After borders were closed and quarantines were organised, Anitra Nelson and Vincent Liegey see in the current health-crisis the opportunity to emphasize the democratic weaknesses of capitalist states.
While the political and economic ruling class advocates for emergency policies to save the economy and markets, they do not question the decades of neoliberal policies that led the health sectors to be under-resourced and unable to correctly answer the coronavirus crisis without a strict deprivation of freedom.
For the authors, the fact that governments refuse to change their growth-oriented policies whereas the inequalities are rising up, or to respond to the population demanding radical action to tackle climate change is a proof that we reached the limits of representative democracy.
Anitra and Vincent explains how Degrowth formations succeeded in facing the crisis thanks to their values of self-organisation, cooperation and autonomy. But above all, they underline the reasons why the archipelago of Degrowth initiatives is already showing itself able to solve both democratic and environmental issues.