Learning for change: Work, life and policy - transformative ideas on basic income
Basic income as a panel discussion brings together students, researcher and believers that the idea of basic income is more tangible than the world thinks. According to one of the panelists, basic income is ‘’unconditional’’ and a platform on how to live. This idea, that is considered very simple, brings into discussion ethics, philosophy, politics and complex human-to-human relations.
But this topic is not only about social innovation, is about how to convince society that basic income can be beneficial and how to also include politicians, institutions and administrators in the conversation.
Internet activism, referendums and even experimentations are only a few examples on how the infrastructures of basic income have been developed and even advocated for.
The first round of the panel discussion focuses on the obstacles encountered when providing evidence to the established policy system regarding basic income (BI)- what kind of evidence do you need to present to have a discussion going and what counts as evidence to pre-established institutions?
The Basic Income Earth Network is a good example on how the idea of BI has become universal. Nevertheless, in the Netherlands alone half of the populations agrees that there should be a BI (and this is an evolution since in the 90’s the popularity of BI was on the mere 20%). But the practicalities of implementing such an idea is challenging- taxes or even contributions are considered, nevertheless, the pre-established belief systems that these ideas encounter might be the biggest obstacles to the implementation of the BI system. Storytelling is a part of the solution- connect the receivers of BI with those who contribute to it and hopefully a sense of solidarity can be slowly created.
Contributions are considered, nevertheless, the pre-established belief systems that these ideas encounter might be the biggest obstacles to the implementation of the BI system. Storytelling is a part of the solution- connect the receivers of BI with those who contribute to it and hopefully a sense of solidarity can be slowly created. But how can these stories be told and how can you convince people to commit to the idea of BI? That is the main focus of the second round of panel discussion.One of the panelists explains how his organisation created a card system implemented in which you are able to collect points, based on the idea that a BI society can be tangible and used as a model of sustainable transition. On the other hand, even with such a wonderful initiative in place, another panelists arguments ''the idea of free money for everyone might be not so constructive on some areas'' and that the key for a sustainable social transition towards a BI society relies actually on how this idea is presented to policy makers, politicians but most importantly, society itself.
The last round of debate concludes with a note for the future- the panelists discuss if the movement for BI should become more concise and rely on organisation interply or if ‘’everyone should individually cook their own soup’’. In the lines of healthy inter-agreements, the panelists believe that cohesion is definitely better that dispersion, and that the movement relies on the interconnectivity between the different national and international organisations. The tone of the discourse is wonderfully hopeful- the panelists all coming from different organisations and groups firmly believe the movement is going global and will soon become up for discussion in many political agendas all across Europe and one day, across the whole world.
