A popular 5-minute introductory video on Basic Income, in English, is now online.
The video was originally made in Spanish, produced by Atxe, a Spanish artist, as a project for Red Renta Basica, the Spanish affiliation of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), 2 years ago. It gathered a great success reaching more than 5 million people. [1]
Carlos Arias, an activist of the Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE), took the initiative to make an English version, which is now available online. Narration in English was done by Barb Jacobson, former chair of UBIE.
On this occasion, we had a short interview with Atxe to show our respect to the artist who made the probably most watched video on UBI:
– How you were involved in making the video?
Atxe: Basic income is something that has been of my interest for a long time. I had previously done this kind of videos – for instance, on the TTIP – and David Casassas, as a member of Red Renta Básica, suggested me to make one explaining the main ideas that association defends.
– How you do you think of great success of the video?
Atxe: I think basic income is a proposal that creates a lot of controversy and, either you like it or not, it shakes you up. The video deals with issues and problems that speak to a large number of people and that leave you everything but indifferent – especially in Spain, where we are intensely suffering the blow of the crisis. Also, I tried to make a fun and entertaining video, which, I suppose, helped too. I must add to all this that the dissemination campaign we did in social networks – many members of Red Renta Básica and other companions actively participated in it – ended up being really successful – the video became a trending topic fast and kept this position during almost two days.
– What do you think of the idea of UBI?
Atxe: In addition to all the benefits the video talks about and that every basic income supporter knows, basic income is today more relevant than ever because it can break the fear that permeates a large part of our societies. It is a fear that too many times is translated into fuel for the rise of the far-right, and basic income could put an end to this tendency.
[1] 5,423,641 visitors between 22 February 2017 and 30 January 2019 (data provided by Carlos Arias, a Facebook page administrator of Renta Básica Universal)
The inaugural Campfire Convention took place in August 12-14, 2016, in the English countryside. It featured a keynote address from Brian Eno, in addition to an array of panel discussions, music performances, and other events.
One panel discussion was on the topic of universal basic income:
Universal Basic Income: A Utopian Vision or a Viable Reality?
Basic income for all – a universal weekly payment for all eligible citizens – can lead to the kind of creativity needed in the sort of world we would all like to live in. Would we all qualify and how would we fund it? With rapid technological change and its impact on the number and quality of jobs, we need to reassess our expectations concerning work and its impact on the human spirit. How could BI facilitate an emergent spirit of co-operative intelligence with thriving creative environments. How do we free up people from unsatisfactory jobs to use time most productively to create space where we can do things that please us and earn a living from our ‘art’?
Panelists (viewer’s left to right):
• Daz Long, tarmacker, volunteer boxing coach, father of three and granddad of six.
• Imandeep Kaur, cofounder of Impact Hub Birmingham and director of Project 00 (pronounced “zero zero”), a collaborative studio of architects, designers, programmers, and social scientists.
• Brian Eno, musician, composer, producer, and leading pioneer of ambient music, who has lately been promoting basic income. (In late 2015, Eno spoke about basic income on his John Peel Lecture on BBC Radio 6, and participated in the panel “Basic income: How do we get there?” with Coppola and David Graeber.)
