28th January 2024
**UPDATE** We have since left the International Degrowth Network. Click here to read the statement that was written on 4th June 2024.
We have joined the International Degrowth Network, a network of organisations, activists, researchers, practitioners, educators, and artists committed to degrowth.
A few years ago, groups of degrowthers explored the idea of a decentralised international network that would “move beyond the academic sphere” and “establish stronger strategic alliances with movements that are engaged in similar struggles – and we recognise and wholly support this ethos.
The degrowth movement has suffered from its overly academic approach and failure to adopt class-perspectives in their efforts – the WCCA reminds people that the class struggle does not just exist at the aggregate: it is not just a struggle between the global populace and bourgeoise, it is also a struggle between the working and middle class and we urge people who remain resistant to this idea to educate themselves on working class history. Overcoming tensions between the classes is a fundamental towards building a mass movement capable of progressive change. It also provides scope for people to reflect upon their class privileges – something that we rarely see in the public domain.
What gives us hope is how open the IDN is to critically reflecting upon the movement’s shortcomings as well as their strengths. This is a continuous process that everyone – even us, must be prepared to do in order to make progress.
The WCCA does not ascribe to any one alternative to the current system – we are not officially a degrowth organisation, as a democratic mass movement will emerge from a diverse array of approaches and ways of seeing the world. We look forward to working with such a lovely bunch of people who have only ever shown kindness in everything that they do.
The WCCA 