BASIC INCOME AS A HUMAN RIGHT - IF, then do it right!: Together for basic income.

By Alexander Zirkelbach

For me, basic income should be implemented as a human right. Human rights must be an integral part of a holistic system that also includes the environment we depend on to survive. There are no shades or opinions in the definition of human rights. All people, regardless of location, origin or appearance, deserve basic human rights - food, water, shelter, adequate education, health care and access to resources and services - to realise their highest potential. These rights must be enshrined in the social system. An Unconditional Basic Income would guarantee these human rights for the first time. In my book, I describe for the first time a sustainable path that could lead from a national basic income financed through taxes to a continental introduction paid out through money creation. Furthermore, I take this wonderful idea of an unconditional basic income to its logical conclusion and for the first time bring a comprehensive monetary system reform into the discussion. In order to one day also make possible the basis for a worldwide implementation. From my point of view, money has to serve people and not the other way round. Moreover, it is time to overcome the primitive and inherently limited tax system and to enable a real democracy of the monetary system and society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: tredition
• Release date: Sep 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9783347737792

Book preview

How it all began.

My story begins in Tyrol on a mountain farm with my father. These are the earliest and at the same time best memories of my young life. To this day, the smell of the threshing floor is deeply anchored in my consciousness and whenever I think back to what was probably the best time of my childhood, I smell fresh hay, the tractor, wood and nature.

My father comes from an old family of mountain farmers and, as the youngest son, took over his parents' farm, because nobody else wanted to have it at the time.

He is a tough guy and at the same time a very good-natured person who, apart from my mother, probably only got to know work in his life.

And so he worked his whole life on this farm and never had a single day of vacation, as after separating from my mother, he found no other purpose in life than taking care of the farm and its animals.

Due to the separation, I lived and grew up with my mother (single parent) and my two siblings in the district of Favoriten in Vienna, Austria, in a small 38 square metre apartment. The conditions at that time were characterised by great poverty, and so I learned early on what being poor means. These times were very challenging for me, and had a particularly strong impact on me. In these times I missed my father very much.

The separation was very difficult for me and many years later I still thought about the possibility of living with my father again. But the challenges of life, the great distance and the fact, that my mother prevented any contact, meant that my father was no longer available for many years.

I first got to visit my father again when I was doing my apprenticeship. I spent my holidays with him and helped with the farm. But I had been only seven and a half years old when I moved to Vienna with my mother and siblings and had grown up there, and so I could no longer identify with life on the farm.

Deep down in my heart I never forgot my father and always tried to keep in touch with him. Even when I emigrated to Brazil in 1999, I kept talking to him on the phone and - like my mother - sent him lots of photos of my new life and my children and kept in touch with all the people who were important in my life. As a teenager, I once swore to myself that one day I would help end global poverty for good. In Brazil, I could see even greater poverty than I had experienced myself. This made me angry and sad at the same time, and strengthened my resolve to eradicate poverty.

It just can't be people’s intention to continue this deeply inhumane condition.

At that time, my interest in my own species - humans - grew, and I tried to understand it and to analyse its nature. And so I set out to learn more about people, much more than is taught in school.

After many years of observation and countless small trials and tests, I recognised three essential characteristics of people.

Human beings are born social, peaceful and intelligent beings.

Without social care, we humans could not survive, therefore we are social creatures. Humans are peaceful by birth, which can be seen very well in babies and toddlers, as they share everything with everyone. Incidentally, this principle of sharing is the original principle of human beings and is still upheld and lived in all cultures around the world within the smallest social unit - the family. Due to our highly developed brain and the associated abilities to think, speak and change our environment in a targeted manner, we human beings are, already at birth and despite all our weaknesses, the most highly developed life form on earth. Undoubtedly, we are intelligent creatures.

Of course, these properties can change depending on circumstances and environment, as we are shaped by them throughout our lives in one way or another. We are subject to influences by the system in which we live, and every person, even siblings, who basically share the same experiences and adventures, form individual characters, since each of us experiences and interprets things differently.

And that is what is actually fantastic about people: their individuality, which can produce different results even under identical conditions.

This confirms that, because of their individuality, people are not predictable, no matter in which area of their lives.

Here we can already make a very first connection to the unconditional basic income and ask the