Mr./Madam president. I will not adress the days propositions query or to the current politics, in my speech. I agree with Gunvor G Ericson in which he has already brought forth, in regards to current politics. Instead, I am going to take the liberty to pursue a more philosophical discussion on human dignity and security. My starting point is, an individual exercise of investigation of the basic income garantee, with its related pilot projects, which I co-authored with Annika Lillemets , Jan Lindholm and Tina Ehn. For some time now, an interest in basic income has been growing, or if you prefer a citizens income. Basic income groups in Gothenburg, Malmö, as well as other cities are growing, perhaps we are seeing the embryo of a new Swedish popular movement. Our great southern neighbor , Germany, has long had an undulating basic income movement directing the political parties to set up task groups for bringing this matter further towards realization. Prominent German economists are now looking at the possibility of basic income. The EU Parliament, in its resolution of 2010, appealed to the member states to consider an unconditional basic income as a way to combat social exclusion and emphasize that the resolution for basic income is a non-stigmatizing approach, with the potential to also access the hidden poverty. At the global level, the great research and activist network BIEN, Basic Income Earth Network, is documenting extensive pilot projects for basic income in India, Brazil and other countries. Todays growing interest in basic income is not a coincidence but rather coincides with a dramatic social reality. Globalization, digitization and automation are considerable positive developments, but consequently, fewer people are able to produce anymore. Even people with higher education and excellent social skills have difficulty in getting into the labor market today. We see how a so-called precariat is emerging, where people are forced to accept precarious, insecure employment relations throughout their working life, with far-reaching consequences for the formation of family and life opportunities. What is more natural than people in transition to start thinking outside the box and challenge the conditions of social security based on their previous incomes. Furthermore, in our once comfortable Sweden, people are falling outside of the society while the majority of the unemployed are no longer allowed compensation through unemployment insurance. The rise for the idea of a basic income, I believe, is linked to an exciting theoretical development, where new funding opportunities have been highlighted. The world renowned American climate scientist, James Hansen, has proposed the introduction of a high and (over time) increasing carbon tax, where the proceeds would go back to the citizen in form of a basic income, thus mobilizing public support for such a carbon tax; low and middle income earners would benefit from the proposal . Hansens brilliant idea has already incouraged Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders of the U.S. Congress, to motion for a carbon tax where 60 % of the tax returns go to the citizens while 25 % goes to the state and 15% to a fund for investing in renewable and efficient energy. To link together, the fight against climate change with the fight against increasing social discrepencies, is beautiful, yes it is raising politics to poetry and shining a light of hope for our jaded times. Mr. / Madam president. Not surprisingly, the powerful elite feel deep discomfort about the thought of basic income. Because the individual is released from dependency on welfare bureaucracies and union hierarchies. Suddenly the individual can afford to say no to poor employment ... yes, all of this would cause the powerful elite of our world to start dancing. And it would certainly be about time!
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:21:58 +0000
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