Urgent deceleration in times of fascist takeover: Postcarbon democracy and procedural climate justice in, from and for Pödelwitz

Abstract (English)

Pödelwitz is a village at the heart of the energy transition in the central German mining district. It was saved from devastation because local residents and climate activist resisted the planned expansion of the neighboring lignite mine. From this resistance emerged the civil society association Pödelwitz hat Zukunft which advocates for a just, democratic and sustainable transformation of the village and region, during Germany’s ongoing energy transition. However, this project is caught in a double-bind, since political concepts which should guide this energy transition, like democracy, are inherently intertwined with fossil energy (Chakrabarty 2009; Mitchell 2009; Boyer 2014). In this paper, I explore what political forms emerge from the energy transition in and around Pödelwitz, drawing on field-philosophical research with the civil society association.

Central to the governance of energy transition in Germany is participation, however, Pödelwitz showcases the limits of the concept: it often amounts only to Scheinbeteiligung [fictitious participation] which should either legitimize technocratic decisions or serves as political tactic to delay material changes. I argue that participation in its current guise does not have the critical impetus to govern the energopolitical transition towards a postcarbon democracy. Indeed, the prospect of a carbon postdemocracy appears to be increasingly likely, especially in conjuncture with resurgence of antidemocratic and outright fascist politics, globally but also around Pödelwitz (Dagget 2018; Blühdown 2018; Malm 2021).

In response to this critical analysis, I then present conceptual innovations as well as practical interventions from and for Pödelwitz. The association governs itself sociocratically, by grassroot and consent-based decision-making and after a successful run for city during the 2024 elections, we are also trying to implement municipalist principles in the region (Russel 2018). As our experience shows, sociocracy and municipialism are slow and, at times, tedious modes of decision-making, which is precisely why they are well suited to govern the energy transition away from fossil energy: If “democratic politics developed, thanks to oil, with a peculiar orientation towards the future: the future was a limitless horizon of growth” as Timothy Mitchell (2009, 422 ) argues, then the temporality of postcarbon democracy urgently requires deceleration as we are rapidly encroaching planetary boundaries. As such, they constitute procedural climate justice for decarbonizing democracy and towards degrowth. Yet, at the same, time there are lingering concerns how to cope with the pace at which fascist movements are dismantling political and civic institutions. I will conclude by reflecting on these issues and proposing antifascism as a crucial vector for climate justice in Pödelwitz and beyond.