Decolonial Degrowth and the Colonial Origins of the Climate Crisis: A Case for a Degrowth As Reparations

Degrowth Communist Kohei Sato sounds the alarm over continuously rising greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures, both of which are driven by likewise growing economies across the globe. The answer, he argues, is slowing down this growth as soon as possible, and adopting principles that Marx wanted to see in communist society. But how does this degrowth imperative affect underdeveloped countries, given both the relative carbon footprint of their economies and the actual conditions in which their citizens live? In this paper, I propose a decolonial reading of degrowth that views the degrowth imperative as primarily a form of ecological reparations from the global north. I contend that degrowth must not just be a forward-looking solution, but reparations for centuries of extractionist policies that have, on one hand, allowed for their ecological devastation-backed growth, while also, on the other hand, systematically reinforcing the underdevelopment in the global south. This understanding of degrowth emphasizes the primacy of degrowth in the global north, while pointing out that when the growth motive slows down in the metropoles, the tireless need for production in satellites naturally slows as well, while also allowing for production in the satellites to actually go towards addressing underdevelopment. I further contend that while the degrowth imperative is immediate for the global north, degrowth will first require genuine growth in the global south to allow for the severing of imperialist ties and the eventual establishment of sustainable degrowth communism. Overall, I argue that degrowth must be, in the final analysis, an anti-imperialist endeavor. I end with the recognition that these reparations will not be freely given by the goodwill of imperialist hearts, which creates an imperative for degrowth theorists, wherever they are, to ally themselves with the struggle of the global south against the current constellation of imperialist relations.