Roundtable in Spanish Congress and panel discussion with civil society
On Friday 29th of November, Commons Network co-hosted a roundtable and a panel discussion about postgrowth in Madrid! It was an occasion to bring together members of Parliament from our Postgrowth pan-European network, and to learn from Spanish politics at a time when the rest of Europe is facing a conservative backlash.
Roundtable with MPs – How to organize work in a democratic post-growth economy?
In the morning, we were hosted by the Spanish green-left coalition SUMAR in the Spanish Congress. We brought together MPs from Spain, France, Croatia and Slovenia for a roundtable on post-growth approaches to work. In a growth-centered economy, environmental protection has too often come at the expense of workers protection. The post-growth perspective offers a way out of this dilemma, by putting forth policy tools that at the same time ensure dignified jobs for all and restructure our economy to respect planetary boundaries. UN Special Rapporteur Olivier de Schutter presented his research on postgrowth1, poverty and work, and Carlos Martin Urriza presented SUMAR’s policy of work time reduction.
We discussed what kind of political narratives about work, and its relation to life and care, are needed to unite progressive parties in Europe, as well as different policy proposals, such as the reduction of working-hours, the public job guarantee, and the Universal Basic Income.
Panel discussions – Postgrowth pathways: Changing course amidst climate crisis
In the evening, Commons Network and Corriente Calida hosted panel discussions at Circulo de Bellas Artes with academics, activists, as well as politicians from Spain and abroad. As the DANA floods hit Valencia and other regions in Spain, ecological breakdown and its unequal effects are becoming more palpable.
The first panel, moderated by our director Sophie Bloemen, explored what postgrowth could look like in practice. The speakers were Carlos Martin, Member of Spanish Parliament from the SUMAR coalition, Jelena Milos, Member of Croatian Parliament from the Mozemo! political platform, and activist Javier Andaluz from Ecologistas en Acción.
The second panel, moderated by José Luis Rodríguez Gutiérrez from Corriente Calida, zoomed in on the recent Spanish climate disaster, the DANA floods, its socio-economic impacts and the political discourse around it. It featured Basque activist Gorka Laurnaga from Jauzi Ekosoziala, Mar Gonzalez, Member of Spanish Parliament from Verdes Equo/SUMAR, and catalan researcher in Environmental Economics María Victoria Román de Lara.
Upcoming publications on postgrowth
As part of the Postgrowth pan-European network project, Commons Network and Oxfam Novib are developing a series of ‘Explainers’ on postgrowth, zooming in on different policy areas. We aim to make the knowledge exchanged in our events accessible and concrete, to create systemic change. In the upcoming Explainer on Work, we will delve deeper into post-growth approaches to work, and share insights on strategy and policies for reorganizing work around social wellbeing and planetary boundaries. These ‘Explainers’ will be published in the spring, so stay tuned on our website and social media!
- Reports of the UN SR Olivier de Schutter: “The employment guarantee as a tool in the fight against poverty” (2023), “Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth” (2024), “The working poor: a human rights approach to wages” (2023). ↩︎