Imagine that you receive monthly payment and therefore are free from basic financial worries. Would you stop working on your art? In the midst of the IG Bildende Kunst resilient work to regulate artists fee, I would like to comment on the UBI as a perspective that challenge us to think globally on the society which we are living in and the one would like to live in. The UBI – universal basic income or unconditional basic income is “a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.” [1] This idea is not new and the first record of such system appeared in the fictional book Utopia by Thomas More in 1516 (!) [2]. The text depicts an “ideal” society where, for example, state capital is being equally distributed among all citizens. The short book will probably make you quite angry (totalitarian, genocide and colonial phantasies) as much as it will impress you. Going back to the UBI. Since then, there were many attempts to put the theory into praxis and in three states/regions it is an existing system. [3] And all over the globe, some pilot projects were and are being conducted. [4] Despite all the skepticism, the results of those experiments are certainly positive and are proving wrong many of the negative presumptions of such conditions. Like the most common argument against the UBI which is fear of losing motivation to work. Motivation did not change and in some cases even increased. Could UIB really work? Such an ambitious shift of funds still holds many unsolved problems such as: are we willing to grant a regime with so much power over our life? Not really! But what I can say for sure is that this reform has to be built locally. So I call out to my locals: It will be great if you share your thoughts with us and write to us. (vorstand(a)igbildendekunst.at)
Sheri Avraham ist Vorsitzende der IG Bildende Kunst
[1] https://basicincome.org/basic-income
[2] www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/utopia.pdf
[3] Macau – China, Alaska – USA, Iran.
[4] https://basicincome.org/news/2018/07current-ubi-experiments-an-update-for-july-2018
