Last week was a historic week for the degrowth movement in the Netherlands. Professor Jason Hickel, one of the most prominent figures of the global degrowth movement, addressed Dutch Parliament during a special hearing on the 8th of March. This was the first time ever a degrowth thinker was invited on the national political stage. National representatives from Parties across the political spectrum attended the hearing, including from VVD, CDA, CU, D66, Volt, PvdA and PvdD and GroenLinks.
The hearing was organized by Commons Network together with GroenLinks, as part of our initiative to set up a special working group for members of parliament and the senate for strengthening postgrowth thinking within Dutch politics.
Prior to the hearing, Professor Hickel and Commons Network met in the House of Representatives with several MPs active in the Postgrowth Intergroup to discuss how the degrowth paradigm relates to the Dutch political context.
Professor Hickel’s visit to Dutch Parliament was covered on the national radio, in Trouw; in NRC and in the national evening news as well as on NOS.
For questions about the Postgrowth Intergroup or about Professor Hickel’s visit to The Hague, please send an email to winne [@] commonsnetwork.org.
To find out more about degrowth, check out this book we published last year, this podcast in which we were interviewed about the book, or this series of blogs.