NEC News

In an interview as part of the weekend focus on “Solidarity Society” in the daily newspaper nd, Matthias Schmelzer discusses the question of how a good life for all is possible without permanent economic growth. The article problematizes growth-oriented models and contrasts them with concepts of social security, public services, and ecological limits.

The interview emphasizes that social prosperity does not have to be linked to rising economic performance. At the end, Matthias Schmelzer sums up the current outlook: "I try to understand the current escalation not only as a crisis, but as a political crossroads. Precisely because ecological crises, rising living costs, and the shift to the right are coinciding, I am working on the concept of an anti-fascist transformation policy. The basic idea is simple but politically challenging: if climate policy increases the cost of living for poorer sections of the population or restricts their opportunities for participation, it provides authoritarian forces with the perfect field for mobilization. That is why I am following up on the proposals of economist Isabella Weber, who has shown that price stabilization, social security, and crisis prevention are central democratic protection mechanisms. For the ecological transformation, this means that it must provide material security—and it must be organized beyond growth, rather than further exacerbating social conflicts.

So it's about climate policy in a society that is not growing, which under no circumstances worsens the lives of poorer people?

Exactly. And that is not a moral add-on, but the political core. Anti-fascist transformation policy draws a clear red line where ecological policy undermines social participation. A transformation beyond growth can only succeed democratically if it creates material security instead of exacerbating insecurity. Because the so-called greenlash is an expression of real distribution and class conflicts. Policies that attempt to adhere to ecological limits without touching existing wealth and power relations are bound to fail. Anti-fascist transformation policy therefore shifts the focus away from further burdens on poorer households and toward structural restrictions where resource consumption and emissions are concentrated.

More information can be found in the original article.