Philosophical walk on degrowth

PILOT Degrowth course – Can Decreix – Project GROWL 16-21 MAY 2014

SATURDAY MAY 17: 11h Can Decreix – 18h Portbou

Degrowth pathways: ways to comprehend and experience degrowth

11.00 Starting point: Can Decreix

11.00-11.30 Kicking-off with the local context – from voluntary simplicity to well-being. Presentation of the ideas of

Radical monopoly (Illich), Critics of technology (Ellul)  washing machine,

Claudio Cattaneo & Sylvain Fisher

and simple life (Thoreau) Vignes, Jean Labourgade

Presentation of the Limits to growth, & peak ALL (while look of the four-wheel goods, travelling from France to Spain and vice versa).  Presentation of Meadows, Roegen.

Ecology I: presentation de Odum

11.45 – 11.40 Walk to the upper neighbourhood

11.40 – 12.00 Inequality and social comparison: Presentation of social comparison theory of Hirsch and happiness (Easterlin). Hacienda – Filka Sekulova & Giorgos Kallis Q & A.

12.00-12.15 Walk to hotel Belvedere

12.15 – 12.40 Critics of development Latouche, Escobar and MAUSS. Federico Demaria. Q & A.

12.40 – 12.50 Walk to the train station

12.50 – 13.10 Deepening democracy. Presentation of the writings of Castoriadis, Graeber and Fotopolous. Q & A. Christos Zografos & Panos Petritis

Group split in slow (A) and fast (B).

Slow group takes train to Portbou/ or walks slowly to Portbou (depending on group mood)

Fast group walks to Porbou.

13.30 – 14.30 Group A – walks to the beach of Portbou for picnic (on train or foot). Imagining the walk of Walter Benjamin. Joan Martinez Alier : Machado, Karl Polanyi :  Federico Demaria. Paul Lafarge. Open to more participants;

13.10 – 14.00 Group B – Imagining the walk of Walter Benjamin.  Walks through the ‘contrabandista’ trail, stops at the border and listens to a small presentation on ‘open localism’ by Francois Schneider. Arne Naess, deep ecology. Marie Renault.

Presentation de André Gorz . Open to more participants;

14.00 – 14.30 Group B arrives at the beach of Porbou

14.30 – 15.50 Picnic and reflection on the heavy philosophical food swollen in the last three hours

16.00 Portbou – at the Memorial Passagen, Dani Karavan art piece

17.00 Introduction by Joan Martinez Alier. A presentation by Eduardo Maura Zorita. Is Walter Benjamin a precursor of degrowth?