The elephant in the city: debt brake, austerity and decaying infrastructure

StadtWERKSTATT

The scarcity of funding is a cross-cutting issue between movements for social issues and for climate justice. Private investment alone is insufficient and leads to the privatization of public goods, which limits their accessibility. Public finances remain the key to ensuring the well-being of all. However, the debt brake creates an artificial climate of austerity in which different social movements are played off against each other in the competition for public funds.

However, public funding is rarely discussed seriously by the general public. Our workshop therefore includes a concise introduction to public funding mechanisms and the common challenges for social movements. The debt brake limits government debt - the other name for public financing. In practical terms, this means that the infrastructure must generate sufficient revenue for the common good in order to be "self-sustaining" or even profitable. Hospitals are threatened with closure, for example, and poorer cities could try to sell off social housing or gentrify in order to generate more municipal tax revenue. The paralysis of local politics, privatization and dilapidated public infrastructure are the consequences.

Given the need to change the rules of public funding, this workshop invites you to develop demands and leverage points together to free up the public resources needed for the good of all.