degrowth values, and its affinity with anarchism and, arguably, sets itself up for cooptation for capitalist advancement and authoritarian control. Scholars criticize this statism within degrowth (Toro, 2021); its failure to acknowledge (or include) combative autonomous rural (Dunlap, 2020) and urban struggles (Dunlap, 2021a) within degrowth literature. However, even in instances of acknowledging squatting as a legitimate method of struggle (Cattaneo, 2013), there is a tendency toward legalization and statist integration that is recognized (Salmansperger, 2023). Therefore, the influence and potential of anarchism within degrowth has yet to be realized, for which a call for papers has been published that seeks to explore and remedy this.
Based on this call for papers, our proposed special session at the ESEE-Degrowth conference aims to serve as a space of greeting, congregation and exchanging to advance thinking around anarchy and degrowth. Anarchy, as opposed to anarchism (GA, 2005; Anonymous 2013), seeks to go beyond the formal ideology of anarchism, instead to extend this to focusing on the spirit of revolt (Bakunin, 1990) and anarchist tension (Bonanno, 1998) that extends beyond its limiting ideological confines. This speaks to the general anti-authoritarian tension long rooted in numerous peoples’ practices (Indigenous, Roma and others), that extends past the Enlightenment, colonial and modernist shortcoming within anarchism (Dunlap, 2021b). The CFPs seeks to explore the pluriverse of what could be called ‘degrowth practices,’ which exemplify degrowth values, as they intersect with anti-authoritarian and anarchistic practices. Furthermore, by drawing on anarchist traditions, this panel (and special issue) aims to stretch degrowth into new territories such as its practices beyond/against-borders, state repression and policing to enhance degrowth as a counterforce to statism and capitalism. Submissions on following themes are encouraged:
- Case studies of how anarchistic practices promote degrowth values;
- How anarchism advances degrowth practices (or praxis);
- Anarchist and/or anti-authoritarian perspectives on degrowth;
- Anti-authoritarian methods of accomplishing/living/practicing degrowth;
- Revolt, resurgence, renewal: lessons from grassroots struggles for degrowth;
- Points of contestation (and resolution) between degrowth/anarchism;
- Anti-authoritarian/anarchist imaginations, projections and scenarios of degrowth futures—describing and outlining possibilities to live degrowth and subvert socioecological and climate catastrophe (see for example Gelderloos, 2022, Chapter 5: A Truly Different Future).
- Degrowth strategies for engaging the state and socioecological transformations
As the proposed panel at the ESEE-Degrowth Conference 2024 is organized to support the development of a special issue on Anarchy and Degrowth for the Degrowth Journal, the session will follow a conventional panel with short presentations by the presenters (4-6). Afterwards, the floor will be open for an engaged discussion with the audience. This mixture allows for a fruitful exchange and will be chaired by the two organisers, Alexander Dunlap and Josephine Becker.