Roundtable & Assembly on Open-Localisation

Alternative to globalisation or closure (we want neither indirect nor direct barbarity!).

Everybody is invited to intervene on this important theme.

Society is closing : closed borders or doors, accusations of immigrants, votes for anti-immigrants parties. People want to « preserve their lifestyles » supposedly to defend their culture. But isn't it about preserving consumption patterns ? Consumer lifestyles are simulteously promoted and made inaccessible for the rest of the world. These patterns are violent in an indirect way : by appropriation of ressources, exploitation and military interventions. We invite contributions denouncing the barbarity of market universalism. But also denouncing the violence related to closure for goods or for people and in people's minds and more generally the direct barbarity. Closure can be a way to retain privileges. Some critics to growth have been embracing position in favour of closure. We need to make very clear that this is not the position of degrowth. We call for the alternative, away from both indirect or direct barbarity. We want to develop alternatives that are neither based on hegemony, neither on closure. Let us call it open-localisation. The alternative involves localisation : being connected with our direct environment, it is about simpler systems. It is about levels of consumption that would make cooperation possible. It involves communities of projects, with identities based on dialogue. It involves fighting large scale and fast transport infrastructure, to favour slow and free travel for people without discrimination, where hospitality emerges as an important counterpart.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „Open-localisation for degrowth“ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.