by Yannick Vanderborght | Jul 8, 2012 | News
Eric Mutch is running a fancy campaign for the next Mayor elections of Bristol (England), in an attempt of raising attention on the basic income.
“My name is Corrupt. Corrupt self serving lying thieving Bastard, and I’m a candidate in the Bristol Mayor elections.” This is how Eric Mutch introduces himself. And his leitmotiv his pretty simple as well: “If I am elected, I promise I will give every citizen of Bristol a basic income of 15,000 pounds, in a local currency. Vote for me and you’ll get the money!” he says in a video on his website, exhibiting bundles of notes to the camera.
For sure, when you come across Eric Mutch’s speech on the internet, you may think this is a farce. However, this 46 years old married father, café worker and dancing teacher, is only half-joking.
As one of the 10 biggest cities of UK, people of Bristol were given the opportunity to decide by referendum whether they should elect directly their mayor or keep it being chosen by other elected councilors. As a result of the polls, elections are set to be held on November 15th.
There are two reasons why Eric is running it: “Initially, I just wanted to make a statement about politicians”, Eric says. “I wanted to give people a means of protesting against the politicians, by giving my name as a choice for saying ‘no’ to the other candidates, if for instance, they think they are all corrupt self serving lying thieving bastards!”
But eventually he found a second motivation: “I though that this election would be a great opportunity to promote one single policy that I have been advocating for long: a basic income guarantee, funded in a local currency.”
How would it work? “I’m not a specialist”, Eric admits. But he has some ideas though. “I want to distribute it through a local currency so that the money simply doesn’t go away. It should remain in the local economy”, he explains.
Good news for him, a local currency already exists in Bristol. Since the beginning of the year, a local credit union has launched the “Bristol pound”. The project is even backed by the British financial authorities, which guarantee parity with the official pound. “That would make things easier to build it upon that project”, Eric Mutch reckons.
The other part of the funding would be done through the implementation of a local sales tax. “Because every single transaction would be taxed, you only need a small rate of taxation. As far as I read, something like 2 or 3 percent would do it. Possibly even less.” he argues.
More than rational arguments and scientific proves, his campaign aims at raising attention on the idea of the basic income.
“The whole point of my campaign is about the name”, Eric explains. “I will officially change my name so that people will notice it in the polling booth. Hopefully, some of them will vote for me by despair or anger against the politics – and get to know about the basic income on the way.”
“Of course, people might just think it’s a joke and won’t pay attention. That’s a double-edged sword. But without the name change, I would be no one.” he thinks.
“Whether they think it’s a bad idea or not, I would be happy anyway if the basic income becomes more known as an important issue”, Eric claims. Yet his campaign gave him several opportunities to discuss basic income with other parties.
What if he wins? “Yes! I would love to win!” he exclaims. “I have no illusions, though. The mayor has no official power to implement something like a basic income. Except maybe if he is elected on the exact purpose of doing it?”
To read more about Eric “Corrupt” Mutch’s campaign to go:
https://corruptbstard.wordpress.com/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Jul 7, 2012 | Research
In this article, in the Turkish Internet journal called Mavi Defter (which translates as “Blue Notebook”), Yuksel Akkaya argues that even the politicians who speak on the side of basic income are not ready to spend enough money to support it. He further stresses that “humanists” always try to find solutions to social problems. Those “humanists” always tried to arbitrate the failing regimes, and by doing so became the creators of even worse social and living conditions for ordinary people.
Akkaya says that as controversially it might seem, both leftists and rightists support basic income. According to them, in order for basic income to work, it needs to be supported by the market and not by the public. They argue that if it will be supported by the market, it will be more rational. Supporting it any other way would be “populist” and one needs to avoid that. Basic income liberalists claim that the best way is to give everyone basic income, but cut on social expenditures. That way public has no right to complain as they are already getting a basic income. According to these liberalists, the taxation system can also be simplified. Simplified for whom? Asks Akkaya. For industrialists? They are already not paying much. In the history of capitalism, the flexibility and the mobility of capitalist market always benefited privileged few tells the author. In the next part of this article, Akkaya will look at the other side of the coin.
“Temel Gelir versus Kapitalism (mi?) II” (Is Basic Income against Capitalism I). “Mavi Defter” (Blue Notebook).
Akkaya, Y. (2012). Is basic income against capitalism ii. Mavi Defter, online at: https://www.mavidefter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:temel-gelir-versus-kapitalizm-mi-ii&catid=58:yukselakkaya&Itemid=96
by Yannick Vanderborght | Jul 5, 2012 | News
The latest issue (17) of the online magazine Europe & Me includes an interview with Philippe Van Parijs. Entitled “No conditions attached”, it focuses on basic income as a way to achieve social justice in Europe. As Van Parijs puts it: “Basic Income on a European level is a utopia. But so was the single currency and so was the European Union. We need to realise this utopia to make the utopia we’ve already realised survive.”
The interview is online at: https://www.europeandme.eu/17brain/952-unconditional-basic-income
by Yannick Vanderborght | Jul 3, 2012 | Research
In this article, in the Turkish Internet journal called Mavi Defter, Yuksel Akkaya argues that basic income is seen as a method to fight against capitalism and poverty. This article is the first in the series of three. Basic income is something that questions the value of capitalism and can be seen in the light of income of citizenship. Akkaya further explores how basic income could be seen as a counter attack of current social welfare system. Coming from that point, he divides the social welfare into three historical waves. The first wave occurred in Germany, at the end of the nineteenth century, when workers’ union emerged as a functional unit by creating an insurance system. The second wave came into existence in the United Kingdom as a Beveridge model, after the end of the World War II. This era saw the creation of welfare system that became financed through taxation. Finally, basic income has a big potential of becoming a third important, historical wave. However, the author writes that basic income is something that is beyond the social welfare system. Many want to shape it as a political entity that works against the rules of capitalism. Basic income reminds Akkaya of Grendrisse of Karl Marx. The reason for such a conclusion, argues the author, is the way basic income functions. Basic income finances population not according to the amount of work one does, but according to the total production of a nation. Is that possible? The author tries to answer this question in his next article.
Akkaya, Y. (2012, June 18). Temel gelir versus capitalism (mi?) I is online at:
https://www.mavidefter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:temel-gelir-versus-kapitalizm-mi-i-&catid=58:yukselakkaya&Itemid=96
by Yannick Vanderborght | Jun 26, 2012 | News
In a lengthy documentary about the European Union, the Belgium French-speaking TV Channel RTBF reported on the European Citizen’s Initiative on basic income, which is about to be launched. The report includes an interview with Philippe Van Parijs, and a discussion with Belgian citizens who are actively involved in the preparation of the initiative, such as Pierre-Yves Ryckaert.
The video is available at: https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/dossier/l-europe-et-vous/detail_c-est-ca-l-europe?id=7793725
Discussion of basic income initiative starts at 29’44”
