Matthias Schmelzer speaks in Marburg on “Growth, Property, Way of Life: On the Political Economy of Socio-Ecological Transformation Conflicts”
Heat waves and wildfires make the climate crisis visible, yet conflicts over the transformation are intensifying. In Marburg, Matthias Schmelzer analyzes the economic causes and asks what an antifascist transformation policy beyond growth could look like.
Heat waves, wildfires and water scarcity make the climate crisis increasingly hard to ignore in Europe as well. Nevertheless, conflicts over the transformation remain intense, for example over the Heating Act (Heizungsgesetz), wind power or cars. Authoritarian and fascist tendencies exacerbate them.
Schmelzer asks what lies behind this conflict, which solutions are being proposed and which contradictions they reveal. He puts the economic causes at the center, including the fixation on growth among large parts of the political class, and discusses what an antifascist transformation policy beyond growth could look like.
The lecture, followed by a discussion, takes place on 16 November 2026 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm in the Historic Town Hall Hall (Historischer Rathaussaal) in Marburg (2nd floor). It is part of the lecture series “Conflicts in the Present and Future” organized by the Centre for Conflict Studies and the University Town of Marburg, and is aimed at the interested public.