The group Basic Income Los Angeles has lately been producing short videos to spread awareness of basic income.
One feature interviews homeless individuals in LA’s Skid Row — a neighborhood known for its large homeless population — about what they would do with a basic income. Another highlights the benefits of a basic income for sufferers of domestic violence, many of whom are trapped in abusive relationships due to financial necessity.
Los Angeles has been recently active in the basic income movement, hosting a Create-a-Thon in April of this year. Democratic mayoral candidate Frantz Pierre, who has assisted with the production of the videos, is a supporter of basic income and has made it part of his policy agenda in the campaign.
Watch the videos here…
“Basic Income LA: What would a homeless person do with $1,500/month?“, YouTube; published on July 3, 2016.
“Basic Income: A Way Out of Domestic Violence“, YouTube; published on August 7, 2016.
Skid Row photo CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Gilbert Mercier
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
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A study conducted by Harvard found that 70% of domestic violence is female-on-male, and hundreds of other studies over the years have found similar results. Where’s the “way out of domestic violence” for these victims?
I fully support UBI, but I can’t support an organization that blatantly erases a huge portion of people in need like this. I can’t even begin to imagine why you would do it, but as an egalitarian and a humanitarian I’m frankly disgusted.
I don’t see Basic Income LA as presuming that a basic income is a panacea to end *all* domestic violence. However, insofar as victims are trapped in abusive relationships due to financial necessity, I think it’s reasonable to suppose that a basic income *would* provide a way out. And this would also apply to victims of female-on-male violence who are locked into a relationship out of financial reasons.
The audio on the first video is inaudible and not helped by the overly loud music. Do we really need music when videos such as these are supposed to be about getting a message across? Quiet background music is one thing, but this is overly loud and completely drowns out what the interviewees are saying, which is surely the point of the video. Fail!