Switzerland: A basic income experiment is on the verge of starting in Switzerland

Switzerland: A basic income experiment is on the verge of starting in Switzerland

Rebecca Panian

 

The Swiss village of Rheinau is being targeted for a basic income experiment. The idea is being promoted and produced by the Dorf Testet Zukunft organization (Village of the Future Test). It started in 2016, through a popular initiative, and it had already been approved by more than 25% of the Reinhau population, at the time. Although Reinhau is only habited by 1300 people, 813 have already registered for the experiment. That is above what the organization needed for starting funding, which was 651 registrations.

 

The basic income test itself is planned to start as early as 2019, given enough funding is secured, which starts now. The Dorf Testet Zukunft will have to raise over 5 million Swiss Francs (4,4 million Euros). The plan is for this amount to be distributed unconditionally to all registered participants, for a year. The money will be distributed according to age, such that until 18 years old children receive 550 €/month, the 18-22 years old bracket receive 1100 €/month, from 22 to 25 years old 1640 €/month and above that a 2190 €/month stipend is specified. According to the organization, income from other sources will be discounted over the basic income, up to its maximum value. However, no one will be left with less income than presently, and all people with less income than the basic income value will have more than before (during the experiment). The exact and appropriate experimental mechanism and values are in accordance with villagers and the local council, since the project is open to comment and contributions from all involved.

 

Dorf Testet Zukunft’s team is composed by several dedicated people, headed by project initiator and filmmaker Rebecca Panian, Reto Ormos (financial expert) and Reda El Arbi (Communications), among others. There is also a scientific team dedicated to the project, including Jens Martignoni (FleXibles), Aleksandra Gnach (linguistics professor at ZHAW), Theo Wehner (ETH Zurich) and Sascha Liebermann (Alanus Hochschule). Other support come from activists like Daniel Häni, Götz Werner and Enno Schmidt.

 

Funding is planned to be done through a crowdfunding process, using Wemakeit, a crowdfunding platform founded in Switzerland in 2012. Data is to be collected from recipients during its duration, with a focus on answering general questions such as “What happens to the people?” and “What happens in the community?”, and analyzed afterwards. A documentary film is also planned, directed by Rebecca Panian, which main drive is a search for an answer for “how we want to live in the future”.

 

The idea is, in a nutshell, can be condensed in the following words written in the Dorf Testet Zukunft’s website:

 

“We want to test a possible new future as realistic as possible. This requires pioneers who dare and try it out. Best case: we can encourage people to discuss about the idea of the basic income because we are convinced that a system change must come from the people. Not prescribed from a government.”

 

More information at:

Dorf Testet Zukunft website

SPAIN: Documentary about Basic Income opens in Madrid

SPAIN: Documentary about Basic Income opens in Madrid

A new documentary about Basic Income, RBUI, nuestro derecho a vivir, in english UBI, our right to live, had its debut in Madrid, on May 12th in the Auditorium of the Cultural Center “Pozo del Tío Raimundo” during the Foro Humanista Europeo 2018. The documentary was directed by Álvaro Orús and produced by Pressenza and the group Humanistas por la Renta Básica Universal. The documentary includes a series of interviews done during the 17th BIEN Congress, featuring long time Basic Income supporters like Guy Standing and Philippe Van Parijs, and many others like BIEN’s Chair Louise Haagh, Ping Xu, Cosima Kern, Scott Santens, Sara Bizarro, Lluis Torrens, Rena Massuyama, Daniel Raventós, Julen Bollain, Elizabeth Rhodes, Mayte Quintanilla and Sonja Scherndl.

 

From the top down, and left to right: Philippe Van Parijs, Rena Massuyama, Scott Santens, Elizabeth Rhodes, Ping Xu, Guy Standing, Louise Haagh, Julen Bollain, Daniel Raventós, Cosima Kern, Lluis Torrens, Sara Bizarro

The documentary talks about UBI as a human right and about Basic Income as an ideal that has been gaining public support in the last few years, especially since automation threatens to leave a large part of the population without employment. The interviews feature academics and activists who share their experience and their Basic Income initiatives all around the world. The director,  Álvaro Orús, said in an interview: “At the world congress there was a new sensitivity, the impression that it was the beginning of a new world”, and the documentary captures this spirit. The documentary will also be shown at the 18th BIEN Congress in Finland.

You can view a trailer of the documentary here.

 

More information at:

Sara Bizarro, “The 17th Bien Congress”, Basic Income News, October 5th 2017

 

BIEN Congress 2018: Looking for film makers

BIEN Congress 2018: Looking for film makers

BIEN Congress 2018 is looking for film makers to display their production at the upcoming basic income congress in Tampere!
The 2018 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress is planning to run a short film festival parallel to the talks, presentations and discussions at the upcoming BIEN Congress in Tampere on 23-26 August 2018.
We invite enthusiastic cineasts and documentary makers interested in showcasing their production to contact us at biencongress2018@gmail.com. We are interested in receiving proposals by professional as well as amateur film makers on any aspect of the basic income discussion.
More info about the congress is available at our congress website, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Basic Income documentary “Kann Mann Frau” released with English subtitles

Basic Income documentary “Kann Mann Frau” released with English subtitles

Gabriele Von Moers, a German filmmaker, has released her movie Kann Mann Frau [Can Man Woman] with English subtitles. The release has also been accompaigned by a short two-minute trailer. This film is a first part of a larger 90-minute documentary focused on basic income, opening with Götz Werner words at the Basic Income Earth Network Congress in Munich.

At her website, Gabriele describes how she thinks emancipation firstly describes women independence from men as an economical issue. Jobs for an income, as she sees it, is a masculine version of society, and it need not be like that. To acknowledge that already constitutes an alternative to the encompassing pressure in every-day life. Basic income would then be a way forward in that direction.

 

Kann Mann Frau // Can Man Woman – Film (42 min)

Podcast: Uncovering the town that overcame poverty

Podcast: Uncovering the town that overcame poverty

There was once a town in Canada that essentially eliminated poverty, and at the time no one seemed to know. One filmmaker is doing his best to shine a bright light on the research into this town.

Vincent Santiago is producing “The Mincome Experiment” documentary that looks into the Manitoba experiments in the 1970s, which provided a minimum income guarantee to the entire town of Dauphin. Santiago recently spoke with The UBI Podcast about his project.

“The experiment was completed but there was a change in government in Manitoba and federal level so experiment was never analyzed,” Santiago said.

That is until Dr. Evelyn Forget of the University of Manitoba began digging up these old records. Forget found there was a reduction in hospital visits and instances of mental health issues in the area with a minimum income. Despite worries, there was no large reduction in the amount of work being done, Santiago said.

“The only sector that was affected was the mothers who gave birth and the teenagers who stopped working to finish high school,” Santiago said.

Santiago said any new idea like minimum income guarantee will cause backlash, especially if the research is not explained well.

“Just like when they first introduced universal health care in Canada, there was a lot of opposition,” he said.

In order to explain these results, Santiago said it is important for the basic income movement to focus on public relations. He said his documentary is an important way to show the positive results of minimum income systems.

“I would like to make this documentary to dispel a lot of these misconceptions,” he said.

Currently, Santiago is running a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the costs of production for the film.