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Assembling the puzzles

Even if degrowth struggles are often disconnected, it is hardly debatable that small changes are happening all over the world that can placed into an ever-increasing unified stream that provide us with a picture of a different social reproduction and culture. Puzzles in this picture each appear different from the other, each defined by its history, practitioners, thinkers and environment. However, when brought together, these puzzles comprise a clearer picture of an emergent social and economic construct within environmental limits and lifted from contingent misery. This conference is an attempt to bring together some of the puzzles.

Re-localizing the growth of degrowth movement                               green snail

In September 2016, the global degrowth community and global communities interested in degrowth will pause   to reflect, observe, exchange and discuss in Budapest. In addition they will also enjoy a convivial atmosphere and working environment. They will be joined by numerous communities around the globe sharing a moment with them.

Recently the degrowth movement was named the fastest growing movement in the world. Although there is, admittedly, a certain irony in having a growing movement for degrowth, this trend is inspiring. Yet, the conference will not strive to represent the global advance of the movement and its popularity. The conference will strive to re-localize the happening and bring the conference to different cities around the world with the combination of participatory IT tools and events in the real world. It will provide a nexus for parallel similar events in different locations around the world through collecting websites, contacts, and repository of outcomes (videos, publications, artwork). The conference will be a mix of sessions that aim at reaching out and embracing the interest for degrowth and sessions that provide a place for focused discussions and exchange of knowledge. The afternoon and evening events will be open for wider public. The programming will allow also for self-organised panel debates during the conference, whereby the participants will be able to invite particular speakers or respondents to take part in the panel debates on spontaneous topics. All the plenaries and evening talks will be broadcasted online (stream). The conference will also be used as an opportunity to publish books about degrowth in the region. The preparatory events and the conference itself will also give boost to translations of some of the mentioned works into other regional languages. A degrowth bookshop with book presentations will be organised during the conference.

Key themes of the conference                                                                                                                red snail

To respond to the challenges that the degrowth thought and movement are facing, the conference will be organised around the several cross-cutting themes, rather than disciplines. Description of the key themes can be found here.