Small Gggrowth 2025 – 23 x 30 x 26cm, latex, stone, spray paint, photograph, sheet plastic, wire, acrylic paint,
The cost of western governments economic obsession with ‘growth’ is tailored for corporate capture of the state. Rachel Reeves has refused permission for the National Audit Office to investigate England’s 48 SEZ’s and 8 Freeports despite a damning report from the House of Commons Committee in April 2024, citing lack of transparency, questions over value for taxpayers money, and ignoring of the Nolan principles. Deregulated free zones are complex harbingers of right-wing experimental approaches to corporate governance, they represent the most aggressive incursions into public infrastructure, they embody the myth of trickle down economics.
The degrowth movement is a global socio-economic and ecological philosophy and activist framework that advocates for a deliberate reduction in economic growth, particularly in wealthy nations, as a means to achieve sustainability, social equity, and human well-being. Degrowth emphasises redistributing wealth and resources through policies like universal basic income (UBI), shorter working hours, and universal public services. We can no longer prioritise corporate profit over community well-being, which has proven completely unsustainable as the last 45+ years have shown. The regulation and reining in of capitalism’s excesses is more urgent than ever before. We must build a system of egalitarian social governance that fairly balances wage share and profit share of GDP so that everyone benefits, not just those at the top.