Here is the text and the exercices concerning the social dimension
of agroecology presented in the belgian course in november 2014
Namur, Vevy-Weron, Wednesday 12 Nov - 11h30
Do we need to focus on the local or rather on the global level? Shall we better work from inside the system or shall we develop disobedience and oppositions to existing institutions? Is the key problem a cultural one or a physical one? Is it speed or is it money that needs to be limited? Shall we go into practice or into research? Or is it rather activism that is needed?
These are some of the key challenges faced by degrowth. Two approaches are possible there. Either one person believes that s-he detains the "right way of acting" and needs to convince others of the superiority of his or her approach. This is what we call the “mono-thinking”. Or one will believe that we require simply a multiplicity of approaches: multilevel, multi-strategy, multi-themes, multi-limits etc.
We will here support a third option: the “inter-thinking”, the idea that we do not simply need a multiplicity of approaches but rather a constructive dialogue between many approaches. We do not just need “diversity”, but what some Caribbean poets have call the “diversel”, or the pluriversal, some kind of universality that comes from the "bottom", conjugating a variation of world views, perspectives, angles… a fructuous dialogue between all the visions.
This is nowhere easy.
Let us work on this little game of “degrowth approaches”. The game of the 5 families.
There is no single definition of degrowth, degrowth is a concept to make alliances in diversity.
Steps
0- Identification of groups with small papers
1- Formal presentation with feedback from participants
2- Collective dynamics
3- Identification of problems with the mono-thinking - Each participants defends the perspective assigned.
4- Identification of problems with the multi-thinking - Participants try to give voice to all perspective.
5- Initiation of inter-thinking with building of "diversal stories"
6- Reporting
Strategies to transform towards a sustainable planet
- Opposition: Campaigns against land grabs campaigns against subsidies towards coal and nuclear power plants, campaigns against global trade agreements. Campaigns can also bring awareness in people that there is something wrong in the current existing system, like: planned obselence (eg: mobiles). It also provokes thought's on the common people about the threat to human civilizations.
- Alternatives: Establish sustainable practices like: urban/community (organic) gardening, waste management to produce local energy and manure, car sharing, repair café’s, time banks and alternative local currency. These alternatives are essential to show the other memebers of the community that we can live in a more sustainable and also build local relations within communities. The alternatives are also important while carrying out the campaigns against modern industrial systems and also they give stregth and support to have a political diaolge.
- Reformism: utilize the existing capitalist structures like: renewable energies, transportation and communication to establish resilient local societies with a global view. Utilize the existing democratic structure and banking system (To establish not for profit banks whose core focus is on community development, rather then investments in oil extraction)