the economy through massive public investment in renewable energy and social infrastructures with material security and democratic control in companies and institutions is: So far, there has been too little discussion of how the rapid dismantling of ecologically destructive industries and the fundamental turning away from the growth paradigm could look in real terms.[13] In the case of Ocasio-Cortez, the debate on a Green New Deal is not yet over.

In the case of Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders in the U.S. or Jeremy Corbyn in the U.K., there were electoral reasons for this, in addition to possibly existing illusions in the Keynesian welfare-state tradition - after all, they appeared in the broader media public as hard-to-elect radicals anyway. Their mobilization, which was impressive in many respects and was also supported by powerful social movements such as Sunrise and Momentum, is in shambles in view of the latest election results.

And the situation has just changed fundamentally with Corona. "Degrowth" is now being brutally enforced, whereby - beyond the consequences of the shutdown - the contradictions of the global economy built up since the 2008 crisis are also being unloaded. It is therefore necessary to go a step further and put on the agenda the general reorientation towards a social governance of the economy along basic social needs and international solidarity.

This requires hard struggles, for instance starting from far-reaching expropriation and redistribution demands. So far, such things have seemed unrealistic - at least here, in the heart of the beast. But this beast is now writhing in intensive care, and the authoritarian-nationalist or even fascist troops, who have long since oriented themselves strategically much more consistently than the left toward such a breaking moment, are sharpening their hooves. In this situation, only the flight forward will help.

Published in LuXemburg Online, Online Dossier on the Corona Crisis

Notes

[1] Cf. EU Commission President von der Leyen on 20.3.2020 on Deutschlandfunk: http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/eu-kommissionspraesidentin-von-der-leyen-wir-erleben-einen.694.de.html?dram:article_id=472924

[2] Cf. Max Haiven: No return to normal: for a post-pandemic liberation: roarmag.org/essays/no-return-to-normal-for-a-post-pandemic-liberation/

3] On the incipient debate about the delimitation of such areas, see Thomas Sablowski: ifg.rosalux.de/2020/03/23/what-is-necessary-work-and-who-decides-on-this/

4] Cf. on this very pointedly Verena Kreilinger and Christian Zeller: http://www.oekosoz.org/2020/03/corona-pandemie-eine-historische-wende/

5] Cf. also Kate Aronoff on 3/18/2020 in The New Republic: newrepublic.com/article/156962/green-jobs-answer-coronavirus-recession

[6] See, for example, Panagiotis Sotiris' critique of Agamben on the initially embarrassingly ignorant downplaying of the pandemic, even in left-wing circles: http://www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/ist-eine-demokratische-biopolitik-moeglich/

[7] This would also give new practical relevance to the debates about a participatory labor policy "from below" as part of an economic-democratic strategy that re-emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, especially in IG Metall (see Detje, Richard/Sauer, Dieter: Vom Kopf auf die Füße stellen. Für eine arbeitspolitische Fundierung wirtschaftsdemokratischer Perspektiven, in: Fricke, Werner/Wagner, Hilde (eds.): Demokratisierung der Arbeit. New Approaches to Humanization and Economic Democracy, VSA:Verlag, Hamburg 2012, pp. 55-86).

8] Cf. for example Fridays for Future Berlin: fridaysforfuture.berlin/event/solidaritaetstreik-mit-den-beschaeftigten-im-gesundheitswesen/

9] Cf. Rob Wallace: amerika21.de/analyse/238220/coronavirus-and-agriculture-industry

[10] Cf. for example the initiative for the development of a climate plan from below: gerechte1komma5.de/

[11] Cf. on the critique of the concept of the "imperial way of life" by Brand/Wissen, often used in these circles, for example Stefanie Hürtgen: http://www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/das-noerdliche-wir-gibt-es-nicht/ as well as Guido Speckmann: http://www.akweb.de/ak_s/ak652/21.htm; on the chances of an emancipatory appropriation of digital technologies for a democratic control of the economy cf. Simon Schaupp and Georg Jochum: http://www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/die-steuerungswende/

12] On the Green New Deal from a Marxist perspective, see Jan Rehmann: http://www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/ein-plan-fuer-alle-faelle-der-green-new-deal-als-sozial-oekologisches-hegemonieprojekt/

[13] Further approaches to this can be found in political proposals for the conversion of the automobile industry as part of a comprehensive mobility turnaround towards the expansion of local public transport, cf. Bernd Riexinger: "Ein linker Green New Deal. For a Mobility Turnaround and a Social, Ecological and Democratic Transformation of the Auto Industry."